Thriller/ emotional trailers

Road to nowhere:

The main key selling point of this trailer circulates around the producer, who produced the well known film ‘reservoir dogs’.

It establishes the genre of gritty drama through the use of setting- in a dark dingy tunnel-

I find that this trailer isn’t particularly successful, it’s not very informative, and doesn’t seem to sell the film. Understandably, the film isn’t exactly action packed and exciting, but if it shows it off to be dull, then it’s unlikely that people will think that the film’s interesting enough to watch.

The target audience would appear to be people who don’t enjoy the action side of film, and more the emotional type of film.  I don’t think that the core audience of 16-24 year olds would necessarily find this film as interesting as a slightly older audience. Also, it would be more likely to appeal to women as men are seen to like action films more than emotional films.

The robber:

The key selling points of this trailer are the use of subtitles and the film being foreign, the sport context, the fact that it’s a true story and the chase scenes. Foreign films are attractive to audiences because they think they can learn about other cultures, while watching a fun film. 

The trailer establishes the genre of sport by starting off with the main character running in races, then shows that it’s a thriller by showing chase scenes, and him robbing a bank. They then intertwine scenes of him running from the police with scenes from the marathon to show his two lives, which is the main idea of the film .

Of the first 2 trailers I believe this one is more successful as it contains more materiel that would be attractive to an audience. It contains quotes that would make an audience take it seriously, even though the Austrian film industry isn’t particularly prolific.

The target audience of this film is more toward the 16-24 age category, as well as people who like foreign films, and this latter group are targeted by the film producers by their use of subtitles and obvious foreign language in the advert.

trailer research

1) What cinematic techniques are used to establish mood and tone?

The first 30 odd seconds show scenes from the film without any explanation, and we get many people’s perspectives on what’s going on, yet still we don’t know; there is the air of mystery.

2) How does the trailer establish the themes and narrative?

It establishes the themes that are normal for the action genre, by showing explosions and vast buildings moving. Also, from 37 seconds onwards, there is a gun or some sort of destruction in almost every scene, which really outlines the genre. In terms of establishing the narrative, there is a voice over, spoken by the main character, giving his character’s view on the film, which then affects the storyline. There are also titles on the screen that give facts that would be useful in understanding the film It slightly shows what each character’s role is in the film, yet in so much detail that we can really only tell whether they are a protagonist or baddie. 

3) How does the trailer establish genre?

The trailer establishes itself as an action thriller by showing action scenes and dramatic music right from the start. It also shows that the film has an air of mystery by starting the advert off with a question. The film’s dramatic side is shown by presenting the two main characters at the beginning.

4) Who is the target audience and how is this audience targeted in this trailer?

The target audience would be the core audience, 16-24 year olds, as well as people who like the sort of film like 2021, and this is shown by them using as many similar scenes as they can in the advert, to show this latter group of people that this is a film that they would want to watch.

5) What is the reason/ effect for using the director's name and previous work?

The reason that they show the director’s name is that people will recognise him as having created extremely successful films, and if they went to see it they will remember that they enjoyed his film. The effect is that then people will expect his new film to be of equally good quality, which will result in higher numbers at the box office, so then more money.

Salt

1) How does this trailer promote and focus on the big star? (look at camera work, editing, sound...etc..)

The big star, Angelina Jolie, is in almost every single shot, which shows off to a viewer that she is important, and makes them watch her closely, which is made easier by that fact that they have deliberately chosen someone who is thought of by many as being extremely attractive. There are lots of close up shots of her face, in different positions to show an all round perspective.

2) Action films are thought to appeal to a predominately male audience. How does this trailer target both a female and male audience separately?

Regarding attracting female audiences, she is shown in a position of power and importance in her workplace, which some would see as her being a pioneer, also it is not always that there is a female action hero in a film, so where women might be tired of seeing men always starring in the action genre, having a woman have the lead role would target the female audiences. Male audiences would be attracted by the action genre, but also because of the hero being very pleasing to the eye.

3) How does this trailer use editing to create atmosphere?

The trailer uses editing at the beginning to piece together- using clips from the film- the entire storyline in the interrogation room, to show the audience the build up to the more active part of the film, which leads to excitement.  When she is on the run, the short shots and quick cuts result in tension. The different shots from CCTV images make the audience think that she cant get away but then they show her jumping onto a lorry so immediately there is a feeling of excitement. The confusion that arises in the minds of the viewers means that people will be more inclined to go and see it so that questions they have may be answered.