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Film Trailer Analysis
Crime Genre
Jane Lawrance
61589
Snatch
(2000) Guy Ritchie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUloT3Dh3-E
Snatch – British Crime
Snatch (2000) is a hybrid
British crime film using
iconography from the 1960s.
This incorporates; Crime
capers and spaghetti
westerns as well as bringing
in themes from 1980s gritty
gangland and heist films.
Postmodern elements
include; high art editing and
challenging representations
and narrative themes.
Characters
The Protagonist and Helper
– Turkish and Tommy – anti
heroes
The Antagonist
– Cousin Avi American Gang
Leader Stereotype
The second Helper
– Mickey – Gypsy (Pikey)
Stereotype –can’t understand
what he is saying. Turns out to be
good in the end.
The second Antagonist
– Brick Top – British Gang Leader
Stereotype.
No female roles?
Narrative Structure
Act 1 – introduces the narrative
equilibrium. Themes include: Diamond
heist by the American gang hinted at
through the voice over of Turkish (Main
Protagonist) who is also linked to the
parallel plot of boxing matches.
Act 2 – The Disruption. Highlighted with
key texts “Where is the stone” and
“you’re going down” hint at rigged fights.
Then the montage of action shots from
the fight, “woops”.
Act 3 – The cast are introduced using
time remapping, spaghetti western
influenced graphic sequence with
further hints at attempts to ‘fix’ the
disruption. The graphics used have an
almost graphic novel feel to them.
Camera/ Mise-en-Scene
Skewed framing gives a postmodern feel
of unease to the narrative and
characters.
Props are used to establish iconography.
E.g. guns, crime. Trench coats suggest
the characters are shady but smart.
Low key lighting gives it a “Noir-ish”
quality. Half light is used on characters
to create a more dark feel, set in the
darker side of life, rigged boxing
matches etc.
Costume help to establish stereotypes
within the narrative, testing
postmodern notions of challenging
representations.
Set establishes the bleak underworld –
illegal bare knuckle boxing arenas.
Editing
Postmodern Editing – Time remapping
(Guy Ritchie uses this a lot) used to
accentuate action in scene and excite the
spectator.
Still framing used as an anti-narrative
device. Helps to highlight key frames of
action and with the added voiceover of
Turkish allows the audience to connect
with the protagonist throughout the trailer
and helps to drive key narrative points.
Still frames are also used to highlight
characters using heavily stylised graphics.
These use graphic novel styles and
spaghetti western fonts. Both of these
films are also seen within the Soundtrack.
Sound
Voiceover – using the Turkish
(protagonist) to set up the
narrative and themes. An antihero with a cheeky cockney
drawl, establishes the ‘crime
capers’ element.
Fast paced ‘remixed’ dance music
drives the action.
Remix of 1970s iconic “Apache”
Incredible Bongo Bands.
Diegetic sound uses dialogue
from key characters to help drive
the narrative.
Non- diegetic sound effects such
as ‘fast rewind; used as visuals
and editing speeds up.
Brighton Rock
(2010) Rowan Joffe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwImMuLnZ-U
Brighton Rock
– British Crime
Brighton Rock (2010) is a
remake of the 1947 film by
John Boulting. It has taken
the story from the original
film and slightly updated it,
it is now set in the 1960s
and uses iconic imagery
from this period.
Postmodern elements
include: Pastiche,
intertextuality and
Bricolage.
Characters
The Protagonist – Pinkie Brown
– stereotypical character to be
an antagonist, British gangster
The Antagonist/ Helper- Frank
Splicer – British gangster
The Damsel – Rose
The Female Antagonist – Mrs
Arnold
The Victim – Fred Hale
Narrative Structure
Act 1 – Hint at disruptions through the
use of dark music, suggested violence
and low key lighting.
Act 2 – The Murder. Violence is shown, a
man is being chased by people that are
later seen talking to rose. Mrs Arnold is
shown as a strong female figure
threatening the men a femme fatale.
Act 3 – Hint at resolution through Pinkie
being shown as less violent towards Rose
(kissing in the rain, dancing in the
ballroom). Rose and Pinkie are together
“Your good and I’m bad we are made for
each other” – classic clique kissing in the
dark. There is a trust between them Rose
isn’t scared of his violent side, cliff scene
and she takes the gun from him on the
pier.
Camera/ Mise-en-Scene
Low key lighting and use of half shadow
gives the film a “Noir- ish” style as well
as this shots of the pier appear sepia like
the pictures that are shown on the pier
at the beginning.
Costumes help bring forward the era of
the piece as well as the use of Bricolage
in the use of iconic props for example the
Vespa’s suggest the 1960s and hold
connotations of Mods and Rockers, as
well as this Pinkie has his hair styled like
a mod, slicked back and he wears sharp
suits which is seen in the trailer were he
dresses himself.
Interesting shot that follows Pinkie as he
moves through a hall way, slow pan gives
the illusion of being a track.
Pastiche is used in reference to the
original film there are lots of aspects
borrowed iconic images for example;
the cut that appears on Pinkie’s
cheek.
Reflections used to show faces,
commonly found in dark crime or
thriller films as well as this we see an
interesting use of lighting within the
church scene where light comes
through in pillars from the windows.
The dark shot of the oceans suggests
a sense of the unstoppable deadliness
before the trailer has begun (a force
of nature).
Editing
Inventive use of transitions throughout the
trailer, simple cuts, lots of dips to black
(reminiscent of Film Noir conventions) and one
transition where they use the flash of an old style
camera to create a white flash to transition to the
next shot – this brings a real sense of darkness to
the next scene.
There is a static shot of the pier which is edited to
look sepia, use of iconic location, the aged colour
allows the audience to register it is set in the past
as well as this exposition is used to tell us the
date.
Flash backs are used in this piece, the fast editing
between shots in the murder scene allow the
audience to see the violence and the effects of
the violence quickly.
Silhouetted shots of the pier are used to create
the feel of antique pictures like those seen on the
pier during the trailer.
Sound
Lots of diegetic sound is used to create an
atmosphere. Waves, seagulls, fog horns ect.
Voice over is used to introduce our two
main characters Pinkie and Frank, both of
which have threatening sounding voices.
Having two voiceovers doesn’t normally
happen in a crime film such as this the story
normally has one perspective and so having
this dual narrative from the beginning helps
the audiences to distinguish characters and
may suggest that these two people may not
necessarily be on the same side.
Dialogue used in the piece is to set up the
story, most of the language is either
threatening gangster related dialogue from
Frank or conversation between Pinkie and
Rose. This sets up opposing themes in the
trailer as well as connecting Frank and
Pinkie through the girl.
Se7en
(1995) David Fincher
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4YV2_TcCoE
Se7en – Crime Thriller
Se7en (1995) is a crime thriller
that plays with the idea of the
seven deadly sins. It follows
detectives Somerset (Morgan
Freeman) and Mills (Brad Pitt) as
they investigate a series of
disturbing murders linked with
the seven deadly sins.
Postmodern elements include;
challenging narratives and
ideologies, intertextuality and
blurred genres.
Characters
The Protagonist – Detective Somerset
(Freeman) – Stereotypical Hero
Helper – Detective Mills (Pitt) – more of a
‘postmodern cowboy’ isn’t a hero at the start.
Suggested Damsel – Tracy (Mill’s wife), she is
the only women we see, blonde, slightly ditsy.
Not associated with the darkness of the rest of
the trailer.
Antagonist – The Murderer – we see a glimpse
of the victims but not the murderer we are just
given a sense of this ominous force being
there…seven deadly sins… it could be
suggested that the murderer is associated with
the devil through his lack of concrete identity.
Narrative Structure
Act 1 – we are introduced to the two main
characters and what they are like. Interesting
that we see Brad Pitt first instead of Morgan
Freeman.
Act 2 – almost straight away we see the
suggestion of a murder. A serial killer. And we
are made aware that Detective Somerset sees
these things everyday.
Act 3 – Not that much of a hint a resolution.
Only that they figure out that there are two
more murders that are going to happen for all
seven sins to have been completed so they
are close to the end of the case. The only hint
at something bright and happy is the white
light we see Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow) in, in
every shot of her in the trailer, dressed in
white, white apartment and smiling and
white smile.
Camera/ Mise-en-Scene
The first shot seen is an over the shoulder shot, weird
to think this what they have chosen as it gives the
piece an instantaneous sense of enigma. We ask
ourselves who Mills is talking to and also how his face
has gotten so beaten up.
Somerset on the other hand is seen in a darker place
suggesting that he is surrounding or even enveloped
in mystery rather than just a few questions, he also
shines a light towards the camera which may suggest
that he is searching his own mysteries.
Somerset and Mills both wear mac coats and hats this
is an intertextual reference to old style crime, added
with the use of half shadow and low key lighting we
can say that it is also referencing Film Noir.
Frequent use of close ups, extreme close ups and mid
shots keeping things very close to the characters and
not opening up the story and not allowing the
spectator to see the rest of the screen.
The use of reflections is a common theme in thrillers,
the use of a reflection in rippling water distorts
identity and adds enigma to the character.
Editing
Flashes are used as transitions in this
piece, helping to create a more fast
paced narrative. Dip transitions are used
as well to slow action and allows the
narrative to run smoothly. Fast cuts are
used with the action to create more
uninterrupted narrative pace.
Font used in this piece, resembles
scratchy handwriting and gives a sense
of detailed personal experience as seen
in the title with the tally of seven.
The use of dark low key lighting and
bright lighting allows us to see the
characters Somerset and Mills
separately as well as allowing us to see
Tracy separate from the narrative of the
film.
Sound
Sounds used in this piece help to create an
atmosphere in the trailer. An ominous booming
noise is used to communicate a sense of impending
doom. The voiceovers of both Somerset and Mills
allows the audience to see them as a pair instead of
separate.
The use of the Metronome click introduced the idea
of a methodical detective. The absolute epitome of
all Hollywood trailers incorporate the gruff deep
male voiceover which this trailer has because of this
we know that this voice over isn’t a character from
the movie as it follows the conventions of
Hollywood as well as this we have already heard
Somerset and Mills and it would be weird if they
had had more than two voiceovers.
Ghostly music is used in the piece to create tension
and a sense of death. The use of dialogue “He’s two
murders away from completing his masterpiece”
allows the audience to be pulled in to the story and
suggests a rush to solve the murders, no hint at
resolution.