Analysis - Taken trailer

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene used throughout this trailer allows the audience to view the characters and content within the trailer to be realistic.  The use of casual, everyday clothing such as jeans, t-shirts and jumpers gives a sense that the events shown in the trailer can happen in everyday life and this it should be viewed upon as not a fictional storyline but a problem that may occur and what people may have to deal with at some point in their life.  The use of real cities and buildings allows the audience to have some sense of orientation and establish the differences between the cultures of the united kingdom and france.  Interestingly, the two main characters appear to be of similar age as to what the target audience will be.  This allows the audience to relate to the characters that they will be viewing.

Editing

As the storyline of the film needs to be shown in the trailer the majority of the cuts are of medium pace so enoguh is given away to the audience to allow them to come to a decision on their thoughts of what the full film will be like and what content it will contain, however these cuts are not too long as the producer will not want to give away too much of the story line so the audience still remains inquisitive and has an incentive to go and view the full film.  There are moments within the trailer where fast cuts are included.  These are minimal but frequent and occur mostly near the end of the trailer.  The fast cuts are used to add suspense and also give the illusion of fast pace.  The illusion of fast pace will be reflecting the fact that majority of the content within the film is action based e.g. chases between the father and the kidnappers.  The fact that they increase in intensity allows tension and suspense to build as the trailer goes on leaving the audience at the highest level of suspense dramatising the content which will potentially increase their desire to go and view the film or buy products.  Each cut is shown in chronological order in relation to how they will appear in the film.  This not only adds to the realism of the film but also allows another editing technique to be used; fades.  Fades are used between each cut to show the passing of time.  As the cuts are shown in chronological order with fades, or otherwise passing of time, inbetween each cut entices the audience to guess what is going on inbetween the content shown and the reason behind the events. 

Camera Shot/Angles

The majority of the camera shots used in this trailer are mid shots of the main characters; these being, the father and the daughter.  This allows ther audience to become familiar with the characters that will be involved in the majority of the screen time.  With the audience being familiar with the audience allows the audience to recognise any products involved with this film e.g. posters, magazines, screen savers etc.  There are also close ups used to enhace the increasing familiarisation that the audience will have of the characters as it allows the audience to feel connected with their gestures and emotions allowing the audience to feel the same emotions as the characters therefore more involved with the film.  There is also a close up teamed with a zoom on the mobile phoen the daughter uses to talk to her dad.  This close up and zoom is used to signify that the audience should view this prop as having high importance in this film as this phone is the man way of communication between the father and the kidnappers.  There is an establishing shot used along with a pan to allow the audience to be familiarised with the settings and places where the events are occuring.  By establishing the setting will allow the audience to understand the differences in language, bahviour and way of life portrayed in the film.

Sound

The music used for this trailer is minimal.  The majority of the sound is dialogue between the two main characters.  This may be due to the fact that there is no text superimposed onto the screen to explain the storline therefore dialogue is the main way of allowing the audience to understand the content that they are viewing.  The minimal sound that is used is mainly sound effects that compliment the cuts that occur.  These sound effects used are of high pitch and dramatic therefore, along with the fast cuts where they are used, adds to the intensity and enhances the suspense that is building up.  The sound effects used also help to reflect the genre of the film to the audience.

What I Have Learnt

Three things that I havelearnt from analysing this trailer and I will incorporate and consider when constructing my own trailer are;

- Use costumes and clothing that suit the purpose of the character and reflect the realism this needs to be created in my trailer e.g. everyday clothes

- Use fast paced cuts to add tension and suspense, also to portray that the content of the film will be fast action paced

- Use close ups and zooms to signify to the audience that the objects are an important factor within the trailer and film.