Research & Planning Task 3

1. EXPLORE HOW THE STRUCTURE AND COMPONENTS (IN
PARTICULAR SELECTION OF ACTION CLIPS) OF 2 TRAILERS ARE
USED IN ORDER TO CREATE AN ENIGMA/TWIST AND
SUSPENSE/TENSION.
Skyfall & Marvel’s Avengers

2. SKYFALL
In Skyfall the first few shots are in a really dark room with some sunlight coming
through past the blinds. At first we have some close ups and medium shots
following bond through the hallway. The camera then cuts straight away to an
action shot of a car flipping on its side; then again a straight cut to Bond and a
villain running on top of a train. We then see a clip of bond getting shot by a
sniper rifle and falling to his death off a 400 foot bridge. This immediately
creates a twist as it is not very often that we see a 007 agent get shot and
die. This trailer does not follow conventions of normal action films as it
introduces the trailer with a scary scene in the dark. This does not follow
normal conventions as by creating this much tension too early means that it is
only temporary. However because bond films are always about tension their
trailers are usually like this; peaking the action early and continuing it
throughout. There is a real contrast through the first half of the trailer. When
Bond is involved in a scene it is dark or there is a twist and when he is not it is
usually a brighter scene involving more light. This really contrasts the second
half of the trailer where he teams up with “M”. This is where we see the real
007 agent fighting for something he can’t afford to lose. The tension is
created using a lot of background music. Both diegetic and non diegetic
sounds are used in the film trailer. A clear example of when diegetic sound is
used is the train moving. A clever example of non diegetic sound used in this
trailer is the gun that kills Bond. It is clear to the audience that the gun has
been fired with the sound of a gunshot; however, for obvious reasons Bond
was not realistically shot, but by adding this non diegetic sound its clear for
both the audience and actors to react to the gunshot.

3. AVENGERS
The avenger’s trailer starts off with slow fades of different scenes of the setting
and a narration from the main antagonist in an English accent. There are non
diegetic sounds used for the sirens from police cars. The following shot fades
into a scene with a woman looking out a shop window into the sky. Then there
is a cut into an explosion of cars and dramatic music begins. The next shot is
of police cars and policemen lining up and shooting their guns at the sky
however; what they’re shooting at is not shown. This adds tension to the
trailer as the audience does not know what is in the sky so it sets them up for
an action film. The scene then cuts to a shot of someones legs walking
through a large dark room. The darkness has strong connotations that this is
the villain’s hideaway or special room. From the way the people are walking in
synchronisation, through using obvious stereotypes we can tell they are
soldiers of some sort. There is then a quick cut to a close up of the villains
face. This is where continuity editing is used as it brings the shot out into a
mid shot where ‘Loki’ is jumping at the soldiers. The pace of the trailer then
begins to increase. There are many explosions shown in different camera
shots to show the power of Loki. After this, the major film corporation logos
are shown and the pace of the film momentarily decreases before picking
back up with the music (the pace decreases to allow the reader to have time
to read the logo). Then there is then a series of shots showing the all the main
heroes of the film. They are shown individually as a narrator in the
background talks about the idea to bring them all together to defend the earth
from Loki. The next scene shows two of the superheroes arguing but then a
funny comment is made and the scene cuts into a series of action clips which
contain fast shots and continuity editing which builds excitement for the movie
and lets the audience know the film contains a lot of action.