LO1 - Analysis of a film trailer - This is England

This is England (Shane Meadows)


A). The purpose for this video is to advertise the film This Is England.
B). The format of this video is a non-linear trailer.
C/D).  The first shot of the trailer is an establishing shot of the beach with a seemingly derelict stone structure in the middle of it, this shows the ugliness of Britain and contrasts the stereotypes types of how Britain is sometimes viewed as a perfect country which is one of the films main themes. Text then appears stating an award the film has won, showing off the positive acclaim that the film has earned. Soon after we also see a young boy talking about how he is getting bullied at school, this makes of think that this might be a drama based around the school life of this character, which makes the shocking spiral of events later in the trailer even more powerful and the defiance of expectations draws in the audience making us want to go and see the film even more. The archive footage helps to capture the era in which the film is set and shows how all these elements will effect and influence the narrative. The props and costumes are further used to create this sense of era, and the Tattoos and skinheads denote their political views and connote a lot about the characters without the need for exposition. Since the trailer needed to be made available for all ages it could not show any explicit violence and cuts away from the shots before showing any of the brutality, however it lets the audience know that this is a film which doesn't shy away from realistic violence. The music used in the trailer helps to solidify the era in which the film takes place, by using tracks released in the 80s it allows the audience to start imagining the film as actually taking part in the past as opposed to being filmed in such a way to make it look like that period. The film uses a strong amount of handheld camerawork, this fits the themes of violence throughout the film. There is also a large amount of close ups, this shows how the film is centred heavily around the characters and their arcs, as opposed to the events and setting. The editing starts of by using a strong amount of smoother fades as transistions,  before quickly changing to the quicker harsher cuts, this shows how the situation quickly escalates and starts to become more violent and dangerous.
E). This trailer is quite conventional for a period drama as it uses from the era and is able to use archive footage from the time, we also get to see how it is reflective of the era which is common for period dramas (especially ones within the 20th century)
F). The film This Is England received an age certificate of 18, but this trailer was made available to all ages, this trailer panders towards an older audience using archive footage to try and appeal their nostalgia. It will appeal more to Males because of the use of violence and people who have a spending power similar to close to C1/C2 due to the subject of the film being related more closely to them.