Evaluation: Final Teaser Trailer Evaluation

After finishing the trailer I can now evaluate my work. As soon as it starts the first thing not seen but heard is the heartbeat. Instantly, this reveals to the audience so sort of fast paced energetic film and makes the audience more likely to watch it as they are intrigued. This is soon followed by the first title over black which say 'guns for hire'. This in theory gives the genre away to the target audience as they would associate guns with the action genre. You are also given a sense of the storyline as 'the hire' section tells them that money is involved, most likely mercenaries. After this, you get the first piece of footage of my main actor Tom Springall and another actor Harry Gartell. From this the viewer can see a piece of paper being handed over and as everything seems fairly formal, the audience is most likely to assume that it is either a hitlist or payment. We are then hit with the second title over black which reads '2 men'. From this the audience now knows that there are two main actors and as they have seen two men already they shall assume these are the men. The word men even though it is a common word, aids in the experience of the trailer, as you associate 'men' with grown up, toughened, maturity and serious. Now you get a clip of one of the characters, the one that the piece of paper was being handed over to earlier and as can be seen he is patrolling through the woods. This sets a scene for the audience and they now associate that character with that scene. As it is not obvious where it is, it leaves the audience speculating and wanting to discover more. Half a second or so into the clip, the soundtrack begins. It is a very low pitched, loud drumming sound, you could even say 'manly' and the feeling from this again denotes an action genre. As we move into the next scene of the snow the soundtrack alters slightly, still with a quieter drum beat in the background but now there are symbols, this sets a rhythm and also adds to the suspense of this trailer. As i mentioned, it has now entered a new scene, now with snow, this sets the scene, but implies to the audience that some travelling takes place, but also the audience may associate this as the setting for the second man that was mentioned earlier. The shot alone is an establishing shot, and is a rather effective one as you have snowflakes dropping infront of the camera and see a man in the distance who seems to be patrolling. The third title over black follows this and states '2 rules'. From this, before you even know what these rules are, you have a sense that these men have boundaries, they are limited to what they can do, and cannot break any laws so to speak. This idea is instantly shattered after seeing the next title over black: '1. Kill'. The idea of no boundaries no longer exist, one of their rules are to kill, this is breaking a law and clearly these men just don't care, or are too bothered about the money that they gain. Following this you then have a snippet of some of the killing that takes place during the missions. This shot is rather effective in the sense that it begins with just a tree and a bush. The audience think, 'okay so he is hiding?'. What we next see is someone run in with a gun in their hand, maybe chasing after someone or running away, and then out from the tree our actor comes down and stabs him in the face, killing him. This tells the audience that these men are skilled, they can hide away and strike when it matters. The second rule is now delivered: '2. Survive'. After the initial thought of there being some sort of boundaries, the audience now knows that basically, they live to kill. The clip after this is another snippet of surviving. We see our main actor Tom walking through a corridor, but this time followed by a second man and in his hand is a gun. The first question we ask is, could this person be the second man mentioned in the title sequence earlier. The soundtrack I feel helps this clip work, because after the gun has been put to the back of Tom's head, a guitar piece (electric) begins and quickens up the soundtrack, supporting the idea of an action genre, and supports the defensive manoeuvre carried out by the actor. We are now presented with another title over black this time reading 'worldwide'. I decided to add this after the confusion of changing settings, this would imply that travelling does occur and different countries are involved. We are now shown the snow setting again, and we now know this is where a mission must take place, but what we see is running, so the audience can only make assumptions from this which supports the whole point of a teaser trailer, do not give away the story. So why is he running, he is supposed to be a killer, is this part of his rule of survival? The shot following this of a close-up of his feet is rather effective in connoting the speed and power of these men. Once again, a title over black appears saying 'have they ever thought of anything else'. This is longer than previous titles, but is obvious that a question is being asked and makes the audience want to find out the answer. Again we go back to the snow setting and there is more running, it is obvious this is one sequence of an escape of some kind. The shot change here is feel is rather clever. At the end of one we see what seems to be him flipping over a log, we then change from an extreme long shot to a mid shot of him completing the flip/roll over this log that is in his path. So now he is an acrobat? Well this is what the audience is beginning to feel. We now see just the actor in a rather modern room, wearing sunglasses for some reason. Maybe he wears them so that he feels hidden, his identity is safe, but he then takes them off, and we hear him speak for the first time. He says 'Other than killing?' We can assume this is in response to the previous title sequence. We also notice his voice is rather hoarse, clearly a tough man. The shot used here is clever in the sense that it is at a low angle so we look up at him. He is bigger and better than us, he will always win. Instead of offering an answer, the trailer goes back to the snow and we see him run out of this forest and out into the open. Following on from this is the same shot as last time with the actor after his glasses are off, we can assume straight after the previous talking part. We then receive an answer, 'no'. This once again supports the idea of, he lives to kill. he has no feelings about this, he just wants to kill. After this, the setting changes, we are now in the middle of the woods somewhere, it is sunny this time, and we see a man patrolling. He has a gun in his hand so clearly he is in the middle of a hunt, but he walks cautiously so he must be expecting trouble. The next clip shows him finding this, he quickly jumps behind a tree, so he must have heard something behind him, he cocks his weapon and takes a look around to see what is behind him. At this point, the soundtrack seems to have quietened and the heartbeat has now got louder and the pace of it seems to be a bit faster. We can assume he is scared, or after previous clips, excited due to another possible kill. From this, another title over black is revealed, this time our theory is proven, they were 'born to kill'. This is all they live for. After seeing this, the audience connotes that after coking his weapon in the previous clip, a kill is most likely to take place very seen, another one for the trophy cabinet it seems. But, instead of shooting, he seems to run behind another tree, is he making a tactical move, can he not see whatever he heard from where he was previously. The shot changes here compliment his tactical movement, we can see he is sing different trees as cover and they tie in at exactly the right moments. We see him turn once more, he must have found his target, but it fades to black and another title appears, 'most they win'. Most? MOST? The audience are a bit confused, these are super soldiers, this is all they do, they have spent their life doing this, why most, should it not be all. The soundtrack has died down quite a lot now, the heartbeat is very prominent and a lot faster, is this too much for him, maybe it is after seeing 'most'. The sound we hear next answers our question. A gunshot, very loud, most likely to be some form of sniper rifle, but it is still a black screen, the audience is on the edge of their seats, what has happened. They can only assume death, but to who, can't be whoever was following as he only had a machine gun. The next clip answers our questions once again, our actor is on the floor, he seems to be struggling, and it is the same setting so clearly it follows on. We can see he is attempting to get up, but its happening very slowly, he is in pain, so much for him being a great soldier. The quick shot change is used to show him giving up and slamming back onto the floor. The sound has all gone, no heartbeat, all we hear is the tweet of birds which is rather ironic considering our actor seems to be dying. It just shows how quiet it is, how no one can hear him being shot. Is he dead? Well according to that title he is, 'some they lose'. So after building up this amazing two men, one dies, what a let down. Well that's what the trailer connotes to the audience, but wrong again they are. All of a sudden we hear a heartbeat start up. From a black screen we just have a shot of a face, whose face is this, the head slowly tilts up, his face slightly frustrated, angry, another heartbeat, is his life beginning again? Revenge. The title sequence of the film now follows, white wrting comes from the right hand side of the screen and from the left a heartbeat monitor. The heartbeat ties in perfectly with the monitor and finally the title is revealed. "Seven point 62" A calibre rifle. Guns are clearly the main theme of this film. After a few seconds, we hear another gunshot and a bullet hole appears where the 'o' was. WE then hear more gunshots tied in perfectly as the letters that spell "coming soon" reveal themselves. AT the end, nothing has actually been given away, we know the genre and some settings, two men are involved, and after thinking death must take place, he comes back to life. So what really happens, well the audience know there is only one way to find this out, watch it.