Training Day Trailer- Textual Analysis

1. Representation- Mise En Scene-
• Mixed representations of the antagonist
Training Day Opening-
Alonzo (Denzel Washington) based on actions in
the clip – unclear in the trailer due to his
disposition being a twist in the plot of the film.
Textual Analysis Notes
• The clip features cars, guns, trench
Initially believed to be a protagonist.
• Positive representations of the protagonist coats, jewellery, bulletproof vests, extras, buildings etc.
Jake (Ethan Hawke) because of his attitude and to create a ghetto neighbourhood theme.
response to Alonzo’s actions and methodology • Low level lighting in most scenes sets each scene as
in reinforcing the law. He gets the most screen a grim, crime filled environment which connotes to the
time so the audience connects with him most. audience.
• Negative representations of ethnic • Colour connotations, the effects used in the trailer
minorities (dual heritage African-Americans) as are orange/red which connotes caution and danger. This
criminals and drug dealers in the ghetto. This leads the audience to understand the genre and what to
contrasts with Alonzo fighting these crimes.
Male dominated, minimal shots of women, expect in the film quickly.
where the few that are, are all negative.
Camerawork/ Editing- Sound-
•Throughout the trailer the titles and headings pop up • The sound is non-diegetic and runs in parallel
intermittently and drift across the screen briefly at different with the clip. The music builds to a crescendo
sizes with one normally sized for the audience to read. This is a
great visual effect that makes the screen appear busier briefly.
towards the end of the clip as the action builds
•· The camera is typically low-angle for shots of Alonzo and and makes the trailer more dramatic and
Jake. This represents them as the most powerful and important powerful. Aids in establishing genre.
characters on every shot. They also get the most screen time in • Slow paced music is suitable for the genre.
the trailer, informing the audience that they are the two main The music can also change pace when it is better
characters in the film. suited to, allowing for flexibility in editing.
•· The editing is very fast-paced and breaks continuity. There
are clips from the whole length of the film featured in the trailer
• Intermittent voice overs from cuts from the
which summarises the whole film in two minutes, giving the actual film are merged with the title sequence
audience a taste of what they will see in the film. and inform the audience of parts of the plot.

2. Textual Analysis:
The trailer opens with a fade-in and a bell ringing which
immediately helps to establish the genre. The voice-over
narrative explains the story while the non-diegetic sound and
video clips from the film work in conjunction to summarise the
film. The fixed camera shots of Alonzo’s car act as a sign of his
status as a dominant, powerful detective. Traditionally if the
audience did not know, they would assume that he is the
antagonist in a crime or horror film due to the dominating visual
appearance of the car and how symbolic it is of power and evil.
The black paintwork connotes deceit and danger and positively
helps the audience to establish the crime genre quickly. The
whole two cop ‘partnership’ also shows as they are both riding in
the car together. It is not until around 25 seconds into the trailer
that the audience can establish it as a crime thriller. This is made
clear by the long shots of men against fences and the on-going
partnership between Alonzo and Jake. The use of sound aids
greatly – the pace of the music increases once both Alonzo and
Jake are onscreen, showing them to be main characters. The
partnership between the two is probably the biggest giveaway
that it is a crime drama film.