Film Trailer Analysis: The Expendable's 2

Audience Appeal

• The trailer opens with the Lionsgate logo which is synonymous with action movies and will appeal to people watching the trailer, who are fans of Lionsgate's other action films.
• My film is also the second instalment in the series, and as such many fans are already attracted to the film and this is helped with the expendable's logo's we see.
• My film features lots of action shots and is appealing to the target audience because of that, it gives them a sense of everything that is to happen in the film.
• Another appealing factor of my trailer is that it features many famous actors, so it may entice fans of those actors to watch the film, and their names are put up at the end of the trailer helping the audience find out who is in the film.

Branding and Studio Identity 

• At the start of the trailer the Lionsgate and Millennium logo's appear and help the audience identify with other films made by them, and give them an understanding of what the film is about. 
• The film is also branded at the end by using the actors names to attract people because the film features some very famous actors.
• There is also a link to the films facebook page at the end, which will help the audience learn about the branding of the film and what it's about in even more depth.

Character and Representation

• All the main characters in this trailer are presented as ex-soldiers who have now turned into mercenaries, which gives the audience a hardcore feel about the characters and helps set the scene for the characters to develop.
• The protagonist, Barney, is seen to be doing an ex-employer a favour and gives a bit of detail about his life, as well as when he says, "it's my lucky ring," we feel as though we know him better.
• Finally we also see that they all mess around and joke with eachother which gives off the appeal of a film all about camaraderie and sticking together while including comedy and action scenes as well.

Genre signifiers

• There are many action shots in my trailer, such as the very first shot which shows the characters zip-lining over a forest, and immediately gives the audience a sense of the action genre.
• The genre is also signified by the soundtrack which builds tension for the audience and lets them know that the characters are in trouble, which signifies the action genre.

TV Drama Still Evaluation

1.       My chosen shot features two actors and is framed as an OTS shot. Both of the characters are wearing white and are facing each other, with one of them standing in a lift as the doors close. This signifies an important element in the legal drama genre as these type of shots build up tensions for the audience and creating a cliff hanger with the audience wanting to know what happens next, that's why it's common for them to feature at the end of episodes.

2.       To achieve my desired effect I positioned my first actor in the lift and had him look at my second actor, with a disappointed expression, to express to the audience that my second actor had done something wrong to him. For my other actor I had him facing away so that the audience cannot see his face and therefore do not know how he feels which creates a sense of mystery to the scene. I also had both actors in white so that it connotes that they are in a uniform and that they work together, and finally I took the image just as the doors were shutting to create a closing effect on the scene and the audience.

3.       I intended for my dominant reading to be that there had been some wrong doing between the characters and that one of them was leaving as he looks disappointedly, at the other character. This narrative is intended to leave the audience asking questions as they don't know what happened next, and intrigue them to find out how the situation was resolved.

4.       My shot is successful because it features many of my genres convention, for example, there is a sense of mystery between the characters as we don't know how they are feeling or who they are entirely which intrigues the audience. My shot is also successful because it gives the audience a sense of setting and allows them to relate to the situation.

5.     In hindsight I would put my first actors hand on the lift button, and I would also position my actors closer together to give the audience a more personal feel to the shot.

Continuity Task Evaluation

1.  My story is about 2 boys playing football on the school field, passing the ball between them. When one of the boys kicks the ball too hard and the other runs backwards to try and catch it, and he ends up falling over another boy sitting on the floor and hurting himself.
2. We attempted to create a narrative flow by filming all our scenes in a sequence and only getting the essential shots so that the film flowed and there was no excess footage, for the most part.
3. We achieved continuity in most of our scenes, however there were a couple of scenes where the footage went on for too long. Such as when character 2 kicked the ball, as well as when character 1 was running backwards.
4. I would try and cut down my shots if i could do it again so that i could create a better sense of continuity and create a more inclusive and in depth feel for my audience. This would increase my match on action effect and help me to prioritize my story line, this would also include the introduction of the third character, earlier on in my story.