Trailer conventions of Crime films

Narrative structure of trailers• With a crime genre the equilibrium is

often to do with a crime, but perhaps is broken when a crime goes wrong for example.

• The disequilibrium is usually when a crime goes wrong and the characters are put into a bleak situation and are forced to resolve it.

• The new equilibrium is hinted at in the trailer, that the protagonist will find a resolution stereotypically.

• The trailer usually shows the parts of the final moments or scenes near the end of the film if it contains action.

• Soundtrack is key in crime trailers, often with a score to set the tone of the film; a tense score for Get Carter as an example.

Narrative - Character types in Snatch

• Protagonist and helper – Turkish and Tommy: anti heroes• Antagonist – cousin Avi: American gang leader stereotype• Helper – Mickey (Gypsy) stereotype hero• Villain – Brick Top

• The trailer starts with the line “Every dog has its day” relating to the titles and the criminal characters in the film. It implies that the characters are likely to face conviction or an end to their lives – setting the audience up for a sense of doom.

• The sound of a character shouting ‘put the gun down’ is followed by the song of stuck in the middle with you. It’s a clever use binary opposites to emphasize the feel/ mood of the film and its general genre. A crime/dark comedy.

• The dialogue reinforces the crime genre attached to film; lines like if he doesn’t talk cut off one of fingers. Also the comedy element is shown with witty lines from the characters, aka “Six perfect strangers..” inter title.

• The trailer continues in this fashion showing action, guns and police chases – with the binary opposite of the uplifting music it emphasizes the sub genre of crime caper.

• The trailer climaxes as the song starts to slow down and the narrator reads out the names of the cast “these are the reservoir dogs..” Typical in any film trailer to list the cast to entice the audiences further.

Trailer analysis of the Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarintino, 1992)

Trailer analysis of Snatch (Guy Ritchie, 2000)

• The trailer starts off with a bang, quite literally – fast paced oceans 11 style music setting off straight away. With three crooks dressed as orthodox Jews robbing a jewellery store. This emphasizes the genre and style of the film, what we can expect from the film.

• “Directed by Guy Ritchie, director of ‘Lock stock and two smoking barrels’” flashes on and off the screen set to the hyper fast beat of the music. It tells the audience to expect more of the same the stylized director.

• The narrating of the trailer is done through the characters, “its flawless” one character exclaims (holding the diamond in his hand). This helps to build up the characters portfolio as well as give the audience an insight into the narrative.

• The cockney accents of the characters reinforces the stereotype of the British crime genre, with Brad Pitt also playing a traveller with an accent near impossible to understand – adding a comedy element.

• The editing of the trailer is full of off beat zooms and fast camera rotations, which makes a hectic viewing, pumping up the audience for the film.

Trailer Analysis of Heat (1995, Michael Mann)

• The trailer starts with a deep bass drone styled beat for the soundtrack, building suspense as the actors provide narrative lines to establish the basic outline of the story.

• Robert De Niro and Al Pacino names flash on the screen in a bold blue font.• At the start of the second half of the trailer voice over listing the two main stars of the film;

Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, stating which films they had starred in before. This grabs the attention of the audience further due to the high profile of the actors.

• The trailer in a way is unconventional in that there is a big emphasis on the two actors starring in the film; “There performances in landmark films have created a legacy”.

• The Second half of the trailer changes in its tone from the change in music, from a tense undertone to a more epic/ sensual feeling of a Moby song. – And also the score for the final scene of the film.

• As the trailer comes to a climax, scenes from the bank robbery come to fruition – showing just enough for the audience to want to see the full version of the ‘main event’.

• The trailer in terms of narrator, uses dialogue from Al Pacino and Robert De Niro’s characters where they talk about confronting each other to climax the trailer.

• The Trailer ends with again emphasizing the actors starring in the film and the director of the film; “Michael Mann” to add another star appeal aspect.