Trailer Analysis - Action (x2)

Trailer Analysis

Gangster Squad

The trailer starts with dark, mysterious non-diegetic music to match the scene on screen, its low pitched and suspenseful as the audience try to establish characters and the plot. An explosion and a single gun shot in a short fast paced montage as the music increases in tempo and suspense, give the audience a clue as to what to expect from this film and conforms to conventions. There's a short silence as the dialogue is signified to be the most important part with one of the main characters stating "you're not going to change anything around here sarge" which indicates both that the police have a strong involvement (sarge) and that this is going to be a typical good vs bad sort of film and identifies it's target audience within the first 30 seconds. The music changes to a guitar playing a much more eerie tune, drawing the audience in as more about the plot and the characters is revealed, diegetic sound of the flashes of camera connote that this man is famous and in turn powerful and conventionally has a gorgeous woman attached to his arm who inevitably one of the 'good guys' will end up getting involved with. Gun shots show how this will be a physical battle with guns, blood, death and violence rather than some of the more complex battles done with money or property or politics and entices audiences in as unlike these new sophisticated action films, like the setting this film is old fashioned and is your classic gang vs police, good vs bad film. The dialogue helps set the scene as one character states this is "a war against mickey cohen" (the bad guy) and confirms what the audience already thought. Dramatic pulses of music compliment the shots of the newly established 'gang' on screen before more gun shots can be heard giving the stereotypical audience more of what they want to see in an action film. More dramatic pulses lead into more upbeat music - as romance becomes prominent in the trailer conforming to conventions that there has to be a hot woman in the film to give the stereo typically male dominant audience what they're after. There are also some witty, not so serious lines throughout the trailer to lighten the mood slightly and show that this film isn't all doom and gloom (example 1: "you want to take me away from all of this and make an honest woman out of me? No mam i was just hoping to take you to bed"). Conforming to conventions there's is of course also the dramatic one liners which add drama and excitement to the whole trailer (example: "you can't shoot me you're a cop. Not anymore", "I have to finish this" and "I'm looking out for you"). This is complimented by more gun shots, more explosions, more violence and some 20's music which nicely matches the time zone the film is set in.

The establishing shot is dark and connotes mystery and something sinister which links in with the story about an 'eastern crook', there's a close up shot of Mickey (the villain) in very low key lighting showing his emotionless look on his face and shows him to be a nasty, rotten man who doesn't care about anyone but himself. A low angle shot of him with a gun reinforces the idea that he's very powerful and is almost untouchable, contradictory to that, a few shots later as he steps out of his car with the girl , a high angle shot is used suggesting the girl could be his downfall, his one weakness as convention suggests woman always seem to be mens' weak point, alternatively it could suggest the police will be successful in bringing him down as in the previous shot it showed the cops talking about waging a war on him - the shot could be foreshadowing him exiting a police car at the end of the film after he's been caught. A close up shot of the sarge followed by a medium shot of Mickey suggests we know more about the sarge than we do about Mickey even though at this point we know very little about the sarge it's because Mickey is hiding so much and has so many secrets, alternatively it could suggest we as the audience are closer to the sarge as we root for the good guys to win or because we know them better as we know their plan. Medium shot of the gang together mean there is very little empty space in the frame suggesting they are the only thing that is important and are central to the film narrative. Close up shot's of guns as the cops grab them shows the audience more of what they want and are a promise of more violence to come, alternatively they could also be emphasising how bad this villain must be as they've had to take such drastic actions to attempt to bring him down. A medium shot of the girl followed by a close up shot suggest he gets to know this woman very quickly, alternatively the medium shot could have been used to draw attention to the bright red dress she is wearing which connotes danger, blood and love suggesting she may die because she is involved with these gangs. The use of several two shots of the cop and the woman reinforce the idea that they get to know each other well quickly and in turn become a great team, one which means they both have something to lose - conventional in all action films. A low angle shot of the cop, matched with a high angle shot of the guy on floor shows how powerful he has become from being in this fake gang and possibly how power hungry he has become and also how ruthless he has become as he shoots the guy with as little emotion as the villain did right back at the start of the trailer. A medium shot is used to show an explosion go of behind them - giving the audience more of a glimpse of what they're expecting, with a long shot showing a car chase too. A low angle shot of Mickey as he's kicking someone to death show's him to be the powerful villain he was at the start but, just like earlier in the trailer, it is followed by a high angle shot of him when he's with the girl suggesting she will be his downfall, she causes him to be weak. There are close up shots of the characters after their actor names appear on screen to help emphaises to the audience some of the big names that feature in this film - drawing in more audiences, for example by having Ryan Gosling many woman will go see this film who wouldn't have done before.

The trailer begins with gangster Mickey and his victims pleading 'sorry' before a short fast paced montage shows just how ruthless he is as he murders them and also gives a hint towards the high levels of violence, blood and death in this film. The next shot is of two cops talking about how they want to change things - it establishes good vs bad in this film as you seen it will be the cops vs Mickey's gang. A short montage about the history of Mickey before the sarge states he's putting a squad together, they leave their badges at home and pick up guns instead signifying how this wont be your average political war between police and gangs, this will be fought on the streets with explosions, action and shoot outs - exactly what the audience want. Now that the background of the film has been set we as the audience can delve further into the characters lives and a future romance can be introduced to bring in a larger target audience - it's not cheesy enough to make men not want to watch the film but there's enough there so make the ladies want to see the film (mainly for Ryan Gosling). The trailer cuts back to the cop's, not dwelling too much on the romance part and shows how ruthless they have become, some explosions are out in to to add the action back and keep the momentum of the trailer up before some more of the plot is revealed as Mickey talks about families to bring the film some more heart, scenes of the new couple together as well as the sarge with his family are supposed to pull on the audiences heart strings and show it's not just a load of shoot outs - these are real people. After a few more gun shots and explosions you see more of the romance and the struggles in the relationships between the new couple and the sarge and his wife. For even more action there's a car chase, some more explosions inter-cut with more shots of the couples and more shots of Mickey and the violence that accompanies him before the main actors names appear on screen followed by individual shots of them to highlight all the talent in this film. To round of the trailer there is yet more action, more explosions, more gun shots with Mickey delivering the last line and firing the last bullet which could suggest he reins supreme at the end of it all or that he goes down fighting but it's only his legacy that survives.

The first shot is dark connoting mystery, low key lighting is used to show Mickey (the antagonist) and the violent scenes that follow as he murders them, the only light coming from an explosion. The flame lit rag on what can only be guessed is cans of fuel suggest something big is going to explode in his future - this could be the war against the cops. When he first see the cop he's wearing a dark red shirt connoting blood which suggests he may end up dead or he may wish he was dead after this is all over (linking to Mickey's final line he delivers in the trailer where he says "you're gonna be begging for a bullet before it's over"). Just like in the other action trailers the film production logos come a bit later in the trailer the they do in other genre's suggesting they're not as important for drawing in the right audiences or for selling the film to audiences. Subverting from conventions they are all wearing suits, both the good and the bad guys whereas conventionally only the bad guys wear suits but this is the 1920's so it simply reflects what people wore in those days. The white flower of the cops suit symbolises his innocence at the start of the film before all the killing happened as its pure and clean. This is the same for the 'gang' of police officers whilst they're training as they all have white shirt on suggesting their innocence going into all of this but they all have an item of black clothing somewhere on them too suggesting maybe none of them are really that innocent at all. The red dress the the girl wears when she first meets the cop connotes romance, unlike the cops shirt earlier on in the trailer that was a dark red like blood - this is a pure, lighter red and shows how she will be the love interest of both Mickey and the cop - which will inevitably cause more problems - and therefore the red could also symbolise the danger she brings with her for the cop. More fires and explosions bring colour to this otherwise plain, dark film and is another reason why the woman's' dress stood out so much as there is no real other colour in this film. The plain white shirt on the cop later on in the trailer when he talks to the woman suggests she is helping him keep his innocence as she questions whether what he's doing is right whereas he may be just seeing it as 'normal' now. The white shirt on Mickey suggests something different though - it could suggest how he is clean cut and knows what he's doing inside out and knows how not to get caught but when he was in a shot with the woman he's wearing a blue/green coloured shirt suggesting she makes him lose his concentration and supports the idea that she will be his downfall. There is only about 3 or 4 shots in the entire trailer with high key lighting showing how dark this film is as low key lighting is used almost entirely throughout. This subverts from convention as usually action films use a lot of high key lighting.