The Importance of Narrative Image - FINAL DESTINATION

Narrative Image is an important aspect of the commercial success of any film. It is made up of many features which piece together to represent a film before it is released. A successful portrayal through Narrative Image will result in payment at the box office. It will conform to the classic conventions of the genre of the film to ensure the attention of the desired audience.

'It is the promise, and the film is the performance and realisation of that promise.' John Ellis, Visible Fiction.

The Narrative Image of a film is conveyed in many ways. For example through posters, radio advertisments, television trailers and front-of-house posters.
I have chosen to look two aspects of the representation of James Wong's Final Destination (2000).

This was the poster advertisement of the film before its cinema release.
I think this poster works well to convey the genre and allow interpretations for the plot. However, it is still enigmatic and does not give away too much about the film's plot.
The genre (horror) is made apparent because of several factors, like colour choice for example. The poster is primarily dark with a red anchorage which could connote blood or danger.
Lightening bolts are traditionally associated with horror, so this also adds to the construction of the genre through the Narrative Image. The actual image of the characters also comes acorss as quite chilling. They appear to be coming out at the audience, and half their faces are replaced with skulls. This reference through images of death, emphasises the genre further, as does the film's slogan:
'No accidents. No coincidences. No espaces.'
Without being blatently obvious as to what the film is all about, this cluster of three is effective in captivating the audience. The thought of nothing being an accident or a coincident conveys the idea that everything is happening for a reason. Each word is a plural: accidents, coincidences, espaces, telling the audience that there is probably a string of bad events to come. 'No espcapes' is clearly a reference to danger and being trapped, another clue as to the film's genre.
This is the trailer used to advertise the film before its release:

As you can gather, the trailer gives away more of a film's plot than a poster is able to. This is evident here. The montage of images which was used for the construction of this trailer reveal what the audience can expect from the film, by defining the basic plot. The first set of montaged images establishes the main story. The combination of diegetic sounds (screams and explosions) and non-diegetic sound (chilling music) firmly places the film in a Horror category.
There is a message split in to two parts which reads: 'You may get a second chance at life...But you can't cheat death.' As well as keeping a sense of mystery, this line lets the audience in to the film a little bit more, making them feel more involved. All the clips which are used have some significance in portraying the horror theme. For example the use of small rooms (confined spaces), dark places, shots at night, funerals and montages of injuries or deaths.
The significance of the film's slogan is also evident here, as is is quted by a character and shown in the trailer. This slogan would then go on to be a basis of recognition for the audience of this particular film.
Certain lines of dialogue are used to create a sense of fear and captivate the audience. for example:

'He knows which one of us is next.'
'By walking off the plane, you cheated death. YOU have to figure out, when its coming back at you.'
'No body has control over life and death...Unless they are taking lives.'

The way the trailer ends is very clever. You see a train coming speeding towards someone who is stuck in a car. But, the trailer ends before you can see the outcome of this event. This arouses the audience's curiousity. What happens?