The Bank Job trailer analysis

The Bank Job 2008 Trailer from Dziaulis on Vimeo.

The Bank Job is a 2008 action thriller, directed by Rodger Donaldson and starring Jason Statham  as well as Saffrom Barrows. The film itself is loosely based around an actual bank robbery that took place at Baker Street in 1971. The trailer uses many devises to try and engage audiences in the trailer, as clearly seen in the structure and iconography of the trailer.

The trailers soundtrack is heavily used in the film, the song " London Calling" is a perfect choice of soundtrack for the trailer as the singer has an iconic London accent, which all connotes the class difference in London during the 1970s. This relates heavily to the main character, who is a struggling mechanic, who shares the same accent as the singer in the song.  Which makes audiences compare the two, portraying the lead character ( Jason Statham) as being important.

Another aspect of the trailer that highlights the class difference is the contrast of London that the lead actor is in, compared to the mise-en-scene that the characters are seen in the two opening shots. The contrast is that the colors and iconography of the two opening shots are very bright and beautiful. The first shot opens with the camera looking out of the crystal clear sea, which in turn makes the viewer think that the two characters shown are in a tropical part of the world. The second shot of the trailer shows the two characters we previously saw engaging in intercourse, in a very beautiful looking villa.  The mise-en-scene of  opening trailer then changes to a very bleak looking London, especially the part that the main character is seen in, which looks rough and scruffy. Therefore, immediately as the trailer opens it highlights a certain class difference between the main characters and the people in the opening shots. This idea that the main character is lower class is then reinforced in the shots of the police station, of which the interior is very decadent and polished.

The tone of the trailer changes throughout, the two extremes being a tone of carefree nature and fun, then towards a more serious approach, in which actual danger is highlighted. As I stated before, the opening shots of the trailer showing the two characters in the beautiful scenery, connotes a very carefree and happy tone to the trailer, easing the viewer into the trailer and making them put their guard down. However, the tone then changes again very quickly as it becomes obvious that someone is taking pictures of the two characters engaging in intercourse, which connotes a very shocking tone as the viewer assumes that the photos will not be used for good purposes. The trailer then re enforces the gravity of what the viewer has seen, with two of the police officers having a conversation. The police men state : " Unsavory pictures of one royal princess" which not only reinforces the class difference between the main character and the characters in the opening shot, but also challenges the convention representation of the Royal family, which is comedic as it shows them as promiscuous.  This comedic tone is kept throughout the trailer, through the use of commentary by the characters and jokes followed by shots of characters laughing.  However, then the tone takes an even more sinister approach as it becomes clear by characters saying " why don't you tell us what this is really about" and the shots of men in black suits with weapons, that the robbers have committed a crime on the wrong people.  The sinister tone is then reinforced by shots of one of the robbers being tortured, and running from men who are obviously chasing them. The soundtrack of " London Calling" and its heavy nature is used to connote the danger that the characters are in, as the feeling of being in danger were ever the robbers go in London is shown by them being chased by police and gangsters.

Costume is also used throughout the trailer to promote the 70s era mise- en-scene. The use of various 70s style clothing such as turtle necks are used, combined with other various items of clothing. This is almost used to also promote the comedic tone of the middle part of the trailer, as their attire links into the modern day perception of fashion in the 70s, in which we think its outdated and odd looking. The trailer plays with this idea, and it re enforces the mise-en-scene

Case study: Psycho trailer

The trailer for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho changed the codes and conventions of movie trailers and changed the way movie trailers were made and how they advertise their movies. Psycho came out around the time that the " star director" phase of Hollywood was coming about. This was a time when influential film makers such as Alfred Hitchcock started to use their fame to advertise movies by actually being in their movies trailer. Psycho, which changed many of the conventions of horror, had an equally unconventional trailer. At the beginning of the trailer, Alfred Hitchcock is seen at the set of his film that he describes as a " quiet, normal motel just off the highway" the use of diagetic sound and lack of musical score at the start of the trailer, defies the convention of movie trailers at the time and also adds to the general tension of the trailer. Hitchcock voice itself is very melodramatic and also adds to the general tension of the scene.

 Camera work 

 At the beginning of the trailer, there are multiple camera shots of someones body parts, such as hands and feet, as well as the iconic blood mixed with water scene. These close up shots display that from the start that some sort of attack has occurred. The trailer then cuts to a shot of a silhouette of a man, with a knife in his hand. This provides a chilling and disturbing feeling to the scene, as it enables the audience to piece together the close up shots and realize the man with the knife has committed the crime. Camera work in the trailer is unconventional as I explained in my introduction. An example of this is the establishing shot that displays Alfred Hitchcock standing on the set of his movie, explaining what happened in the scene we saw before. Convention of film trailers at the time was that the shots would then explain the basic narrative of what is happening in the film. Therefore, having the director actually explaining what just happened in the scene is very unconventional and was almost unheard of at the time. As I stated before, Hitchcock's melodramatic voice and dead pan expression add to the overall disturbing nature of the scene.

                                                                                                                                          Mise- en- scene 

Low key lighting is used to create an aura of terror and to tap into viewers fear of the dark, when psycho came out    most films were in color, so the fact that psycho is in black and white is supposed to connote a feeling that it is almost too horrifying to show in black and white. The contrast between the actual motel, which looks very normal and non threatening, and the house in which the villain lives in is very big.  The house looks very much like the conventional haunted Gothic manor, which has become a norm in the horror genre and shows how Hitchcock combines aspects of both horror and thriller in the trailer. This effects the audience by making them feel uneasy about the contrast between the motel and the house.  The use of the shower is supposed to connote feelings of being vulnerable as in the shower you are naked and nude is usually associated with vulnerability, therefore the killer committing the crime whilst the victim is in the shower  is designed to shock audiences and make them feel unsafe, as they can relate to the vulnerability of being naked in the shower.




       

Codes and Conventions of the action genre

The Expendables Movie Trailer from nangipad on Vimeo.

Codes and Conventions of Action Genre

·         12/15 certificate, maximizing the age demographic of audiences

·         Often hybridised with other genres such as  Sci Fi/Adventure/Romance

·         Major Hollywood studio produced and distributed

·         High production values including CGI FX. Fast paced editing

·         Classic Hollywood 3 act narrative structure ( beginning, middle, end) 

·         Predictable chain of events – cause and effect- can guess the ending. 

·         Single stranded, linear, closed narrative, not a complex story

·         Dramatic non-diegetic soundtrack

·         More narrative action codes than enigma codes

·         Clear binary oppositions- good and bad guys 

·         Star Marketing: Audience identification/expectations (Cruise/Pitt/Willis/Thurman/Jolie/Stallone/Craig/SchwarzeneggeDi Caprio…). Generic Typecasting and Secondary Persona apply- big names to go with the character personalities. 

·         Romantic sub-plot, Humorous dialogue, lots of comradeship  

·         Relationships with new technology (youth audiences) 

·         Dominant representation of gender: male/female action hero. Mulvey’s male gaze and contemporary female gaze can apply,  mainly male heros, sometimes one female will be a hero. 

·         Uses and Gratifications theory can be mapped onto Action Films


All the different codes and conventions of the action genre are designed to excite audiences and make them amazed and invested in the action. After watching " The Expendibles" and the "Taken" trailer, it was very apparent that the genre differs heavily in terms of story and narrative.  The Expendibles seems to take a lot more focus on the action, which is almost super human as it involves all of the actors almost leaping into fights, with the action intensified by close ups and quick shots of the battle. The conventions of action are somewhat broken in " taken" which takes it stroy a lot more seriously. However, many of the codes and conventions are still there.

In the Expendibles trailer, immediatly the conventions of a major Hollywood studio poducing the film, and a " voice of god"  narration of the trailer. This is supposed to add a sense of suspense as the tone of the narrator is very masculin and deep. The way the narration states that " the only world theyve ever known is war"  connotes that they are professional killers, which appeals to the audience as it means that they will get to see good quality action. It is worth noting that the majority of audiences who watch action films are male, therefore the conventions of male gaze are used in the trailer, and the romantic sub-plot used to add some sex appeal.  Researching the codes and convention of action also highlighted how simple some action films can be, with a straighforward begining middle and end.  There is sometimes a slight twist in the tale, but usually the narrative is very linear.
The differences in " Taken" to the Expendibles are very obvious. Taken takes more time with buildings its narrative and characters, and also succeeds in hitting home the serious themes that are involved with the story, such as sex slavery and human trafficing.

sources of research for the history of trailers.

For my research on the history of movie trailers I used the website filmmakers IQ. This website had a video explaing the history of the fil trailer throughout the ages, and i felt as though it was a very reliable souce as the website covers many aspects of the history of film very well. http://filmmakeriq.com/ I then proceeded to conduct my research in the written paragraphs that discussed the evolution of the movie trailer. http://filmmakeriq.com/2014/03/the-history-of-the-movie-trailer/

The history of movie trailers

intertextuality