Film Trailer Analysis 2

28 Days Later (2:05 minutes/Danny Boyle/2002)

28 Days Later is an older film than the tourist, being released in 2002. The trailer opens with a black screen and the words ‘On the first day’, and then some short quick-edited scenes, a warning sound and the words ‘EXPOSURE’. This is then followed by some more quick-edited scenes of a woman’s face then back to the black screen and the words ‘Day 3 INFECTION’. This continues and we see ‘Day 8 EPIDEMIC’ , the sound of a TV out of tune, ‘Day 15 EVACUATION’ , deep sounding emergency sirens, ‘Day 20 DEVASTATION’, the sound of smashing and cries, then lastly ‘28 days later…’
What the creator of the trailer is obviously trying to do is establish and get across to the audience what has happened, in a quick and quite scary manner. The font is often referred to as ‘destroyed’ which reflects the state of the country and humanity. The short clips from the film leave the audience wondering what on Earth has happened. This is common in trailers, as they give little away to audience so they see the film to find out more. The last words ‘28 days later…’ then establishes when the film is set and now 28 days have elapsed, the story begins.
Now we see a man after he opens the blinds. This connotates him waking up and seeing the destruction for the first time. This is the first character up close that we have seen an therefore we assume he is the protagonist. The next shots of the protagonist are wide or long shots giving him a sense of vulnerability and loneliness just like in MONSTERS with the couple. Plus, the trailer includes high angled shots which reinforces the idea of vulnerability. The protagonist is also seen along side iconographic things which represent London: red London buses, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. This helps the audience identify where he is, without the trailer needing to say so. Plus, these busy places are now deserted, and this makes the audience wonder why.
After this there are an abundance of close-ups of the protagonists and other characters, mainly to show fear, panic and confusion. The edit is jumpy, montage and appears very random, which adds to the confusion.
A common feature of trailers is to use past achievements from the director or producer to advertise the film. In this trailer, we see non-diegetic text showing the successful films that Danny Boyle has created flashing on the screen. People will recognise these films, which hopefully they will have enjoyed, and want to see this film consequently.
The next shots are slightly longer than before, perhaps now for the audience to see the gore, which is plentiful. Again, the majority of the shots have no clear narrative and the random editing makes it confusing. Now we can hear a voice-overs of several different people, one who says ‘there’s something in the blood’. These short voice-overs give some information on what has happened.
Towards the end of the trailer, a small logo can be seen gradually getting larger with random inserts of chaos in between. The music An Ascent by Brian Eno, different to the rock music earlier heard to create a sense of sadness, to actually make the audience consider the incredible human cost of the tragedy. Then, suddenly, a zombie is seen through the window in a shot and charges forward. This is unexpected and could scare the audience, which is then followed by the credits information and the trailer ends.
The whole trailer is jumpy, edgy and gory. However, this isn’t off-putting, it actually grabs the audiences attention. The red writing and black backgrounds are typical of horror films so the audience can easily identify the genre. Just like with Monsters and The Tourist, it gives just enough information about the film away, without telling the audience too much, but also making it look appealing.