Angela Pignatiello

Trailer 2

I have chosen to analyse the film: World war Z it’s definitely a thrilling, original movie that differs from any other apocalypse films due its unique visual effects of the way the zombies move. WWZ is an American action/horror/thriller film, directed my Marc Forster and starring Brad Pitt trying to protect his family in a zombie apocalypse. I will be analysing and reviewing this 2minute 27 second trailer shot by shot, to give me ideas to inspire me with my own trailer. This trailer is so jam packed with thrilling action that the audience will definitely want to see it. The fact that the main character is played by a successful actor like Brad Pitt also makes it much more appealing. He is the face of the movie, which attracts his fans and people who have liked his previous films. Zombie films don’t usually have famous actors, as they are usually low budget and not taken as seriously as mainstream Hollywood movies. But this one has one of the biggest A-listers as the lead role; therefore, it must be on a whole new level in the horror/zombie genre. The characteristics of the zombies are indeed very original and cool looking.

In this first shot, it shows a colourful, Birdseye view descending slowly down in New York City in which there are many cars and buildings, good weather but no characters. This is an establishing shot, setting the scene from a long way away. However we can hear the main characters voices over the car horns beeping, as they play a game. This is non diegetic sound. The atmosphere is ordinary and calm, so they can build up the tension a bit later on in the trailer. Time: 3 seconds.

In this second scene we see a happy main charcater in his car with his family continuing to play the game. This scene creates a cheerful vibe, creating an atmosphere of a normal, everyday life. The shot type is midshot as we can see the characters straight on, from the waist up and we can see a bit of the background. There is lots of colour in this scene, no special effects and the only sounds are their voices and cars beeping in the background.

The next scene is quick, it shows a biker zoom past knocking the main families side mirror right off the car,

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startling them and interrupting their game. They look confused and slightly annoyed as he just rides off, without apologising. The sounds include; the motorbikes engine, the wifes voice, the side mirror smashing and a helicopter up above. In these two seconds, the atmosphere has drastically changed from happy to a sudden realisation that something isn’t

right. The audience are now slightly worried and curious as to what’s going to happen next.

Upon seeing a helicopter up above (left, shot type: worms eye view), the main character utters ‘what is going on?’ making the audience nervous and ask themselves the same question. The sound of the helicopter gets louder, which adds to the dramatic atmosphere. The rest of the family is also more confused and perhaps a bit worried at this point. Visual effects: helicopter (likely cgi)

In the next frame, the main character has decided to get out the car and see what’s going on, as seen in the picture on the right. It’s a medium shot which shows him directly ahead, from the waist up with some colourful cars and buildings in the back and foreground. By looking at his facial expression, the audience can see that he is worried, which makes us question why and anticipate the next scene. We can hear police sirens, cars beeping and the daughter telling him to be careful. It is heartbreaking his daughters are worried for him, so we hope that nothing happens to him, for their sake. This makes the audience emotionally connect with the characters. Audience members with family would definitely relate to the fear of keeping their famly safe. This makes the potential danger even more nerve wracking and serious.

The next shot is a colourful, extreme long shot, showing a car crash explosion from far away in the background. Each frame in this scene is quick and very shaky to add the panicked effect. As you can see in from the character’s faces (middle & right, shot type: close up) they are very worried and their fear that they’re in danger has been confirmed. The wife calls her husbands name (Gerry) in a shaky, quiet and breathless voice, illustrating that she is terrified. It is still unclear what exactly is going on, which adds mystery to the pandemic. In this scene we hear very loud noises such as the explosion and people screaming and we see big visual effect such as the fire and smoke from the crash. These effects create a more

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dramatic and realistic scene. We also see other scared and screaming characters on the pavement, who look to be running away from something but it’s unclear what.

Suddenly a policeman drives in on a motorbike, shouting at them to ‘get back in their car right now and remain with their vehic-‘ before he is abruptly cut off by an out of control lorry that comes speeding down the road, smashing everything in its path (cgi is likely to have been used). This is so unexpected and sudden because it’s designed to make the audience jump, to create an impression and get them engrossed in the trailer. The loud sounds also make it jumpy and help speed up the atmosphere. First pic: over the shoulder shot. Second pic: wide, medium shot. As the lorry speeds through the city, the sound is muted and all we hear is a deaf, high pitched continuous ringing sound, resembling the ones you hear when your ears are blocked.

The fact that a figure of authority has been taken down by what seems to be a civilian – shows that the city really is in chaos. A police officer is meant to protect people; so this scene creates the sense that the family is on their own. Nothing can save them – they have to survive by their own means.

Use of pathos: The camera cuts to the daughter’s terrified face for a second, which tugs the audiences heart strings because she’s so young and vulnerable and it’s sad when children or animals are hurt in movies. So the sudden realization that they’re in danger makes the audience extremely nervous because we want them to live, so we sit on the edge of our seats egging them on to survive.

The film company logos appear, showing that the movie has been produced by major,

mainstream organizations. This makes it seem more impressive and popular already. Each logo appears for less than a second, on the count of a dramatic loud, loud drum beat for emphasis, all with a black background and silver, bold writing to stand out and create a dark

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vibe. At this point the build up of tension is almost at its climax and it’s clear that we’re getting into the main part of the trailer.

The dramatic music continues and intensifies, throughout the next many scenes which are short, snappy and include a variety of shot types. These include; bird’s eye view, worms eye view, close up, establishing shots, direct mid shots, over the shoulder shots and many more. They are all colourful and are likely to have been altered with

some digital effects for a better visual impact. There are many sounds, such as screaming, helicopters, cars skidding and crashing and shouting. However most of the noises are inaudible due to the music cancelling them out. We see hoards of people running through the streets, including our main characters, many abandoned or crashed vehicles, helicopters and buildings. The fast paced

mood of the trailer excites the audience, intriguing them in the movie.

Here we see an extreme wide shot from the view of a helicopter, with a slightly canted camera angle showing a grey dirty damaged looking city down below and a soldier holding a gun in the foreground. The mood looks dark and depressing to show the world turning into something ugly. This shot lasts barely a second, before cutting to the next short scene. Each shot is fast paced to keep the trailer interesting and exciting.

The next shot is from a worms eye view, looking up at many planes quickly flying across the Smokey grey sky. We hear their engines as they do so. The appearance of these jets, shows that this is indeed a ‘War’, which is a scary prospect in our modern society.

Then follows another short, wide shot scene of a huge crowd of people running in the same direction, towards the camera. This makes it clear that the source of the panic is behind them which frightens the audience. There is no sound at this point.

We see more pathos when the camera cuts to the children’s frightened faces and hear the mother trying to reassure her everything is okay. This would affect the women (especially mothers) in the audience the most, since they can relate the fear of losing a child. The sound here is diegetic.

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Angela Pignatiello

The trailer moves forward, still keeping up the tension, with our main characters attempting to escape by hijacking a van. The music still plays.

Then, another jump scare happens when what looks like a mad person head butts the wife’s window, cracking it and making her scream. This scares the audience and again makes us fear for their lives.

The next shot is an establishing one, showing the family safely drive away from the mad people chasing them. These scenes in the trailer are upsetting to the audience as it’s scary to see the world as you know it turn mad so suddenly. Effects: CGI is probably used to make the people look like they’re running faster and the same sounds as the previous scenes are still heard.

For the first time in the trailer, text is being used for effect. It has the same colour code as the company logos (black background, silver writing) and appears on the count of a drum beat

for effect. It doesn’t finish the whole sentence which appeals to our natural curiosity to find out what it says. It

also reveals that the film will be released in the summer.After that, we see a close up profile shot of Gerry’s panicked

face, as he talks on the phone, questioning what’s going on.

The camera cuts to a man in a helicopter, revealing that that’s who he’s talking to. This makes the audience question what relation they have to each other especially since they know each others names. This implies that Gerry might work for a high authority and there is hope that maybe his connections can save him. The sound here is diegetic, because the source of the sound is visible on screen.

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Here we see the rapid decrease of the world’s population which shows how quickly the danger is spreading and that it’s clearly very powerful. This which worries us and panics us because we’re realising how little time there is to stop this thing. The fact that we still don’t know what the danger is makes it all the more suspenseful.

For the first time in the trailer, we see the zombies as they tip over a bus, with soldiers shooting at them. Even though they don’t look like the gory, slow shuffling zombies in most other movies, it’s clear they aren’t human due to their vast amount of energy, obscene strength and immunity to the bullets being fired at them. They don’t even appear to get hurt after they fall off the bus and crash onto the floor. At 3 seconds, this scene is slightly longer than the previous ones so the audience can get a good look at the zombies and absorb the fear. The fact that there are so many of them is what makes them so intimidating because it’s hard to fight something in big numbers. The cgi which speeds up their movements also makes them unique compared to other boring, slow zombies. I think the editors created this effect for a more thrilling, faster vibe in the movie and they had to make it stand out because such a big actor is playing the main character.

Angela Pignatiello

As Gerry continues to question if ‘this thing is worldwide’ to the mysterious man in the helicopter, we see flashes of chaos from all over the world, revealing that everyone is being affected by whatever’s going on. Each mini clip appears for less that a second, on the count of a low, quick drumbeat for a fast paced and dramatic effect. The sound here has switched from diegetic to non diegetic since we can no longer see the source of the sound onscreen. Many colourful visual effects have been used here, like the explosions for example.

Every sound suddenly stops to focus on the man from the helicopter (Terry). We can see that he has landed, since he is standing in what looks to be a building with people walking around him. He shakes his head from side to side and says ‘we don’t know’ in a weak whisper, with a stressed look on his face. The audience loses a bit of hope as not even the high authorities know how to stop this and it’s clear that everyone is on their own.

This compilation of fast paced scenes shows the chaos has spread throughout the world (as see on the map diagram) and that there is a mass panic. All armed forces are out as civilization breaks down into anarchy. The guns and explosions relate to the action/thriller themes of the film, while the biological diagram (middle left) shows the science fiction aspect.

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Angela Pignatiello Next we see a red flare being lit and we hear it hiss as it’s brought to life. It’s uknown who’s holding the flare right now, or where they are, which makes it mysterious. However we know it’s dark because the only light we see is the red one coming from the flare. The sudden quiet change in atmoshere worries the audience and builds up a slight tension. This is a close up shot, with diegetic sound and no computer effects.In the next shot, it is revealed that Gerry’s wife has the flare and all the family is there, hiding from something. The audience feels releif that our main characters have survived the huge chaos in the city but the fact that they are being so quiet gives us an uneasy feeling that danger is close by. In this scene Gerry is breathless which shows he has just recovered from a trauma and the troubled look on his face suggests he knows he’s not safe, giving the audience an unsettled feeling.

The daughter is shown cowering next to her mother as the red glow flickers in her anxious face. She whimpers ‘I’m scared,’ in a shaky voice, sounding like she’s about to burst into tears. Again, this makes us feel sorry for her. The creators of this advert keep using her for a sympathetic affect, so that we connect with the characters and the tension is therefore intensified when they collide with danger.

The mother seems to pay no attention to her daughter and instead turns to Gerry, saying ‘How do we know they’re coming?’ She paces slightly from one foot to the other as she quietly says this, demonstrating that she is nervous but ready to move. She looks at him for a sense of reassurance, because she clearly trusts his instincts and knows he’ll guide them to safety.

Gerry looks back at her with a focused face, the red flickering light still filling the room and he whispers ‘they’re coming’ in a doubtless voice. This confirms all fear and prepares the audience for the upcoming drama that’s clearly about to happen. He pauses for a couple of seconds, to take a look at her uncertain face, before saying ‘ready?’ in a reassuring whisper with a slight nod. At that point we start to hear quick, quiet beats get louder and faster to increase the tension felt by the audience.

In this over the shoulder shot, the wife communicates non verbally, by nodding her head slowly up and down. The rest of her body remains stiff, indicating that she isn’t fully prepared for what they’re about to do, but she understands that she has to do it. The quiet but quick drum beats still pound in the background, sounding like high pitched heart beats, mimicking their fear.

Suddenly they burst out the door with the low drop sound at the start of the trailer once again playing. The daughter screams in fear as she is pulled along by her parents

The scenery of the roofs of buildings makes the audience why they’re up there and how they’ll escape. We hear them shouting at eachother, tell them to ‘go go go!’ and ‘hurry up.’ The extreme heights add extra danger to the situation. How will they escape the zombies from here?

Then we hear the sound of an aeroplanes propellers (diegetic sound) as it lowers near to the roof top. It is a saviour that relieves both the characters as well as the audience.

A soldier helps the family board the plane, but Gerry is nowhere to be seen. There is a sense of relief as the family appears to be saved, but the adrenaline hasn’t fully come down yet.

We then see him strugging to keep the door closed as there is something behind it, trying to get them. This part has tonnes of tension because our main character is so close to the zombies. He is in a trapped situation; he needs to escape but as soon as he releases the door, a swarm of enemies will overrun him.

Eventually he lets go and releases the zombie who bursts out the door and chases straight after him. This is the first time in the trailer that a zombie has directly attacked one of our characters and we get to see a clearer look at one on it’s own. It’s not very gory but it runs very fast. The audience can probably guess that there’s more than one which makes it even more suspensful. Another thing that adds to the edge-of the seat effect, is the deep drumbeats which are now speeding up to create tension.

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Luckily Gerry safely boards the plane just in time, giving the audience a sense of relief. The soldiers then begin to shoot at the zombies. Cgi: likely used. Sounds: loud, fast low drum beats for effect

The bullets don’t have any effect on the zombies, but they do get defeated by running off the building in a failed attempt to attack the helicopter. This shows how dumb the zombies are, as well as how far they’d go to eat. In this scene it’s also revealed that there was more than one zombie chasing Gerry.

The dramatic music has died down into quick, quieter drum beats, the same ones that were playing in the flare scene. Brad Pitts name is shown in big capital letters, in iron grey writing against a black background to make it stand out and appeal to his fans.

He is then shown as Gerry, riding in a windy, cold looking helicopter to a destination that we don’t yet know. We wonder where the story is heading at this point.

The helicopter is then landed on a ship in the middle of the ocean, a seemingly safe place from all the infected. This means the audience can now relax a little. The drum beats have now changed from single beats into a different rhythm., to keep the sound interesting and match the new atmosphere of the trailer.

The trailer now goes back to showing short clips, to bring back the fast pace so it can leave with a lasting impact. In this one we see Gerry carrying his daughter to what we asume is inside the ship.

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Here we see a close up profile shot of a man in a military suit, which gives us a clue that Gerry’s work might be in the military. He tells Gerry he ‘needs him to help.’ The sound here is diegetic as we can see the sound coming from the characters mouth.

Then we see Gerry saying ‘you’re asking me to leave my family’ which scares the audience as we realize that once again that they’re going to be seperated and that he is going to have to help stop the zombies.

The next cut shows him kissing his wife goodbye, which makes the audience sad and hopes he survives. The fast deep drum beats still pound quickly in the background.

We see a plane hovering over a dirty, poor looking city with black smoke rising up to the grey sky. There is low dramatic music in the background, as the drum beats get louder. This is an establishing shot.

The next shot is a birds eye one, as we see the infected sprinting through the streets, smashing everything in their path. The dramatic drums still play, getting louder and louder as the trailer climaxes.

We see a bald boy curl up in the middle of the chaos, making the audience fear for him. But when we see the zombies run straight past him, we’re left wandering why.

Then we see Gerry in the middle of the street, with soldiers behind him. The suspense builds as he almost comes face to face with the infected mob. This is a wide shot.

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Then we see the zombie mob falling over eachother as they run down the alley, towards Gerry. The drum beats are as loud as they’ve ever been in this clip.

But it’s left at a cliff hanger, as the scene switches to an establishing shot, showing a plane surrounded by zombies. The drums have quietened slightly now that we don’t see any characters in danger. We hear the military mans voice as he tells Gerry that he’s well suited for the job, however we don’t see him. This is called non diegetic sound.

We then see Gerry in the plane, saying to his wife on the phone to ‘tell the kids he’s coming back.’ This portrays him as a persevering, strong character, giving the audience confidence that he’ll survive. The drums get louder once again.

After that we see an eye level shot of him standing at the ready with some other soldiers. He has a strong look on his face as his commentary repeats the words ‘I’m coming back,’ in a deep whisper with no sound effects in the background, to make the audience focus on his words only.

After the screen blacks out for a second to let the audience absorb Gerry’s dramatic words, we get a good look at the huge mob of zombies once again, as they climb up a giant wall. The audience is shocked that the zombies are capable of doing this and the amount there are. Cgi is definitely used here, to speed up their movements. The low drop sound and fast drum beats are the quickest they’ve ever been as the trailer has reached it’s final climax.

The final shot of the trailer, is a close up of Gerry’s face, which looks nervious yet defiant at the same time.

After another 1 second silent blackout, the title of the movie emerges in silver capital letters, from the black background on the count of the low drop sounf, which makes it stand out so that the audience will remember the name of the movie and want to watch it.

The trailer is then completely silent for the first time, as the release appears in the same silver writing, with all the company logos below so that the audience can again associate the movie with big names that make it seem more impressive. 10