The Expendables

2. The Expendables What makes a good trailer? This is a “Close Up”. This shot captures the emotions and facial expressions of a character. The lighting used is effective because, the shadow is used to enhance the shot. it could be trying to tell us as an audience that this character has both a “good side” and a “bad side”, the good being the light and the bad being the dark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6RU5y2fU6s There are many reasons as to why I believe this trailer is successful, these include the use of: sound, editing, camera shots, angles and movement, and many more. Within the first seventeen seconds of this trailer, the audience is given a direct reference as to what genre this particular film is of (voiceover) – “They are the world’s greatest mercenaries the only life they know is war” – this very short sentence gives us (target audience) a clear indication as to what this film is going to contain, for example; fighting scenes, car chases, shootouts etc, therefore making it clear to depict that this film will be of the “Action” genre. Target Audience – by looking at the film poster you are instantaneously drawn in by the background of fire and the destruction behind the actors. Without any sort of speech we can immediately tell which type of audience this film is trying to attract. And if that isn’t enough convincing to prove what audience this film is trying to entertain, the big gun in actor Jet Li’s hand is a clear signal that the film is of an action nature, meaning the target audience are action lovers. Subtitles used to help narrate the story as well as the voiceovers used throughout the trailer. Here we see one fighting scene slowly fading away.... Here we see a blackout... We can now see the next clip. This was quite a common and straightforward editing technique used throughout the course of the trailer. However, I believe simplicity is more effective because it adds and maintains the fast, upbeat, unexpectable nature of the film.

3. Link of images/sound/voiceover The link between these three aspects vary during the course of this trailer. For example; when being shown parts of the trailer, the sound you hear could be from a different character than the one your being shown. Basically meaning, the sound does not have to match the action on screen however it can be used to link parts of the trailer together. Also, the voiceover can be used as a replacement to help tell the story without giving away parts of the script unnecessarily. The Expendables Sound The music that accompanied the trailer was a reflection of what was happening onscreen. The music represented the nature of the film, meaning it was upbeat, fast tempo, and also mind-blowing. This is also known as “Incidental Music”. Other aspects of sound included in this trailer was; Non Digetic – anything the characters onscreen can’t hear, i.e. voiceover, Digetic - anything the characters can hear i.e. Gunshots, explosions etc. How does it tease and tempt you to go and watch the film? Due to the short nature of trailers, you only have a short time in which you can become trapped. Therefore, if you are bombarded with all your favoured aspects from your preferred genre, then it is suddenly taken away from you, it will cause you to feel anxiety due to not knowing what happens next. This would then usually lead to the target audience wanting to go and view the film. Consequently, this is why I believe the trailers work in the sense of luring the viewer into watching the film. • Codes and Conventions • The codes and conventions that are included within this trailer that specifies the genre are as follows: • Explosions • Car Chases • Shoot-outs • Fighting Scenes • Destruction • Predominantly Males