2. The first scene in the trailer of the film contains the logo of the production
company that helped produce and fund the film. This is a common way to
start off a trailer or even the film it self as they have to give credits on who
produced the film as the audience often watch films from certain
companies as it is a way for them to say that it is or it would be a good film.
Warner Bros. was really famous for their gangster film especially around
1920s/1930s. At this time stars were under contract to studios and Warner
Bros. had these actors who played gangsters, such as Edward G. Robinson
(Little Caesar-1931), James Cagney ( Angels With Dirty Faces-1938, White Heat-
1949) and Paul Moni (Scarface-1984). This shows that Goodfellas is part of a
tradition of gangster films, although Warner Bros.’ early gangster films all has a
social commentary to them.
Right after the Warner Bros. logo disappears a scene where
there is dialogue between a man and a boy comes up next. That
that scene the man says to the boy to ‘’not run into your friends
and always keep your mouth shut‘’. This is the code that they
live by and it is important as particularly in Italian communities
where The Code of ‘omerta’ ( silence) is key. This indicates that
there might be a secret between them that they don’t want
anyone else to know. This shows that it is a gangster film as
usually there would always be something that people want to
hide.
The next scene that appears in the trailer indicates the
director of the film. Martin Scorsese is an American director
who is also a producer, screenwriter, actor and also a film
historian. The director has been in the film industry for
more than 53 years and is known world wide. Having a
really popular director for a film is really important as
people would know the kind of work that he creates and
would be willing to watch the film. Mean Streets in 1973
was his first foray into this genre.
3. The next scene involves a young boy who in the first shot is smashing a car window with what
it seems to be a golf club. The golf club usually represents wealth as there would always be rich
people who are seen to play golf in films. Then in the next shot the boy holds a filled petrol can
which he then pours into the car and as we can see in the following shot he then sets the car on
fire, by lighting up a piece of paper and throws it in from the car window. As this shots are
shown in the trailer there is a voiceover which states that the young man always wanted to be a
gangster. The voiceover and the shots link well with each other as we can see the boy setting up
a fire which then leads to a big explosion and we can see the boy that is running away and also
having the voiceover on top it proves the fact that the man is stating. This links to another of
Martin Scorsese where Jonny Boy’s intro in Mean Streets (1973) was very similar, hitting at a
self-destructive trait in his character. Ironically, Jonny Boy played by Robin De Nero who
appears in this trailer to be the mentor of the main character.
4. The next shot after the big explosion includes the young man that appears in front of his mother
asking how he looked. The mother then responds with an angry tone that he looked like a
gangster. This indicates that even though the young man always dreamed of being a gangster
the mother did not like it. The next shot involves the young man that
has ground up. The shot shows the man
smoking which is quite symbolic and also is
shown a lot on gangster films. There is a
voiceover that explains that him and his
gang try to steal 30 billion dollars through an
airport, that is also shown in the shots that
follow through along with the voiceover. The
shots show a plane which represents the
airport, they also show show two men
walking at the airport and someone shooting
towards the sky, as well as someone who is
driving and shouts with excitement. These
shots show to the audience what the
voiceover is stating, which is a robbery of
the money that where mentioned.
