Entice the audience to the film Essay

Snake eyes is an action thriller. The storyline seems to be quite simple from the outside. There is a murder, perhaps more then one, and its up to the homicidal detective to figure out who did it, why and how. However, the victim is the Secretary of Defence. The murder takes place in the presence of 14,000 witnesses, in the audience of a high profile boxing match, and to make things worse it is very likely that there is more then one person involved, and at least one more potential victim. It seems almost impossible that the detective will not get caught up in the web of lies, treachery and deceit. Maybe even become a victim himself. This essay is about film trailers, specifically Snake eyes, and how different techniques are used to entice the audience to the film. Camera shots are very important in film trailers. They can be cut and edited to create the desired effect of the producer. For example, in snake eyes it shows a number of shots go by very fast to create a general sense of foreboding. There’s a point in the trailer where it shows close ups of the suspects like the woman in red, the boxer and several others. This leaves you with a strange and confusing feeling, are you being told the story to the letter, or are they tricking you? Many different camera shots are used, such as close ups like the woman in red, sitting in the front row of the audience, you see her face and get the feeling she is inwardly smirking, why? What has she done? It causes uneasiness and questions to pop up in the watchers mind, and that is very memorable. Another interesting shot used in the trailer is when the detective looks up into a camera; it has a rather sinister effect, making you think someone is watching him. There is much use of lighting in this trailer. Because the setting is dark and gritty any lighting is going to stand out. When the boxing match is in progress the lighting is centred on the boxing match, to emphasise its importance at that moment in time. The middle shots of the women in red, using a combination of the colour of her clothes, the audiences and the lighting makes her stand out from the rest of the crowd, and forces any audience to focus their attention on her, a very clear and powerful message emphasising her importance to the story. In this trailer lighting is also used to light up a man black and white as he looks into the camera, creating a startling effect, in someway it makes the audience believe that he has just realised something and is about to make an important discovery. A rather unorthodox use of lighting in films, but an interesting one none the less. If you go by the trailer then nearly the entire film is set indoors. This gives the cameraman and director plenty of opportunity to experiment with shadows, especially lit up ones that disappear almost as fast as they appear. The use of shadows in the trailer is excellent, but there are two in particular that deserve mentioning. The first is the dark outline of a figure holding a gun, ready for action; this annoys and frightens the audience. What right has this person got, skulking around in the shadows like that? On the other hand, what is this person going to do? The second use of shadows is even more spectacular. A flash of lightning, and against the thin material, a man is seen poised, ready to strike, as in the background the roar of the thunder continues. This, followed shortly by a picture of the detective in the same room, a look of absolute terror on his face leaves the audience in the highest form of anticipation, wanting to know what happens next, but the trailer goes on, leaving the audience slightly shaky and dieing to see the film. In the two minute long snake eyes trailer, it is the music and voice over that binds it into a coherent piece, as opposed to a series of exciting pictures with no apparent theme. It seems impossible to imagine modern cinema without sound. No one would ever go and watch the film and the companies that funded these productions would go bankrupt. So listening is just as important to the audience as watching, with this in mind snake eyes has done another wonderful job, not just with the music but also with the voice over. Using a number of straight to the point remarks that the audience automatically responds to with encrypted messages that confuse and worry them, for example one of the strangest is worded † trust everything but your eyes. † This is rather confusing, usually people trust nothing but their eyes, so this twist on the old saying concerns the audience and makes them want to find out more. A brilliant use of voiceover. In this essay I have covered several important techniques used in the moving media, film industry. Camera shots, obviously important, the position of a shot often determines the way an audience interprets what they see in front of them. Lighting, used to emphasise something or someone and create eerie effects. Shadows, important in certain genres and locations, and voice over, the technique that in my opinion ties the whole thing together, and puts the audience into the right frame of mind. I believe that this particular snake eyes trailer is brilliant, it creates just the right amount of craving excitement to have any watcher instantaneously caught up in its webs, using a combination of all these techniques and particularly good sequences, such as the lightning and thunder shadow man ready to strike. I searched for the film, just so I could see how accurate or jumped up the trailer was, though I must admit the trailer really made me want to watch it. Unfortunately however I did not find it, though this may have been a good thing, because that trailer was exceedingly good and I wouldn’t have liked to be disappointed. I think it was a good trailer to study because the developers definitely knew how to create the correct psychological effect, and as a result of that made it very interesting. So, film trailers, are they really effective? In my opinion, yes.