3.2 FILM TRAILER ANALYSIS

American Sniper

HOW THE FILM CREATES A SENSE OF GENRE

American Sniper is a biographical war film directed by Clint Eastwood.  The trailer immediately suggests the film is based on events surrounding the sniper played by Bradley Cooper.  Initial sound effects of weapons loading and the slow pan down a barrel of a rifle to a highly focussed individual ready to take aim confirm the genre.  Establishing shots uphold the genre which indicates Middle Eastern conflict.  More imagery of multiple armed soldiers in uniform in a war-torn environment primed for combat support this.

 

The trailers slow build however, is built on emotion more than the fundamentals of war.  Therefore, suggesting the important sub plot to this story is one of intense emotion.  This is set up by intercutting the initial and continued theme of the main character taking aim at a mother and child in Iraq divided into parallel events.  The current event and the sub storyline of his life at home is linked through cross-cutting and fades to black confirming the genre is actually a very emotionally charged war drama.

 

HOW THE FILM INTRODUCES THE CENTRAL CHARACTER and CONFLICT

The conflicting emotions of the central character are made very clear immediately. Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) is a sniper, as the trailers tells us“the most lethal sniper in UShistory” which suggests he has killed many thousands of people. The opening scene creates the frame work for the entire trailer which is intercut with his life off the battlefield.  The imagery and dramatic pace manage to develop the emotional state of the character by cross cutting between the two world he inhabits.  The trailer sees him slowly breaking down whilst taking aim at a mother and child walking into combat intercut with his own wife and child back home. There lies the conflict of the film.  The scenario is too close to home suggesting this potential kill could be the one that pushes him over the edge.   It’s a powerful emotional journey for one man living in twoworlds.

 

HOW DOES THE TRAILER TEASE THE AUDIENCE WITH SUGGESTIONS OF ACTION? HOW IS SOUND USED?

Pulsating sound beats and fades to black create visual and instrumental tension. There is a "will he won't he" theme running through that adds dramatic license.  Sound bridges link his two ‘lives’ over scenes such as the birth of his child, his wedding whilst thinking about pulling the trigger.  This is significant as the viewer is able to recognise the tension in the heat of the moment and humanise the main character. The tense music, heavy breathing and communication over memorable times away from his job allows for the scene to be portrayed as much more powerful as the scene is significant to Chris Kyle himself.  There is no clear music throughout the duration of the trailer. However, there is an ever present score which gradually becomes louder as the heartbeat increases. This allows for a dramatic effect to be created as the suspense of the trailer becomes more intense.

HOW EDITING INTENSIFIES THE PACE

Rapid cutting and fades to black with sound edits are used between shots that display private family joy and drama, such as his marriage, child’s birth, interlinked with a juxtor situation of a man taking aim at a mother and child.  The trailer is crafted using the main scene as a bed intercut with his parallel life at home. There is an extremely obvious increase in visual pace throughout the editing which heightens the tension. The sound of a pulsating heart beat is present and increases in pace as tension builds. Before he is required to make the decision to shoot down a mother and her son, there is rapid cutting and flashes of his life outside the military with his child, wife and friend in hospital. This drives the drama forward to an ultimate will he or won’t he scenario. 

OTHER TRAILER CONVENTIONS

The trailer uses inter titles to advertise star talent – Bradley Cooper. A further inter-title of the single line ‘The most lethal sniper in U.S. history’ establishes the historical and biographical element and lends a seriousness and authenticity to the trailer. The film’s title also displays social media links. Two still frames display the Warner Bros ident, the director and other talent like Sienna Miller.

The Birth of a Nation

HOW THE FILM CREATES A SENSE OF GENRE

The trailer for Birth Of A Nation starts with the awards the film has won and the fact that it is based on a true story.  It’s clearly an emotional period and historical drama set in Virginia.  The trailer clearly depicts the story of an African American young boy being told by his father that he has purpose and no one can take it away from him. The underlying music is sad and sombre and the viewer will understand early on that this is a very emotional film about racism, slavery, religion and fighting for the freedom and the rights of others.  It’s a very heavily dialogued trailer and clearly tells the story of the film.  The trailer pulls on heart strings for full dramatic effect.

HOW THE FILM INTRODUCES THE CENTRAL CHARACTER AND CONFLICT

The central character is shown as a young boy being told by his father that he is a child of god. That he has purpose and no one can take it away from him. The boy is told he is special, he’s clearly interested in books and education but because of the colour of his skin he is blocked at every turn.  The trailer intercuts this dialogue with the older version of the main character so we see the young and the old character simultaneously creating a full story of this boy turning into the man.  It’s clear that the main character Nate Turner is different.  The white people also recognises this and give him an elevated position of a preacher which gives him a first hand insight into the brutality and physical abuse and racist excesses.  We understand as a viewer that this main character will be a force for good and change.

HOW DOES THE TRAILER TEASE THE AUDIENCE WITH SUGGESTIONS OF ACTION? HOW IS THE SOUND USED?

The trailer is very dialogue heavy and clearly tells the story.  Over the dialogue we see harrowing images of abuse and extreme violence punctuated by clear defined sound effects.  Signs with "Slaves For Sale" and children playing with leads around their necks provokes the main character to create a force for change. The catalyst for change comes when the aggressor asks the main character “have you learned your lesson well” to which Nate replies “Yes i’ve learned”.  This is the prompt for a change in direction of this film.  The music changes around 1 min 7 seconds in when we hear piano and more provocative dialogue.  The music changes completely when the revolution begins.  We hear the song Rise Up sung by Andra Day. This song marks the inspiring turn of events of the film.  It signifies the tide of change.

HOW EDITING INTENSIFIES THE PACE

The editing is powerful in this trailer.  It is very image led with dialogue being run underneath most of the time.  There are lots of emotional shots pasted over the narration of the trailer.  Dramatic fades to black are intercut with powerful and emotional shots.  There is also written script punctuating scenes with powerful words like ‘injustice anywhere’  ‘is a threat to justice everywhere’.  These are powerful statements that underpin the storyline which are cleverly edited into the trailer.  The editing towards the last third of the trailer picks up more rapidly to increase tension and suspense and shows us the uprising and the slave rebellion.

OTHER TRAILER CONVENTIONS

The trailer opens up with awards won, the fact it is a true story.

The editing pace is a little more fast paced which takes us to the title of the film at the end. It tell us that it is a Nate Parker film which seems more personal.  That the release is in October with a hash tag STANDWITHUS.  A political message with a hope of a online movement for change.

GRAVITY

HOW THE FILM CREATES A SENSE OF GENRE

The trailer for Gravity immediately creates the sense of genre from the very first few frames we see.  From the black frames and the stillness with no sound comes the visual explanation by way of text that describes the film.  This alone could serve as a tease to the movie as a stand-alone.  “372 miles above the earth, there is nothing to carry sound, no oxygen, no air pressure.  The text then tells us that ‘life in space is impossible’.  We realise pretty quickly this film is indeed set in outer space and we understand early on that something catastrophic is about to happen.  

At precisely about 11 seconds into the trailer the silence is abruptly broken with a crashing sound effect and we see visuals of a space shuttle being hit by high speed travelling debris.  Visually this creates an impactful change in pace and escalates in intensity.  It is a movie about space and the premise of the movie is one of a disaster film.

Computer generated imagery (CGI) is used to create the strong sense of genre in a film that would be impossible to create naturally.  The costumes and the space shuttle all add to the clear-cut genre of this movie.  

HOW THE FILM INTRODUCES THE CENTRAL CHARACTER and CONFLICT

At around 13 seconds into the trailer we are introduced to the main character by way of sound.  We hear a voice and we know her to be female.  This character is thrown into an impossible situation.  She’s panicked, she’s frightened and she has lost all emotional control. She is in a helpless situation asking for help.  She is struggling to breath and the viewer will wonder how on earth she can survive.  At around 1’29 we see our first close visual of the main character Sandra Bullock.  The look of fear in her eyes due to the helplessness of her situation is clearly defined and the sense of lost in space is captured well.  At the time when the protagonist feels her impossible situation, we hear a question being asked “is someone down there looking up at you?” She responds and we understand her to have one child.  We see a visual of a photograph of her young daughter. This question engages her attention and takes the story to one of a survival story and the pure will of a mother to live and get home to her family.

HOW DOES THE TRAILER TEASE THE AUDIENCE WITH SUGGESTIONS OF ACTION? HOW IS SOUND USED?

 The initial opening seconds are a tease and again as mentioned earlier could be used as a stand alone 10 second trailer as it clearly and cleverly leads you towards an assumption of a disaster movie in space.  

Sound is vital for this movie trailer to work.  The stillness and quite of the opening 10 seconds are pivotal to create an eerie calm.  Silence is a powerful trick to use in movie trailers as viewers aren’t used to it, so it captures the audience’s attention very quickly.  The opening seconds are gentle, informative and eerie.  Silence can create anxiety in film and this is demonstrated well early on.  The opening scene allows you to breathe whilst being aware that a change is about to happen.  The crashing sound effect at 11 seconds takes the film to the next level of panic.

Sounds at this stage become broken, fast, chaotic and frantic.  It replicates the sound and pace of a thumping heartbeat. It’s a frightening situation we are now in and this is cleverly sound engineered with screams of helplessness from the main character.  We also hear the space station at a more distanced level offering instruction in an impossible situation.  There are two levels of sounds.  A present level as in the character screaming and out of complete control and a level that represents the space station that is clearly out of scene and range, it sounds distant.  Dialogue isn’t particularly clear but it doesn’t need to be in the early stages of the trailer.  It’s important that we feel out of control like the characters we are watching, so picking up clear dialogue at this stage isn’t important.  The sense of the impossible situation with the menacing drone underneath is enough to grasp what is going on.

At 45 seconds in we hear a scream that fades into the distance.  This is then punctuated by the Warner Brothers ident.  Underneath this ident we hear the impact of what has happened.  They’ve lost Doctor Stone in space.  Shortly after this the trailer then has a little more structure to it sound wise.  We hear clear script between the main character and the instructors at the space station.  Statements are punctuated by clear sound effects to create a sense of urgency and escalating panic and tension.

HOW EDITING INTENSIFIES THE PACE

The CGI controls the pace and mood of this trailer more so than the actual editing.  Unusually up until 45 seconds into the trailer there are very few edits made considering the action packed visuals we the viewer see.  Beyond 45 seconds we see more of the editors role take place with dramatic fades to blacks punctuated with sound effects and fast paced editing sequences which cross cut the parallel stories behind this film.  There is great use of fades to black which is often used in thrillers and the pace and energy of editing makes you slightly feel out of breath which works given the nature of the story.

OTHER TRAILER CONVENTIONS

 The trailer uses the usual conventions by way of Interrupting the pace with the Warner Brothers ident. This changes the pace for the remainder of the trailer.  It does not introduce talent or the director until after the name of the movie GRAVITY appears right at the end then we see a list which includes director, talent and cast names right at the end which is quite unusual for such box office actors Sandra Bullough and George Clooney.