28 Days Later- trailer analysis
I decided to analyse the film trailer of 28
days later, as it is in my own sub-genre of zombie horror.
Some of the key elements in a trailer
picked upon are that almost all trailers include the production company right
in the beginning, so for this film the logo for ‘FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES’ was
presented to make the organisations that contributed to the film known. The
director’s name is another key convention of a trailer, which is included here
as well as the credit in the end.
Aside from the conventions of a film
trailer I have come to understand that the occasional use of wording is very
important although the visual is available, in my opinion when there is writing
it leads the audience gets them to think about what the director wants them to
think about in relation to the visual. In 28 Days later key points were noted
down such as ‘the first day’ ‘day 5’ ’28 Days’ and all that comes after relates
to the fist day of the zombie take over to the last, the constant reminder in
words excites and heightens the audience’s experience as it’s gripping and working
both the imaginative and logical side of your brain.
The shots used for the trailer are often
the raw and gripping parts of the film, which effectively sell the movie in
general. Within the first 30 seconds
along with sounds, the trailer grips the audience’s attention by including
graphic scenes such as a tragic fire and a naked man in a hospital bed. Another
factor which makes the trailer exciting and intriguing to watch is the length
of each shot, for example when it came to ‘Day 22’ most of the scenes were fast
paced and passed in a glimpse, long enough to focus on detail however, when it
comes to the naked man in the hospital bed, detail is drawn to that as the
shots change from high/long distance/birds eye view to extreme close up and
slow shots and then the pace is picked up again after the main character is
revealed. Although the pace picks up the transitions are not as rigid and sharp
as before there is a unique smooth flow in the shots not as intense but equally
gripping. I have noticed that in this trailer after the plot is explained- a
little context given to the situation the shots again begin to pick up and
become rigid, sharp and the sound also intensifies. The trailer consists of a
range of subtle to very graphic scenes drawing in all types of audiences.
The use of audio in this film trailer is
very important. Sound is not only used clearly but also manipulated to
interlink with the visual that increases the excitement levels. The very
intense and loud eerie sounds are used straight away in the trailer, sounds of
screeches and wails on top of the hollow, metallic and strong sound effects. As
an audience I think it’s to grab the attention of the audience from the
beginning and to bring the attention of not everyone who watches it but to the
correct target audience as from the beginning the audience are fully aware that
the film contains graphic and strong sounds which does not appeal to everyone.
There are varying sounds when the words are presented on the screen ‘Day
3/15/28’ which are different to the diegetic sounds that are more harsh. In the
trailer there are moments of silences with extremely low levels of ambient
sound. The mode of address just form one character in the trailer varies from a
sound of helplessness to confusion to sinister in the end brings an edgy
atmosphere of self conflicting and gives the trailer a personality of distraught.
Almost half way the soundtrack comes in, which is a contrapuntal music as it
brings gaming/competition style music that could relate to the idea of ‘survival
of the fittest’ in the dystopian society they are part of. Towards the end of
the trailer, more and more speech form the film presented, almost like reeling
in the audiences bit by bit by giving more information each time regarding the
plot. Towards the very end, from 1:40s- 1:50s there is 10 seconds of slow,
emotional music that makes the whole event a reality as it brings you back from
the surreal, edgy and risk taking atmosphere to real emotions being felt due to
the context of the film- people surviving an infection and then right in the end
there’s the same gaming style/heavy metal music, these two pieces of music together
play with real emotions which makes the film far more exciting and thrilling for
audiences.
