Analysing Film Trailers

Film Title: 2012            Genre: Action/Sci-Fi    

Intended Audience: Male, age 15+ Intelligent

The title is used as a selling point as the world ending in ‘2012’ is a known prediction and is current knowledge, therefore the audience will gasp each caption and ultimately at the very end of the trailer the title ‘2012’ will appear and the audience will be able to connect everything that happens in the trailer with the title.

The genre is recognisable due to various elements within the trailer. These include the use of film shots; men within a science laboratory dressed in black suits, this gives the impression of an important meeting taking place in somewhere also of some significance. There are also shots of famous world buildings at the beginning of the trailer therefore the audience can comprehend the film will be about the world. Later on there are film shots of building falling, down, roads falling and aeroplanes crashing, this distinguishes the genre as an action.

The captions used in the trailer begin with ‘The Mayan Calendar Predicted It’ and ‘Science has Confirmed It’ ‘But we never imagined’ ‘it could really happened’ all separated with different film shots. The isolation of each of these captions teases the audience and consequently they want to know more as to what this new film contains and is about. The captions later go on to read, ‘from the director of Independence Day’ which gives the opportunity for the audience to make connections between ‘2012’ and the successful and recognised film ‘Independence Day’, and ‘Day after Tomorrow’ this influences them to think the current film will be as successful and will have a similar genre.

There is voiceover of the American president in the trailer, with him speaking to his country about the end of the world. The voice is quite deep and he speaks at a slow pace, mirroring the pace of the film shots. The voiceover sets the tone for trailer as the audience can recognise the seriousness of the subject through its pace and therefore they know the film will contain high tension action within it.

Additional elements are conveyed by the music in the trailer. The music starts quietly at a slow pace, with a dramatic tone which then starts to get faster as the trailer progresses. Towards the end of the trailer the music is very quiet, with the sound of the buildings crashing and falling to the ground being the dominant noise. The trailer also contains sounds of ambulances and police car sirens which conveys danger. Overall the music portrays the action that occurs in the film shots and sets the tone of the film.

The film’s media language is also aimed at its target audience through the use of mise en scene, sound and camera editing. The mise en scene is used through the shots of world famous building which later in trailer come crashing down, the editing used in order to create these shots would appeal to its target audience as they would like to see vast amounts of editing used to represent the action they crave to see in a film.