2. Summary of the film
• The Purge: Anarchy is a 2014 American action horror thriller film
directed and written by James DeMonaco. It is the sequel to the
2013 film The Purge.
• In the Purge Anarchy, a couple are driving home when their car
breaks down just as the Purge commences. Meanwhile, a police
sergeant goes out into the streets to get revenge on the man who
killed his son, and a mother and daughter run from their home
after assailants destroy it. The five people meet up as they attempt
to survive the night in Los Angeles where all crime is legal for one
night.
3. • The trailer starts off straight away as
intense by the use of a countdown and
fast paced harsh music along with a man
commentator announcing ‘In 5 seconds,
you are about to experience anarchy.’ in a
serious and a demanding voice. This alerts
the audience that the movie is about the
absence of a government and the absolute
freedom of individuals in which they are
free to do whatever they want. This
suggests that the movie will be full of
criminal activities and therefore the
audience will be curious and willing to
watch it to see what it would be like if
there was no rules or a government
controlling the country so they would be
interested in watching this particular
movie as it is very unique from other
horror movies.
4. • There are various camera angles of
the city which is based in America
mostly done in a birds eye view as the
scene is shown from directly above.
This is a completely different and
somewhat unnatural point of view
which can be used for dramatic effect
or for showing a different spatial
perspective. This can mean that the
audience are seen as ‘God like’ as
they are watching everyone take part
in the purge and how they would
react if there was no rules. Therefore,
this technique has been used
effectively as it shows that the purge
is entirely taking place in America and
that is an activity in which every
citizen can take part in.
5. • In the middle of the trailer, the purge is starting
to take place as you see a man loading a gun in
a sharp movement. This indicates that the
movie will contain highly powered weapons and
it symbolises that the character's are afraid of
the world and insecure in themselves that they
rise against anyone who degrades them. They
live their lives in fear, and project that fear into
violence, an attempt to make others as
frightened as they are. Also, in the trailer it
says ‘some people do it for revenge’ and ‘some
people just want to survive’ showing that the
purge is a matter of life and death.
• After that, a man commands ‘If you're not
purging, we advise you to get off the streets as
quickly as possible’ which emphasizes the fact
that the streets will be full of danger and raises
the tension between the audience.
6. • As the trailer paces up along with the
intense music and sound effects getting
faster and sharper, you see various camera
shots of criminal activities taking place. For
instance, someone riding a bus with fire, a
gang with dogs, guys dragging women from
the roots of their hair whilst screaming in
pain and various citizens wearing masks.
This is done in order to create an
anticipation between the audience and a
feeling of being excited or anxious
uncertainty as to what might happen.
• The trailer specifically focuses on a man
wearing a joker like mask that is white and
says ‘God’ on the top. This suggests that he
thinks he is superior than everyone else and
no one can tell him what to do.
7. • During the end of the trailer,
the pace slows down and sad
emotional music is playing in
the background that contains
an enquire. This symbolises
death as they are usually
played at funerals. This may be
due to the various events
taking place in the purging as
nothing can be done in order to
prevent it. Also, the use of
sound effects in this trailer has
been used very effectively. For
example, the use of gun shots
which emphasizes the murders
in the movie.
8. Conclusion
• We would like to take the idea of a masks and social violence
into our title sequence.
• We feel Purge Anarchy was a suitable case study as it fits into
our genre and narrative to a certain extent.
