Trailer 2 analysis

Trailer 2

The purge:

At the beginning of this trailer we see a sunset, which usually implies happiness and new beginnings, which is then followed by a family holding hands with calming music in the background, so we see no connotations of it being a thriller making it misleading, which could be a theme within the film. Again the trailer has fading transitions, which adds to the calming affect with the writing “unemployment at 1%”, which could be a suggestion about the target audience, being an older age group.  

We then see a zoom in of a woman’s face who is smiling, which emphasises the happiness of the scene followed by two teenagers kissing with the caption “crime is at an all time low”. This could also be a hint about who the target audience is; also teenagers are often associated with crime which could be a slight stereotype within the trailer.

After we get a glimpse at why society is doing so well as it says “But once a year”. This also makes the viewer want to carry on watching as it leaves questions in their head.

Once we start to see the night time approach the scenes begin to speed up, making us the audience forget about the happy scenes we have just witnessed. We also see what is going on through an unusual way of viewing things, which is through a CCTV camera; this suggests crime is big part of the film. This also shows a technical change as the lighting has changed to low key lighting.

We also see props within these scenes, one being the sharpening of a machete, which implicates death. Therefore what we saw at the beginning was almost a cover up.

Half way through the trailer it then tells us what the story line is about by saying “all crime is legal”. Although it gives away part of the storyline we are still not certain to what happens in the film.

We see a massive contrast from the beginning of the trailer compared to end due to change of music as it starts of calm and becomes rapid and unsettling. We also see change due to the emotions of the characters shown, as the main protagonist (the woman) is seen smiling and with her friends to begin with but is shortly seen scared and screaming. This shows how the relationships between the protagonists begin to change and so do their facial expressions.

Usually within thrillers if you have wealth you are powerful, but this film contrasts to this as although the family we are shown lives in a big house and has good security they at just at as much risk as any other people therefore making them vulnerable.

Nearer the end we witness more violence as the protagonists and antagonists are introduced. During this scene we see a mixture of high and low key lighting due to the battle between the two.

The antagonists are introduced wearing masks and the men are wearing black and the women white this shows how the purge is bad but also removes evil from the town. 

Trailer 1 analysis

Trailer 1:

The lovely bones

Through the first shot of the trailer we get a clue to what age group the target audience as it says “ for appropriate audiences”, which suggests people aged 12 and over, however this is not stated. We then get more of an idea of the target audience when we see the main protagonist Susie, who is a teenage girl. We get clarification that she is of this age due to a shot of a typical school, which has two yellow school buses to suggest she is in middle school.

Through the Narrative the audience are enticed to watch the movie as all questions are left unanswered, one of these main questions is “who killed Susie”, as we are told by her she was murdered but not how. There is also a huge atmosphere of tension, one of the scenes that best show this is when the family discovers who her killer is, however the police do not believe them and says they need evidence.

Another way, which they entice the audience to watch this movie is through text. We are shown at the beginning the producer of the film and it states he is award winning, which suggests the film will be good. We are also shown two logos of film makers, which are well known one being Dreamworks and the other being film4. At the end they advertise the release date which gives the audience a talking point.

The Narrative at the beginning of the trailer is very calming, due to the background music and the fading transitions between shots, we also get to hear about the main characters life giving it a sense of normality.

This calm atmosphere is then disturbed when we find out she gets murdered as the shots start to speed up and the time of day is much later on.

We then see her murderer who is the man in glasses we assume, however as said earlier there is no evidence to prove this, which makes the viewer frustrated which mirrors how the characters are feeling.

Some of the scenes are interrupted by text, and then when it comes back to the story line we see the main character Susie is in her in-between world.

Due to the beginning the audience do not know that the voice over (the main character) gets murdered so are unsure to why she is speaking, but then come to a realisation when she tells us.

The trailer very clearly shows the film is a thriller due to the mis-en-scene used as there are many associations to thriller films throughout. There is also a use of lighting as the trailer switches to her death the lighting turns darker, which implicates danger.

As well as technical codes to show it’s a thriller, the producer also uses props such as the baseball bat seen which could represent death and danger. We also see a bracelet which is sentimental to the main character, which builds tension.  

Overall The Lovely Bones is not a traditional thriller due to the ‘fantasy’ side to it, and how the trailer shows no violence, however with things such as props, lighting, sound and language we instantly can tell it is a thriller.