Research and Planning: Trailer analysis 1

World War Z

Genre

The genre of this film trailer is Zombie apocalyptic. The theory that relates to this trailer is Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes’ theory of binary opposites as the trailer includes good versus evil, humans versus zombies. Also the trailer has used the idea that the genre has a recognisable style that draws in an existing audience, this is the theory of Andrew Sarris; the genre of zombie is recognised throughout the film trailer from the colours used, costumes, locations and many more. The colours in the trailer are dull such black and grey, the text on screen is grey on a black background this is used to display name of the film, actor and release date, these colours have been used as they are associated to the genre of zombie. The film is located in a city which could be used to express the fact the virus is spreading as a city has a large population. The trailer also features footage and clips showing that the virus has spread to other countries such as Germany, this may be a recognisable style of the zombie genre as lots of zombie films have used this idea of including news footage and video recordings.

Representation

The trailer uses typical stereotypes for a male and female, the protagonist played by Brad Pitt is shown to be brave, strong and heroic, as this character was asked to help save the world. The female who plays the protagonists wife is also represented as a stereotype of a female which is usually caring, emotional and weak, this is shown when her husband stepped out of the car she was shown to be caring about her husband’s safety also reassuring her children that everything is ok, the female character was never shown as the hero in the trailer.

Narrative

From the trailer we see the theory from ‘Todorov’ as at the start of the trailer it is calm and we see a family playing a game in a car which is the equilibrium, then there is a disruption when the policeman on a motorbike smashes the wing mirror and there is an explosion, the events then escalate as the trailer progresses. However the trailer does not show the equilibrium restored this is so the audience will want to go and watch the film to see what happens, also the trailer only shows a ‘sneak peak’ at some of the scenes during the disruption but it does not give away the whole plot, for example the audience still do not know how the disruption occurred. Another theory that features in the trailer is Propp’s theory as the trailer uses the character types that Propp suggests such as a hero who is the protagonist, the villains’ would be the zombies and the princess would be his wife and his children as the protagonist appears to be trying to ‘save the world’ to protect his family.

Audience

The film is rated 15, however the trailer has a lower rating as the trailer has appeared on pre-watershed advertising slots on TV, however the target audience of the film is primarily people over the age of 15. Also the trailer will appeal to both a male and female audience, as the trailer uses lots of explosions and is 'action packed' which is stereotypically favoured by males in a film, however it could also appeal to a female audience as the protagonist is played a attractive big named star, Brad Pitt, so previous fans of the actor may want to watch the film. The film is based on a book with the same title therefore fans of the book may also want to watch the film to see how the film compare to the book. The audience for this trailer is passive as the trailer is easy to follow and does not require a great deal of concentration to understand what the film is about.

Media Language

Cinematography

Long shots are used a lot in the trailer, especially used on the zombies, the zombies fill the frame to show that there are more zombies than humans and the virus is getting much worse. however in contrast close ups have been used on the humans, usually one human per shot to show their vulnerability and emotions. The protagonists family is also framed mostly together which suggests that they are stronger when they are together. A crane shot has also been used to show the location and the large mass of zombies.

Editing

Fast cutting has been used in this trailer to express the panic of the public. There are montages of clips and in between a title appears on the screen saying "This Summer", "Brad Pitt", "World War Z" and "June 2013", this has been used to 'sell' the film to the audience and to show the audience who, what and when. The montages have been used to show the equilibrium and the disruption, also to show the audience clips of the film and and character which gives the audience a basic understanding of what the film is about. When the zombie is chasing the protagonist a long shot of the zombie has been used, this shot flashes on the screen several times and in between each shot the screen appears black, this could show the emptiness of the zombie but most important creates a dramatic scene.

Mise-en-scene

The clothing throughout the trailer are either a grey or black colour, this may have been used as these colours are associated with grieve as many people are lost to this virus in the film, the colour black is mysterious and dramatic which the reflects the trailer as it is not yet known what has caused the apocalypse. Other costumes used are police and military. Also the colour grey is associated with solitude, this may have been used to convey how the characters feel when they are split up from their family. The trailer mostly shows clips which are located outside in the city, the first shot shows the location and it appears to be cloudy therefore by suggests something bad is lurking/ about to happen. In some of the shots low key lighting has been used, in one shot the protagonist and his family are hiding, the shot has a red tint which suggests that they are in danger.

Sound

There are both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds used in the trailer. A non-diegetic sound which has been used is a score which creates tension and suspense, the score plays in intervals with the sound diegetic sounds such as screams and chaos in between to create suspense, also dialogue is used when the score is no present.