Film trailer analysis.By Eleftheria Kousta.

Trailer 1

"Bamako", by Abdelrahman Sissako• Bamako is a story about a couple Mele and Chaka. They live in the

capital of Mali and they are on verge of breaking up. Their story is coupled with a court set on their yard, that has to decide if they will drop or not the case against IMF and international banks that have devastated Mali and many other African countries.• The movie is shot in documentary style, but it is subjected to high

surrealist and symbolic levels.• Trailer Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWOSPIqQExY

• The trailer starts by some of the awards/nominations it achieved, in order, to increase the film's status on the audience's eyes.• In the background we can hear

an African folk song, which indicates the film's origin. This is also reinforced by the title of the first festival award/nomination in the opening(African in Motion: Edinburgh African Film Festival).

• Next there is a pan establishing location. The location, is a desert and indicates that it is not in a Western country.• The next shot is a high angle shot

specifying the location of the court: a backyard. Most people who participate in the scene are of African, possibly Malian origin, so we know the film centers around its country's people.

Next we see some shots of a person who was an immigrant, giving a testimony to the court. His testimony indicates some of the themes in the film.Next it cuts to Mele who is sitting in her room. The apartment is small and poor, indicating the conditions people in Mali live in and thus justifying the immigrant man's thesis.

The shot sequence cuts to two black screens (seperated by a brief long shot of a man on a river and the desert in the background.. The trailer poses a question to the audience, that will consist the center theme of the movie, which is going to be tackle in the court which is set up.

• In the next shot a woman giving testimony, answers the two questions posed.

• She says that two thirds of their children are illiterate and it is because of privatization of education

• As she says that the camera cuts to the female protagonist Mele and a man holding his child. Thus indicating and emphasizing for who she is talking about.

• Also the trailer indicates that what is said on the court it actually affects the life of the protagonist Mele and Chaka who are seen working in petty jobs and living in absolute poverty.

• Mele later is seen working as a singer in a bar and she is the one singing the soundtrack.

Next a question similar to the previous one arises. The sequence is broke by a black screen giving the audience the name of the director. As soon as the black screen dissolves, a man who is testifying to the court appears and answers the question.

• The song changes and a montage sequence follows, projecting images of the everyday life of Bamako's residents. Except from a wedding scene, they are poorly dressed, mainly in non western clothing. Their life seems hard in some ways since we see women washing clothes on hand collectively in a yard and there seems to be little infrastructure. Yet, we see them happy quite a lot, they watch movies, meet with friends, etc...Thus indicating that life goes and people overcome hardships even in the toughest conditions. • The title of the movie appears indicating the end of the trailer.• The trailer suddenly cuts on a close up to a woman giving

testimony and saying "its hard, but I am optimistic as hell", thus giving some short of resolution to the trailer. She gives this punchline to confirm the approach above.• At last the screen fades to black and letters appear saying "Coming

Soon", which indicate that the release date is not very far.

Mise en Scene of "Bamako" trailer:• Camera: The shots simply composed and swap between deep focus and medium close ups.

Thus, reinforcing the documentary style, the director wanted to achieve and establishing the genre.

• Editing: Apart from the montage sequence, that aims to show the variety of life in the city of Bamako, the rest of the montage is mainly consisted by cut aways. The cut aways occur in certain parts of the trailer, where the director wants to relate one point with another, or set a point and then give an example. Thus, he doesn't give away a lot about the film's narrative, but succeeds to state its messages for the viewer to understand.

• Clothing: The Malian women are mainly dressed in a more traditional manner, whereas the men are dressed in more western-styled clothing. Yet, they dress very simple, thus connotating lack of luxury. The judges of the court are dressed in court robes, similar to those the European's used to wear from the time of colonization, thus giving a hint that the rights of Malian people are still somehow subjected to European/"First World" Judgment.

• Setting: The infrastructure is almost non existent and the houses are crumbling, thus indicating poverty.

Trailer 2

"Apocalypse Now", By Francis Ford Copalla.• The story takes place in the backdrop of the Vietnam war. It centers

around captain Willard, who is sent in a mission to assassinate the renegade colonel Kurtz, who has set himself as the god of local tribe.• The trailer builds the story towards its main message and uses

narration to pass it across. It consists pristine cinematography and high-quality editing. • The link for the trailer: • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHEiqAsrVMQ

• The trailer starts with a parental advisory by film association. This sign is usually found in big production's trailers.

• The next thing we see, is paramount's logo (big multimedia conglamorate). The logo suddenly turns red, connotating bloodshed.

• We can hear the soundtrack of Jim Morrison's song "This is the End".

• The logo dissolves and the next thing we see is a deep focus shot of bombs blasting on some palm trees. Firstly, this establishes the location (Vietnam) and secondly adds a major plot element that indicates the genre of the film: War Drama (it is set in a war zone).

• The shot of the bombs dropping, is quite blurry. The trailer cuts to a close up on the face of captain Willard. The two pictures are juxtaposed, thus suggesting that the image of the bombs is in Willards head. This suggests, that the trailer involves the issue of PTSD among war veterans.

• The next shot is a close up on Willard looking through some curtains. At this point narration of the trailer starts and his is telling the audience that he wanted a mission and he got it.• Thus we understand that the

trailer and the film will center around that mission.• Next the name of the director

appears in grunge and disarranged letters, that fit with the hole disturbed atmosphere of the trailer.

• Next, the narration stops and a soldier informs Willard, about the orders he has received.

• After a tilt on the soldier, the camera stops on the paper he is holding that is information about his mission.

• Next shot is an eye-bird view shot on a military helicopter flying over the Vietnamese landscape. Thus reinforcing the theme and genre. The audience will understand that Willard is an official military man. At the same time the voice of his leader is added over the shot of the Helicopter, giving more details about the mission.

• He tells Willars, that he will get the boat (deep focus shot on the boat), then follow Kurtz's path (cuts on a close up on Kurt's photo) and kill him and his team.

• Thus, the viewer is informed by the trailer, on how the mission is planned to unfold. This is a state of equilibrium.

• The camera cuts on a close up on the leader of Willard, he says "Terminate with extreme prejudice".• At this point the music has stopped,

and the equilibrium of the trailer is disrupted by a violent sound. Next thing we see are to quick cuts. One close up on Willard cover in camo and raising out of the river's water. The other one is a long shot of a guard standing outside a door and being grabbed abruptly from behind. • This indicates that the dynamic of the

trailer changed and the violence started, thus it catches audience's attention.

• The screen fades in black and a new voice takes lead of the narration. He says "Horror has a face". Next thing we see is a close up on a disturbed face covered in camo paint. Here the audience is introduced to the antagonist in the trailer, colonel Kurtz.

• By saying horror has a face and then showing his face, indicates that he is one of the prime initiators of violence and terror in the trailer.

• The screen goes black and then there is an eye bird view shot, of napalm bombs falling on the ground. He says "and you must make friends of horror". Thus indicating that the violence hasn't any impact anymore on the characters, and its just part of the reality.

• The music starts again, but is more intense and disarranged, in order to indicate the descent into madness and the radical shift in the atmosphere

After there is a medium close on one man telling to Willard that Kurtz has something in mind for him, thus diverting the plot from the mission to the Willard Kurtz relation, thus setting up another enigma in the trailer that the viewer has to find out about.The screen fades to black and then dissolves on a M/C/U tracking shot of Kurtz. The lighting is quite dark and we can't see his face. He says "You have the right to kill me, but not to judge me". The way he is framed makes him look even more disturbing. To reinforce that view the next shot is an extreme long shot of civillian's village getting bombed, indicating that such actions were initiated by Kurtz.The screen fades out and we can hear Kurtz whispering "The horror". The title of the movie appears in grunge letters "Apocalypse Now".

Mise en scene of "Apocalypse Now".• Camera: The trailer contains some extreme long shots and bird eye view to establish

location or reinforce the military themes. There are some close ups on the leads, when they look really disturbed, thus reinforcing the theme of "madness". Kurtz appears very mysterious in the trailer. In his only close up, he is wearing camo paint and we can not see his face, thus creating enigma in the trailer.

• Lighting: Changes from its yellowish and warm tones abruptly to dark, thus indicating major plot twists in the film that might engage the audience and cause its interest.

• Editing: The editing, is very significant for the trailer, since it is juxtaposing the narration with the images. It leaves a great deal of mystery, but also gives to the film some information that make the film understandable to the viewer.

• The setting, gives the historical index to the trailer, which is the Vietnam war. This is very significant information since the trailer indicates that the movie is about the "horrors of war" and makes the genre of the film identifiable to the audience.

Trailer 3

"Girlhood" by Celine Sciama

• A black girl living in the Pari's projects, joins a gang of girls and re-invents herself to gain more confidence. Yet, things will remain complicate. • The trailer presents a great deal of how the girls spent their time together

and experiencing "Girlhood". The trailer is quite linear, but presents little about the plot. The dominant color is blue which is mainly associated with boys, but in the trailer focuses exclusively on the girls, which breaks the norm.• The link for the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJudaZEY-UC

• The trailer opens with the logo of the distribution company.

• Then it cuts to two groups of girls dissing each other. The girl's are all black and of teenage age. Thus the viewer's immediately understand who the movie is concerning and what kind of topics it might explore.

• The setting where the action takes place is in a tube station, thus establishing location and indicating that the movie will take place in an urban setting.

• The screen cuts in black and some of the awards the movie received appear on the screen. This may attract audience.

• Some electronic music is used as a soundtrack throughout the whole trailer, which is a genre of music mainly associated with the young. Thus, setting a target audience.

• As soon as the black screen dissolves, it cuts to a close up on one of the girls. She is with her friends dancing on the tube. The camera pans on the girl opposite to her, indicating that those two are major characters. The first girl starts narrating.

• She says "What do you want"? And the camera cuts on the girl opposite to her, in another place(an apartment). She is looking down like trying to think what the narrator says.

• The narrator continues by saying "Say it! I want...". At that point the camera is placed at the back of the protagonist and slowly zooms out, as she lifts up her head coming to a realization.

• Thus, the trailer establishes one of its themes which is desire.

• In the next shots the audience will see what her desires are.

• In the next shots we see some scenes from her life, thus demonstrating her desires.• In the meantime of several shots

we see reviews from critics, thus attracting the audience to watch the movie.

• The screen cuts in black end when it dissolves the camera closes up to the protagonist and then pans to the persons standing besides her, which are all girls chatting and laughing together.• The voice of the girl starts narrating

again saying "I stopped and I watched you, you were beautiful, I told to myself that this was a perfect moment I would remember forever".• The last shot (pan) reinforces the

theme of the movie and suddenly the screen goes black and the title appears "Girlhood".

Mise en Scene of "Girlhood"• Camera: The camera uses pans to represent the togetherness of the

girls. A key shot is the one were the camera zooms out behind the protagonist's back, when the narrator asks her what she want. This indicates that she came to a realization and all the next shots are the answer to the narrator's question. • Lighting/Setting: The tones are quite blue throughout the trailer, thus

setting an atmosphere. It makes the urban setting look more beautiful than it really is and separates the girl's world from the rest.• Clothing: The girls are dressed quite fashionable, that fits with their

age group.