Trailer analysis of Scarface

1. TRAILER ANALYSIS: SCARFACE
Scarface was released in December 1983 and is an American film, directed by Brian De Palma.
It tells the story of Cuban refugee Tony Montana (Al Pacino) who arrives in 1980s Miami with
nothing and rises to become a powerful drug kingpin. The trailer for this film both intrigues
and excites audiences who are mainly fans of the Crime Thriller genre, whilst simultaneously
showing a range of mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and editing.
MISE-EN-SCENE:
In a filmtrailer, mise-en-sceneplays a crucialrole in setting the tone of a filmfor the audience,
to attract viewers to the film.
Throughout the trailer there are frequent codes and conventions which the viewer de-codes
and subliminally assumes that this is a gangster, crime drama/thriller. One of these frequent
codes is the Miami setting showing the city’s wealthiest members of its drug community,
exotic locations, flashy cars, violence, corruption and dialect (due to the high Cuban
population).
The trailer makes use of classic Crime genre iconography, with the two most iconic props in
this type of genre is a tommy gun and a cigar. The costume the characters (gangster) usually
wear is a double-breasted pin-striped suits, spats and a fedora hat. As the film is set in the
1980s, tommy guns are not very conventional so it is replaced with a modern era assault rifle,
which is shown in the image (right). This prop helps convey that this is a crime film as the
climax of the trailer shows a shootout, which, conventionally, is how many crime filmtrailers
end.
The colour scheme/lighting in ‘Scarface’ is unconventional for a crime thriller as they tend to
be dark and bleak, whereas the filmis more vibrant and vivid. This is shown in the trailer as it
is consistently high-key lighting, especially in scenes in the trailer where Tony is at a hotel
resort, by the pool, when Tony is standing beside the Cadillac, and, ironically, even in the
nightclub. The lighting however contrasts with the mood of the trailer as itgoes on, as itslowly
builds up to an action heavy climax despite the joyful tone the lighting conveys.

2. CINEMATOGRAPHY:
In the trailer, De Palma uses medium shots and long shots to give the audience a sense of
the glamourous lifestyle these gangsters live, as it shows you their cars, clothes, mansions,
etc. This, in a way, gives the audience an idea of certain characters personalities as the
characters are living the ideal ‘American Dream’ which stems from the corruption and
violence of Tony Montana and his friends.
De Palma manages to reveal much of the main plot in the trailer as he shows the films
climax action scene, through the long shot showing Tony’s henchmen being strangled and
the long shot of the assassins running up the stairs to Tony’s room. This was possibly done
to help attract not only Crime genre fans but Action fans as well, which in turn, targets a
much wider audience to the film.
Despite being the main character of the film in the second part of the trailer, Tony is shown
in High-angle shots which are conventionally used to show someone as being small and
weak.
By doing this, De Palma adds some depth to the character in the trailer but also suggests to
the audience that the main character might experience and inevitable downfall, despite the
plot of the filmbeing Tony’s rise to power.
Only one title card is used in the trailer and is only shown in the beginning and the end of
the trailer:
At the time in 1983 Al Pacino was a
world-renowned star, with leading
roles in ‘The Godfather Part 1 & 2’,
‘Dog Day Afternoon’ and ‘Serpico’.
Having his name in big bold
lettering above the title would
immediately draw a film goer’s
attention, especially with it being
an Academy-Award nominated
actor in the role. People who saw ‘Scarface’ at the time would have possibly seen the
previous Godfather films that came out in the 70’s, so potentially De Palma attracted an
inherited audience that were fans of the Crime genre, as well as Al Pacino.

3. SOUND:
The music in the trailer changes continuously throughout the trailer: at first it is quite low and
intense during the interrogation at the beginning of the trailer, it then turns to authentic
Cuban music when it shows “Little Havana”, to then change to an upbeat 80’s beat, with the
trailer ending with the intense and suspenseful music it started off with. The change in music
helps to emphasise how the mood of the atmosphere has changed in the trailer, as the music
complements the scene shown. The interrogation scene needs suspenseful music to convey
the seriousness of the situation and similarly, the scene involving the Cuban refugee camp in
Miami would need old Cuban music give it a true feel for the audience. The 80’s pop beat is
introduced when the trailer shows Tony in a nightclub and once the trailer starts showing the
characters later in the film’s story, the music then changes to a tense mood again.The change
in music in a way symbolises how the story of the film pans out: Tony enters America and is
questioned (hence the suspenseful music), he then starts from the bottom in the Cuban
refugee camp, once he makes a name for himself he begins to enjoy what he’s worked hard
to achieve and the upbeat tune conveys that, for him to finally fall at the end of the film,
which sees the return of the tense music.
The trailer makes use of a non-diegetic voice over to give plot details, rather than use
individual title cards. In the scene at the club the voice over says, “For one brief moment, the
world was his,” which backs up my point about how the 80’s music in the nightclub scene
conveys his enjoyment of finallyreaching the top of the crime world. The voice over later says
“He loved the American Dream. With a vengeance.” – from this, we can surmise that the film
is more of a cautionary tale, rather than one of inspiration. The dialogue from Tony in the
trailer is diegetic and is also complementing the music, such as when he says “… first when
you gotta get the money. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you
get the power, you get the women.” This dialogue tells the audience Tony’s vision of the
American Dream and when it is finished, the 80’s music begins.
EDITING:
For this trailer to be successful in keeping the audiences interested, the editing generally
starts as slow paced and quickens as the trailer goes on, beginning to reveal more of the plot.
This technique was ultimately the best thing about the Scarface trailer, as it followed that
pattern and kept me interested as to what happens afterwards. The editing works
congruently with the music in the trailer. The shots shown in the beginning of the trailer are
bleak and dire to complement the music, this then changes when the scenes shown next are
ones at flashy areas i.e. the hotel resort, nightclub, pool outside the mansion, etc., with the
trailer then edited to show bleak and dark scenes again with the suspenseful music, such as
when the gangsterwires a bomb underneath the car and when the henchmen are being killed
by the assassin.