Film trailer anaylsis-This is england

THIS IS ENGLAND.

This is the official trailer for This is England. Throughout this trailer there is a variety of shots to send out subtle hints to the viewer of the story line.

The trailer begins with a wide establishing shot of a beach which instantly gives context to the audience where the film is set. However, as we can see the dark clouds and lack of blue sky within the shot reflects on the negativity within the realistic outlook of the 80s era in Britain. This shot is crucial to the genre as the audience will want to know what place the film is taking a social reality of.  However, at the beginning of the trailer there is non-diegetic music being played within the background which is slow and moving. This sound track choice works effectively to draw the audiences attention and pull on their heart strings. In addition to the previous point, the music predicts the mood of the trailer and enables the audience to feel empathy towards the main character Shaun. 

 

As we can see the following shot is of the main character Shaun who is represented as an ordinary mundane boy. However this medium close up shot allows the audience to recognise the character and familiarise themselves with him. In addition to this, hence that he was the first character shown in the trailer, it shows his importance to the film. By editing the character centre frame it again highlights the importance of his presence to the scene.

 

 

 

This is another key close up shot of Shaun found within the trailer. As we can the use of this close up allows the audience to see his facial expression which also represents his mood and feelings. When looking at this shot we gather that the character is feel unhappy and somewhat threatened. This shot overall pulls on the heart strings of the audience; drawing them into watching the upcoming feel as they feel sorry for him.

Other important shots found within the trailer include:

It is important for any British Social Realism film to include iconography and regional identity in order to represent Britain's history. For example the two above shots, the first being Princess Diane and Prince Charles and the second Margaret Thatcher are three well known and important people in Britain's history. Furthermore, this device gives the film trailer context by relating to past events that the British audience will remember and be able to relate to. However hence the film is set in the era of the 80s these shots will also be current news stories; therefore realistically re-creating the time period of the feature film.

 

As we can see the trailer lacks narration throughout, therefore the Editor has included shots such as the one above to allow the audience to understand the storyline without giving to much away. However "Shaun went looking for a friend" tells the viewer that the film revolves around Shaun's life and again enables the audience to build a relationship with the character- (Blumer and Katz uses and gratifications theory).

 

 

 

This is another important shot to the trailer as it conforms to the common codes and convention of a social realist film. The significant use of the England flags work effectively to show the time and era the film was set in. This is because England was a very patriotic society.