The trailer begins with ominous tones as it describes the impossible conditions of space. It then shows a woman being flung around in space as a man tries to help her. Various tense scenes show the woman isolated and panicking in space. The trailer builds tension through shaky camera work showing explosions in a city. People scream and a statue falls as the threat is unseen. Military forces are unable to stop the threat. The trailer creates a sense of isolation, danger and impending doom to enthral the viewer.

1. 08/04/21
Trailer Analysis
Sam de Bruin

2. American Sniper

3. Part 1
The trailer begins with an illustration of the Warner Brothers logo. This is the company that
produced and distributed American Sniper and is commonly shown at the start of a film. Here it is
in black and white. This sets a dark and gloomy tone for the film, connoting that it is a depressing
film from the first picture the viewer sees. Whilst this cuts to a low shot of the barrel of a sniper,
there is a sound of a gun cocking a bullet back. This is quite a chilling sound as it makes the
viewer feel as if there is going to be a gunshot near them, and as if this is the last sound they
hear. When the camera vertically pans up to the mans face from his torso, the viewer gets the
first vision of what the sniper looks like. This is key in familiarising the viewer with the key
characters of the film. All the while, explosions can be heard in the background making the place
where he is seem dangerous and that he is in a war zone. The up close shot of men breaking
into a house by kicking down the door indulges the viewer into the trailer, making them feel as if
they are in the movie with them. This creates a rough tone and as if the viewers themselves has
to be cautious and constantly on their toes.

4. Part 2
The first dialogue in the film can be heard from the sniper describing the target he has got in
his crosshairs. This is a tense scene as the sniper has intent to kill the man he is aiming at and
who he is describing. The man in his sights then rushes off in a hurry, again reinforcing the
tension in this scene that he is under timed conditions and everything isn’t as calm and cool as
the sniper is making out to be. The viewer is then presented with a shocking image, as he has
a mother and child in his scope. Mothers are usually seen as calm and collected people, who
cause no harm and the idea of a mother or even a child being hurt by this man makes the man
slightly more disliked among the viewers. The viewer is then presented with the first title scene
with the text “from the director Clint Eastwood”. At this point, the viewer is even more
enthralled than they were, due to the famous and well known director Clint Eastwood directing
this film. In the next scene, the viewer sees faded cuts from the sniper and his wife at their
wedding to the mother and son standing in the road. This creates the comparison between the
mother and the son, and sniper and his wife comparing the different lifestyles.

5. Part 3
The sniper had a luxurious wedding in a sunny, beautiful landscape, whilst this mother raises her child
in a baron wasteland, stricken with war. This comparison makes the viewer feel extreme emotions of
sorrow towards the child. These emotions are amplified when the sniper says that the mother is
carrying something, which is 5 seconds later revealed to be a grenade. Whilst this is happening, there
is faded cuts between this scene and the sniper’s wife giving birth. This again compares the two
lifestyles and the different environments in which the two children are being brought up. Throughout
the next 15 seconds there are constant hard cuts from the war zone to the snipers personal life. This
creates the diversion between the East and the West, showing the different living conditions of both.
However, in one of the scenes the sniper’s wife is crying. This shows that whilst their life may look
perfect, everyone has troubles no matter where you live. The last scene of the sniper shows him
looking visually emotional about having to shoot a mother in front of her son as he is a father himself
and knows what it would be like for the child to see their mother dead; traumatic. In conclusion, I
believe this trailer is extremely successful in showing all aspects of the film and does a great job in
presenting the viewer with a well rounded experience of the film.

6. Gravity

7. Part 1
For the opening 10 seconds of this trailer, there is a text scroll enlightening the viewer about the tough
conditions of space and how “Life in space is impossible”. This creates an ominous and tense tone for
the trailer without showing any images. This is because the viewer would feel scared and tense for the
people that have to live in space as the conditions are so “impossible” to live in. The first visual scene
is a woman being flung around in space by a piece of the spaceship that has come loose. This makes
her go around in circles uncontrollably. Throughout this scene, there is a man talking through her ear,
giving her instructions, while there is this ominous music that’s getting louder and louder continuously.
This adds to the already high tension of the scene and makes the viewer feel nervous and almost
frightened for what is about to come for the rogue astronaut. This scene then cuts to a black screen
and the viewer’s mind is left to run on the endless possibilities that could have happened to the woman
in space after she ejected herself. The Warner Brothers logo then comes onto the screen. This further
indulges the viewer as they can see the trailer has been produced by one of the best and most
renowned production companies in the world. Throughout this Warner Brothers scene there is a man
talking worryingly and hastily on a microphone, presumably to the woman in space.

8. Part 2
There is then a 2 second montage of the woman falling through space. This puts the isolation and solitude
into perspective for the viewer, as they can see how lonely this woman is, in space by herself. The next
scene is a 30 second sequence of dialogue between the woman in space and a man trying to help her
through the microphone. She is panicking as she doesn’t know where she is or if she is going to live
anymore. This is extremely stressful for the viewer as the POV shots make the viewer feel as if they are in
this scenario and they can almost feel the helplessness that the woman in space feels. When this scene
comes to an abrupt end, the text displaying that the film is directed by Alfonso Cuaron may further enthral
the viewer as he is a well known actor with a reputation of making great films. This may lead the viewer
into thinking this film may be up to his previous high held standards. The next 30 seconds of the trailer is a
montage of different scenes from the film. I believe these scenes further reinforce the isolation of the
astronaut, as most of the shots show her with nothingness around her, and the fact that there is nothing
she can do about it, makes all these scenes all the more scary. The ending of the trailer is the word
GRAVITY in complete silence, in contrast to the other scenes in the trailer which have had music which
increases the tension. This makes it feel eery as this kind of silence has not been seen in the trailer.

9. Cloverfield

10. Part 1
The trailer starts off with a short 5 second sequence of the production companies that produced it.
Because Paramount pictures has such a good reputation, when people see the logo, they believe that
the film will be up to the high held standards that Paramount Pictures’ films usually are. This is
followed by a text scroll, giving an introduction to the movie. Throughout this text scroll, there is this
eery buzzing playing. This raises the tension as the viewer feels frightened for what is about to come.
The first pictures the viewer sees is a video in reverse, then played in normal order again. The scrappy
editing here makes the viewer on edge as there is still no direction to where the trailer is going and the
viewer hasn’t got their surroundings of anything that is occurring. Next is a video of a large explosion
in an inner city environment, recorded by the same shaky camera that the first clip was recorded with.
This gives the scene a first person feel and makes it seem as if the viewer is there, recording the
events as they pan out. Throughout this scene screams of men and women can be heard when the
explosion occurs, showing how much of a shock this was to everyone watching. There is then a
different angle of the events as there is a closer shot. This shot again is taken with a shaky camera but
is where the events are occurring, showing the viewer exactly what is occurring.

11. Part 2
The head of a large statue falls down onto the crowd and screams can be heard. The viewer is at the edge
of their seat at this point, wanting to know what this thing is and what’s causing it. When cutting from scene
to scene the camera loses signal and goes into this glitched screen for a second. This makes the whole
situation even more scary as the viewer feels as if the footage could be cut off at any minute. The man
recording takes a video of himself which seems to be a last ditch video, in the way he addresses the
camera as if it is his last ever recording. This illustrates perfectly how dangerous “Cloverfield” is and how it
can lead to people’s death. The next 30 seconds consist of a montage and shows people worrying,
panicking and not knowing what to do. Citizens look shocked at what has just happened and are calling
their loved ones. This puts the events into perspective for the viewer and shows how wide scale these
attacks were. The next scene is the most tense scene in the trailer. People are sitting in a corner shop.
There is a POV view of the whole situation pan out and the viewer can see whatever the characters can
see. Within seconds out of nowhere, the windows break open and glass shatters all over the people in
there, possibly fatally injuring them. This shows how quick the attacks can be and the viewer feels as if the
attacks can strike at any point, making them nervous for what is to come.

12. Part 3
The next scene shows military forces firing ammunition at the Cloverfield. The gunshots are loud
and obvious on the screen, stressing the viewer as they know however many bullets are fired,
this thing isn’t stopping any time soon. The trailer finishes with a helicopter containing the man,
crashing to the ground. I believe this trailer is extremely effective in showing the destruction that
Cloverfield caused and how is stressed the citizens, ultimately shocking the viewer and creating
extreme tension in some scenes. However, I believe they could have included more professional
shots and camera angles as opposed to the handheld camera which was extremely effective,
however, became boring at some point. To capture the whole environment and surroundings
they could have used professional equipment. Additionally, I thought they did a superb job in not
revealing what the Cloverfield looks like. This held the tension throughout the whole trailer as the
viewer doesn’t even know what this thing is. This was the biggest aspect of the trailer and I
believed helped it hugely in being successful like it was.

13. Nocturnal Animals

14. Part 1
The opening shot of the trailer is a close up on a woman’s eyes and upper face. This is a good way to
start the trailer as the viewer gets to build up a concept of what the woman looks like, without outright
showing her whole face. The next shot is a overlook view of a city. This is familiarising the viewer with
the environment and surroundings that the woman lives in, almost preparing them for the trailer and
making them more willing to watch the movie. The following 15 seconds consists of a montage of the
woman looking stressed. This is done through showing her staring into the abyss worryingly, putting her
hands on her forehead and dialogue about how she can “never sleep” to one of her peers. After this,
there is a black screen before showing the next short montage. This shows how there is a separation
between the two scenes, segregating each character to their own montage sequence. Throughout this
scene, the woman is being hurt by a man. This is presented cleverly through screams and a knife
cutting into a parcel, foreshadowing that the man has been harming the woman in the same manner.
The next section of the trailer shows dialogue with another woman, concerning the main character and
her ex-husbands past relationship and how she hurt him. This takes some of the sympathy off of the
women as it is revealed to the viewer that she had done wrong too.

15. Part 2
This made the trailer fairly dull as there are no likeable characters, at this point in the trailer. For the first
half of the trailer, there has been this sharp piano music that seemed to me that something bad was
coming, suggesting that something bad is going to happen in the future. This piano music intensifies over
the next 30 seconds, making the trailer much more tense as the viewer is presented with short clips of
the man and the woman walking up stairs, being in the shower etc. This again familiarises the audience
with the main characters of the film, making them more likely to watch the film after seeing the trailer. The
end of the trailer is the same as the start; close up of the women’s eyes. However now, she is crying.
This shows how she is disturbed and visually in distress. The viewer can see how much this man has
haunted her and as to why hasn’t been revealed. This brings a sense of unknowingness into the trailer,
creating suspense and enthralling the viewer, hopefully making them want to know more and watch the
full film. I believe this trailer is fairly effective in not revealing all of the secrets of the film, however, I didn’t
enjoy watching this trailer. I believe there are no likeable characters which is extremely important for a
trailer, making for a dull and fairly boring trailer.

16. The Birth of a Nation

17. Part 1
The opening image is a display of the various awards it won and film festivals it aired at. This shows
the general great quality of the film and that it was so good it won awards, enticing the viewer to watch
it. The first 15 seconds of the trailer shows a young, black child being talked to on a cotton farm with a
woman addressing him as “your kind” which is racially profiling. This is upsetting to the viewer
however enthrals them into the film as generally producers are afraid to talk about racial themes in a
film as they are generally quite sensitive. When the viewer sees this, it shows how different and
unique this film is. The editing is fairly basic here, with general camera shots. When it is revealed that
it is “based on a true story” the viewer feels shocked that this kind of systematic racism actually
occurred. When the man is being whipped by plantation owners, the viewer feels emotional because
of what is occurring on the screen. This trailer is extremely hard hitting and makes the viewer feel sad
for humanity that this occurred. However, I believe there should have been a lead in this trailer, for
example, a love story, good friends etc to give some kind of feel good factor for the film, as it is
extremely solemn and dark at this point, and the viewer may feel encouraged not to watch it due to its
dark themes.