3. "Bamako", by Abdelrahman Sissako
• Bamako is a story about a couple Mele and Chaka. They live in the
capital of Mali and they are on verge of breaking up. Their story is
coupled with a court set on their yard, that has to decide if they will
drop or not the case against IMF and international banks that have
devastated Mali and many other African countries.
• The movie is shot in documentary style, but it is subjected to high
surrealist and symbolic levels.
• Trailer Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWOSPIqQExY
4. • The trailer starts by some of
the awards/nominations it
achieved, in order, to
increase the film's status on
the audience's eyes.
• In the background we can
hear an African folk song,
which indicates the film's
origin. This is also reinforced
by the title of the first
festival award/nomination in
the opening(African in
Motion: Edinburgh African
Film Festival).
5. • Next there is a pan establishing
location. The location, is a desert
and indicates that it is not in a
Western country.
• The next shot is a high angle
shot specifying the location of
the court: a backyard. Most
people who participate in the
scene are of African, possibly
Malian origin, so we know the
film centers around its country's
people.
6. Next we see some shots of a person
who was an immigrant, giving a
testimony to the court. His testimony
indicates some of the themes in the
film.
Next it cuts to Mele who is sitting in her
room. The apartment is small and poor,
indicating the conditions people in Mali
live in and thus justifying the immigrant
man's thesis.
7. The shot sequence cuts to two black screens (seperated by
a brief long shot of a man on a river and the desert in the
background.. The trailer poses a question to the audience,
that will consist the center theme of the movie, which is
going to be tackle in the court which is set up.
8. • In the next shot a woman giving
testimony, answers the two questions
posed.
• She says that two thirds of their
children are illiterate and it is because
of privatization of education
• As she says that the camera cuts to
the female protagonist Mele and a
man holding his child. Thus indicating
and emphasizing for who she is talking
about.
• Also the trailer indicates that what is
said on the court it actually affects the
life of the protagonist Mele and Chaka
who are seen working in petty jobs
and living in absolute poverty.
• Mele later is seen working as a singer
in a bar and she is the one singing the
soundtrack.
9. Next a question similar to the previous
one arises. The sequence is broke by a
black screen giving the audience the
name of the director. As soon as the
black screen dissolves, a man who is
testifying to the court appears and
answers the question.
10. • The song changes and a montage sequence follows, projecting
images of the everyday life of Bamako's residents. Except from a
wedding scene, they are poorly dressed, mainly in non western
clothing. Their life seems hard in some ways since we see women
washing clothes on hand collectively in a yard and there seems to
be little infrastructure. Yet, we see them happy quite a lot, they
watch movies, meet with friends, etc...Thus indicating that life
goes and people overcome hardships even in the toughest
conditions.
• The title of the movie appears indicating the end of the trailer.
• The trailer suddenly cuts on a close up to a woman giving
testimony and saying "its hard, but I am optimistic as hell", thus
giving some short of resolution to the trailer. She gives this
punchline to confirm the approach above.
• At last the screen fades to black and letters appear saying
"Coming Soon", which indicate that the release date is not very
far.
11.
12. Mise en Scene of "Bamako" trailer:
• Camera: The shots simply composed and swap between deep focus and medium
close ups. Thus, reinforcing the documentary style, the director wanted to
achieve and establishing the genre.
• Editing: Apart from the montage sequence, that aims to show the variety of life in
the city of Bamako, the rest of the montage is mainly consisted by cut aways. The
cut aways occur in certain parts of the trailer, where the director wants to relate
one point with another, or set a point and then give an example. Thus, he doesn't
give away a lot about the film's narrative, but succeeds to state its messages for
the viewer to understand.
• Clothing: The Malian women are mainly dressed in a more traditional manner,
whereas the men are dressed in more western-styled clothing. Yet, they dress
very simple, thus connotating lack of luxury. The judges of the court are dressed
in court robes, similar to those the European's used to wear from the time of
colonization, thus giving a hint that the rights of Malian people are still somehow
subjected to European/"First World" Judgment.
• Setting: The infrastructure is almost non existent and the houses are crumbling,
thus indicating poverty.
14. "Apocalypse Now", By Francis Ford Copalla.
• The story takes place in the backdrop of the Vietnam war. It centers
around captain Willard, who is sent in a mission to assassinate the
renegade colonel Kurtz, who has set himself as the god of local tribe.
• The trailer builds the story towards its main message and uses
narration to pass it across. It consists pristine cinematography and
high-quality editing.
• The link for the trailer:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHEiqAsrVMQ
15. • The trailer starts with a parental advisory
by film association. This sign is usually
found in big production's trailers.
• The next thing we see, is paramount's
logo (big multimedia conglamorate). The
logo suddenly turns red, connotating
bloodshed.
• We can hear the soundtrack of Jim
Morrison's song "This is the End".
• The logo dissolves and the next thing we
see is a deep focus shot of bombs blasting
on some palm trees. Firstly, this
establishes the location (Vietnam) and
secondly adds a major plot element that
indicates the genre of the film: War
Drama (it is set in a war zone).
• The shot of the bombs dropping, is quite
blurry. The trailer cuts to a close up on
the face of captain Willard. The two
pictures are juxtaposed, thus suggesting
that the image of the bombs is in Willards
head. This suggests, that the trailer
involves the issue of PTSD among war
veterans.
16. • The next shot is a close up on
Willard looking through some
curtains. At this point narration
of the trailer starts and his is
telling the audience that he
wanted a mission and he got it.
• Thus we understand that the
trailer and the film will center
around that mission.
• Next the name of the director
appears in grunge and
disarranged letters, that fit with
the hole disturbed atmosphere
of the trailer.
17. • Next, the narration stops and a soldier
informs Willard, about the orders he has
received.
• After a tilt on the soldier, the camera
stops on the paper he is holding that is
information about his mission.
• Next shot is an eye-bird view shot on a
military helicopter flying over the
Vietnamese landscape. Thus reinforcing
the theme and genre. The audience will
understand that Willard is an official
military man. At the same time the voice
of his leader is added over the shot of the
Helicopter, giving more details about the
mission.
• He tells Willars, that he will get the boat
(deep focus shot on the boat), then
follow Kurtz's path (cuts on a close up on
Kurt's photo) and kill him and his team.
• Thus, the viewer is informed by the
trailer, on how the mission is planned to
unfold. This is a state of equilibrium.
18. • The camera cuts on a close up on
the leader of Willard, he says
"Terminate with extreme
prejudice".
• At this point the music has
stopped, and the equilibrium of the
trailer is disrupted by a violent
sound. Next thing we see are to
quick cuts. One close up on Willard
cover in camo and raising out of
the river's water. The other one is a
long shot of a guard standing
outside a door and being grabbed
abruptly from behind.
• This indicates that the dynamic of
the trailer changed and the
violence started, thus it catches
audience's attention.
19. • The screen fades in black and a new voice
takes lead of the narration. He says
"Horror has a face". Next thing we see is a
close up on a disturbed face covered in
camo paint. Here the audience is
introduced to the antagonist in the trailer,
colonel Kurtz.
• By saying horror has a face and then
showing his face, indicates that he is one
of the prime initiators of violence and
terror in the trailer.
• The screen goes black and then there is
an eye bird view shot, of napalm bombs
falling on the ground. He says "and you
must make friends of horror". Thus
indicating that the violence hasn't any
impact anymore on the characters, and
its just part of the reality.
• The music starts again, but is more
intense and disarranged, in order to
indicate the descent into madness and
the radical shift in the atmosphere
20. After there is a medium close on one man telling to Willard that Kurtz has something in mind for
him, thus diverting the plot from the mission to the Willard Kurtz relation, thus setting up another
enigma in the trailer that the viewer has to find out about.
The screen fades to black and then dissolves on a M/C/U tracking shot of Kurtz. The lighting is quite
dark and we can't see his face. He says "You have the right to kill me, but not to judge me". The way
he is framed makes him look even more disturbing. To reinforce that view the next shot is an extreme
long shot of civillian's village getting bombed, indicating that such actions were initiated by Kurtz.
The screen fades out and we can hear Kurtz whispering "The horror". The title of the movie appears
in grunge letters "Apocalypse Now".
21. Mise en scene of "Apocalypse Now".
• Camera: The trailer contains some extreme long shots and bird eye view to
establish location or reinforce the military themes. There are some close ups on
the leads, when they look really disturbed, thus reinforcing the theme of
"madness". Kurtz appears very mysterious in the trailer. In his only close up, he is
wearing camo paint and we can not see his face, thus creating enigma in the
trailer.
• Lighting: Changes from its yellowish and warm tones abruptly to dark, thus
indicating major plot twists in the film that might engage the audience and cause
its interest.
• Editing: The editing, is very significant for the trailer, since it is juxtaposing the
narration with the images. It leaves a great deal of mystery, but also gives to the
film some information that make the film understandable to the viewer.
• The setting, gives the historical index to the trailer, which is the Vietnam war. This
is very significant information since the trailer indicates that the movie is about
the "horrors of war" and makes the genre of the film identifiable to the audience.
23. "Girlhood" by Celine Sciama
• A black girl living in the Pari's projects, joins a gang of girls and re-invents
herself to gain more confidence. Yet, things will remain complicate.
• The trailer presents a great deal of how the girls spent their time together
and experiencing "Girlhood". The trailer is quite linear, but presents little
about the plot. The dominant color is blue which is mainly associated with
boys, but in the trailer focuses exclusively on the girls, which breaks the
norm.
• The link for the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJudaZEY-UC
24. • The trailer opens with the logo of the
distribution company.
• Then it cuts to two groups of girls dissing
each other. The girl's are all black and of
teenage age. Thus the viewer's
immediately understand who the movie is
concerning and what kind of topics it
might explore.
• The setting where the action takes place
is in a tube station, thus establishing
location and indicating that the movie will
take place in an urban setting.
• The screen cuts in black and some of the
awards the movie received appear on the
screen. This may attract audience.
• Some electronic music is used as a
soundtrack throughout the whole trailer,
which is a genre of music mainly
associated with the young. Thus, setting a
target audience.
25. • As soon as the black screen dissolves, it
cuts to a close up on one of the girls. She
is with her friends dancing on the tube.
The camera pans on the girl opposite to
her, indicating that those two are major
characters. The first girl starts narrating.
• She says "What do you want"? And the
camera cuts on the girl opposite to her, in
another place(an apartment). She is
looking down like trying to think what the
narrator says.
• The narrator continues by saying "Say it! I
want...". At that point the camera is
placed at the back of the protagonist and
slowly zooms out, as she lifts up her head
coming to a realization.
• Thus, the trailer establishes one of its
themes which is desire.
• In the next shots the audience will see
what her desires are.
26. • In the next shots we see some
scenes from her life, thus
demonstrating her desires.
• In the meantime of several shots
we see reviews from critics, thus
attracting the audience to watch
the movie.
27. • The screen cuts in black end when
it dissolves the camera closes up
to the protagonist and then pans to
the persons standing besides her,
which are all girls chatting and
laughing together.
• The voice of the girl starts narrating
again saying "I stopped and I
watched you, you were beautiful, I
told to myself that this was a
perfect moment I would remember
forever".
• The last shot (pan) reinforces the
theme of the movie and suddenly
the screen goes black and the title
appears "Girlhood".
28. Mise en Scene of "Girlhood"
• Camera: The camera uses pans to represent the togetherness of the
girls. A key shot is the one were the camera zooms out behind the
protagonist's back, when the narrator asks her what she want. This
indicates that she came to a realization and all the next shots are the
answer to the narrator's question.
• Lighting/Setting: The tones are quite blue throughout the trailer, thus
setting an atmosphere. It makes the urban setting look more
beautiful than it really is and separates the girl's world from the rest.
• Clothing: The girls are dressed quite fashionable, that fits with their
age group.
