Film Trailer: The Impossible

I have chosen 'The Impossible' film trailer to start my research into film trailers. I decided to use this trailer as I had seen it before and it made me watch the film which I thought was really good. The trailer begins with emotive non-diegetic sound in the form of music, the tune played by the piano is fast paced which establishes a dramatic tone to the trailer but as only one instrument is used it is shown in a simple way. There is some diegetic sound, as the music plays, of conversation in the film, this portrays the normal family relationships that are shown in the beginning of the trailer. The sudden stop to all sound draws the audience in with a sense of dramatic mystery. At this point a mixture of non-diegetic music and diegetic dialogue and sound from the film are used together. The music is mostly a piano that provides an emotive tone throughout which makes the audience empathise. The dialogue gives the audience snippets of the narrative of the film without revealing too much information. There is a lot of editing and camera work that has been used to create an effect on the audience. A bird's eye view shot shows a good overview of the most dramatic part of the trailer, when the tsunami hits, this instantly catches the audience's attention. At the scene of the dad walking down the road at night the focus of the camera is used to add importance to this shot as it shows us what has happened after the drama. Slow motion is also used at another point which gives the scene a higher impact on the audience. Throughout the trailer clips from the film are dispersed between black screens with text on. The typography is a very simple white font making it easy for audiences to read. This provides more information for the audience and also tells them that the film is based on a true story which would lead to them having stronger emotions towards the film. Overall I think the trailer is very emotive with its strong use of different conventions.