80’s British Crime.

Conventions of Film Trailers.Focusing on the sub genre of

This is England (Shane Meadows, 2006)

This is England is set in Middle England in 1983. The story focuses on young skinheads.

The film portrays skinhead subculture (evolved in the ’60s from white and black culture- originating from ska, soul and reggae music).

Precisely, it shows a young lad, called Shane who is taken under the wing of the local skinheads, he hangs out with the group and becomes part of them. But soon he is at a cross roads of whether or not to follow his former group, or a new group, with affiliations with the National Front.

It illustrates how the skinhead culture became adopted by white nationalists. The film demonstrates how conflict arises between the various groups.

The Business (Nick Love, 2005) The Business follows a young Cockney male who migrates

to the coast of the Costa del Sol, in the mid 80s. While there, he experiences the high life from drug

smuggling- the cars, houses, women, clubs and drugs. He gets in too deep but loves the life it brings and can’t

give it up. Upsetting the local mayor, a friend of his is killed and multi

million pound cocaine deal turns into him running for his life.

He is forced to betray the man who ‘made’ him in Spain and starts again on his own, from the bottom.

The Firm (Nick Love, 2009) The Firm follows a lad in his late teens (Dom), who grows

up on an East London estate in ’84. When at a nightclub, his mate is head-butted by ‘Bex’; top boy of the West Ham football Firm.

Dom then goes to the firm’s main pub and publicly apologises for his friend.

Before he knows it, he is a established member of the firm. Travelling up and down the country fighting with other ‘mobs’.

When meeting with rivals, Millwall, weapons are involved and a West Ham lad is put into hospital.

Retaliating later in the season, West Ham ambush Millwall at a tube station and batter them. Bex is stabbed and ultimately killed. Dom leaves the football scene and returns to his old mates, but still dressed in football clobber.

This is England trailer: Lasting 2 minutes, the trailer shows us some

short clips of the key scenes, briefly painting a small picture of the film for us.

Running throughout is some 80’s ska music, immediately putting images of 80’s skinheads, working class estates and the black and white divide of that era.

During certain scenes there is a voice over, that is actually a clip from the film- highlighting the plot- for example ‘It’s the people that think we owe them a living that need to go back’.

Screen shot (This is England)

Industrial, run down area, common in middle/ northern 80’s England

Here we see the iconic braces, lightly washed turned up jeans and doc martins. Colloquial clothing- specific to this group

The black character here is a constant reminder of the race inequalities that ran through the 80’s.

Despite being outside, the lighting is dull and this is to show the grim side of the 80’s- racism and violence being very prominent

Of course, the Skinhead haircut

This is England, continued:

The film also follows common conventions of all film trailers, there are dozens of short clips, rolled in to set the scene of the movie.

The characters, setting and plot is established. This is done with sound (dialogue, soundtrack and non diegetic voiceover), mis en scene (clothes, esates, run down flats), dull lighting and to a lesser extent, the camera angle (establishing shots).

Unusually, it shows a series of black and white images, quickly flashing in continuous prose- this very quickly shows a young boy’s transformation. This is not a common feature of many film trailers.

Finally, the film trailer shows all it’s positive reviews, written over the setting.

Giving us the name of the music from the soundtrack at the end seemed unecessary.

The Business trailer: Also lasting 2 minutes, the trailer does begin very well to

tell the story- Frankie being told he is going to Spain. We see a short clip of a plane, cash and drugs- key areas of the film.

At the start we see the institution behind the film (Pathé). One of the very first shots we see is Margret Thatcher on the TV- PM for all of the 80’s. (This is also seen in This is England).

The lighting is light, unlike This is England- but this film is about success in the 80’s, and fleeing England (we do see a poorly lit shot of London tower blocks in the cloudy sky).

The main character ‘Frankie’ does a voice over for a lot of the clip, setting the story. ‘There was a time and place where everyone made a killing’.

Running through the whole clip is ‘Video killed the radio star’, a somewhat iconic song from the 80’s.

Screenshots: (The Business)

The Firm Trailer: Lasting 1 minute 55 seconds, this trailer also shows key

clips of key scenes, briefly outlining the story. Considering the intense music that starts and ends it, the

lighting is relatively bright. We see fight scenes, along with scenes in nightclubs, on

trains, down the pub- but oddly not at any football grounds. This may need to be improved (although this is a minor aspect of the film).

Other sound we hear is Bex (not the main character) starting with a voice over- but most talking is dialogue from the scene, played diegetically.

The two soundtracks we hear are ‘I feel love’- Donna Summer and (arguably) the pinnacle of 80’s music: The Jam- A Town Called Malice.

Things to look out for in the trailer: Institutions (different colours than normal) Soundtrack Clothes Change in lighting Picture: ‘From the maker of’ Very last shot: question posed.