28 Days Later (2002)
The second film trailer I am going to analyse is 28 Days Later, this film is a certificate 18. Unlike the other film I analysed this one will have a very restricted audience. It will only be suitable for adults which means that the trailer will definitely be affected by this as it needs to be suitable to be seen on television. I have decided to use this trailer as I want the threat in my film to be zombies, which is the same as this film. I wanted to know how this can be portrayed in a horror film. This film was directed by Danny Boyle and received a rating of 7.6/10 on the IMDb website.
Genre
The genre of 28 days later is Horror/ Thriller. This is shown through the use of frequent jump cuts and quick flashes. These are used to add tension and make sure that the audience keeps attention throughout the trailer. Although the scenes do not thoroughly make much sense without explanation the audience will keep watching to try and work out what it is that they are watching. They will pick up on clues such as low key lighting and key sound effects such as screaming. Suspense is maintained throughout this trailer as we are unable to see the threat that caused this panic, this may be a reason some people chose to go and watch the film in the cinema. The hints towards a zombie apocalypse could indicate a slight lean towards a sci-fi genre.
Representation
The stereotype of a male hero character seems to be challenged in this film trailer, this is because the main male character we see does not seem to take a very active role in the trailer he does not seem to understand what is going on around him. The audience is as clueless as the character is. He is not a stereotypical hero character as he does not look particularly handsome or extraordinary, he does not carry weapons and he does not have a female character to protect. There are no other characters represented in the trailer, this tells the audience that the man we see may end up being the only character who manages to survive in the end.
Narrative
Although the story seems unclear the beginning of the trailer sets it up for us, we seem to see that an infection broke out and infected a city, this caused a pandemic and this city was then evacuated but something happened after this which is only described to us as 'devastation'. We then see a man lay naked in a hospital bed, this man now wanders around London as the streets are bare and littered with packets and empty cars. An appropriate theory for this narrative would be active/passive theory. The man we see seems very passive to begin with and his main actions involve running away and wandering around seemingly very confused.
Audience
The audience for this film will be mature adults because the trailer is rated as an 18. I do think that the audience will have to remain very active throughout the trailer to understand what is going on. This could be because of the more mature audience they are expected to be able to understand more complex trailers and be able to build on what they see and make sense of it. The audience could have previous interests in horror or zombie films as these films tend to have a very specific audience.
Media Language
Cinematography
-The shots of the explosion are taken from various different angles, perhaps showing us different peoples accounts of the event. There is then a jump cut straight to a mans eye. This gives the impression that this man has just awoken after all of this horror has taken place.
-A birds eye view is also used at 0:42 so that we can see that this man is alone in a world that was full of panicked people not too long ago.
Editing
The trailer uses titles rather than a voice over, this could be to add suspense with the sounds of screams and alarms instead of a voice over.
-The quick editing speed adds to the tension created at the beginning, this could highlight how quickly the infection happened and spread
-The quick 'flashes' of people in panic add to the tension and tell the audience that the people are in a blind, confused terror
-Straight cuts are used of the man walking around the hospital and his outside environment. The camera pans out further each time to show just how empty his surroundings are.
-Jump cuts are used later on in the trailer to build up speed and add to the tension, a chimpanzee banging on a glass case is an example of an image used to make the audience jump.
-Clips are shown in fast motion to shorten time and make things appear more instantaneous to the audience
-The entire trailer seems to become a montage of the film showing snippets of different scenes. This tells an audience that a lot of action will happen in this film and they are in for a lot of excitement.
Mise en Scene
-The location plays a key part in this trailer to add to its 'fear factor' The fact that it begins showing many people running and then jumps to an empty city of London we know that something is definitely wrong. London is a huge city, always full of people. The fact that it is empty is a shock to an audience.
-The litter on the streets gives the impression of chaos and people leaving in a hurry
-The lightening used is very realistic to real life situations, high key lighting outside in the day, and low key lighting indoors at night time. This creates a sense of realism for the audience and makes what they are seeing more believable
Sound
-The sound of alarms and screaming at the beginning of the trailer are desynchronized to the clips that play at the same time. This could be to highlight the disorientation and fear of the people that we see in the clips.
-The echo effect that comes with some of the sound could also give a sense of past tense.
-The sudden silence just before the title '28 days later' has an effect on the audience giving the impression of death. It also highlights that the man we see next may be completely alone.
-Dialogue is introduced with the man shouting 'hello!?' With no response, also telling the audience that he is alone. We do however hear a woman say 'Who are you?' but we do not see her, we are not aware whether or not she is a main character.
-Other dialogue narrates the clip and is non-diagetic, the characters can not hear it as it is not synchronized with the scenes we see.
No comments:
Post a Comment