The trailer begins with a wide, establishing shot which sets the scene, conforming to conventions of the social realist genre as location is a major aspect that needs to be determined, and in order to appeal to the target audience. The typography is very basic, which conforms to conventions as it is sans serif, however, it is bold and in yellow, which draws attention to it - this was purposefully done as the text states "The Who", the name of a band, and so fans of the band are more likely to watch the trailer and so the film also.
Also, the location at this point is Beachy Head, a location familiar to more Britons which is notorious for being a suicide spot, and so this creates an enigma as well as tension as the audience wonder why the character is riding a motorbike so close to the edge of Beachy Head cliffs.
More text appears as the shot pans to show the top of a cliff. The text states the production company and the title of the name, which subverts conventions of film trailers as this is key information that is normally shown at the end of the trailer as the producers want this to be the information that the audience remembers the most.
However, due to the success of the aforementioned band, this information can go at the beginning, as they will still be likely to remember the title.
As the shot pans, we see an extreme long shot of someone riding on a motorbike, which creates an enigma, conventional of teaser trailers, and also suggests a sense of danger and rebellion, conforming to common media images of the social media genre.
This is further anchored as the cameras cut to a long shot of a male riding on the motorbike. The use of a male protagonist conforms to conventions of films as men are perceived by society as more dominant and dangerous than women.
This then cuts to a close up reaction shot of the main character. Most teaser trailers introduce the protagonist quite early within the trailer so as to establish the target audience, as it is generally perceived that male audiences stereotypically prefer to watch films with a male protagonist, and stereotypically this is also true for females. Also, this shot allows us to view the rough age of the protagonist, also appealing to the target audience as, typically, the demographics of the target audience are reflected by the demographics of the protagonist.
The scene then cuts to a wide mid shot of the boy sitting on his motorbike in low key lighting. This lighting is most often used to create a 'dark' atmosphere, hence setting the tone of the film, and so revealing the ambience of the film to the target audience.
The camera then cuts back to a medium close up of the male protagonist riding his motorcycle, clearly showing his facial expression, in order to anchor the conforming of conventions of social realist films as the protagonist is often anguished.
Following this, there is then a low angle shot, in low key lighting, of a man pushing someone down the stairs. The use of the low key angle portrays the male character as dangerous and powerful, conventional of social realist films as this is a common media portrayal of males. However, the low key lighting means that the person being pushed down the stairs is obscured, creating an enigma as the audience do not know who this character is.
Additionally, the use of violence conforms to conventions of social realist films as films in this genre aim to discuss prominent issues in society, and so often feature violence as this is a major aspect of society that causes panic.
However, for our own piece we will not be including violence, as our audience survey discovered that the participants do not want to see as much violence as this was something they disliked regarding the genre.
The first titles that appear are at twenty two seconds, and show three titles at once, which means that this information is of little importance as the audience are more likely to pay attention to the scene in the background, showing a long, wide, over the shoulder shot of the male character being chased by a mob. This creates a sense of enigma as the audience wonder why this is happening, and also connotes violence, hence creating tension.
The aforementioned violence is then denoted in the continuation of this scene, as low key lighting is used to show mayhem as the 'mob' are throwing chairs, throwing food and bottles, and generally being destructive, hence further creating the idea of en mass chaos that is often conveyed in social realist films.
Following this, we then see a high angle close up shot of someone shaking certain objects into their hand, and these objects look like capsules, connoting drugs, which is mise-en-scene that is conventionally found in films of this genre as this is also a topic that is a major issue in society, and so some of the plot is revealed.
This connotation of drugs is then further anchored by the fast editing used to show a series of shots showing the male character swallowing a substance, which the audience assume are these drugs, and so suggests that the protagonist is troubled, which conforms to conventions of social realism.
Following this, there is then a wide high angle shot of the protagonist with an older male figure, whom the audience assumes is his father. In this shot, the audience hear diegetic dialogue of the 'father' accusing the son of having 'schizophrenia', to which the protagonist replies "Oh yeah, what's that then?" The use of specific idiolect suggests the British location, conventional of British social realism, and the dialogue itself portrays the lack of knowledge regarding mental illness at this time.
After this, there is then shot reverse shot used to show a conversation between the protagonist and an older man. High angle close up shots are shown of the older man, which subverts conventions as this portrays the character as inferior to the protagonist, despite his older age. Also, in this shot there is diegetic dialogue which features the expletive "arse", which conforms to conventions of films in the social realist/urban drama genre as this language choice conveys the younger character as disrespectful and rebellious, a common media representation of teenagers.
The trailer then flashes back to continue the original shots used, a narrative technique often applied in teaser trailers as this suggests a discontinuity of time that creates an enigma for the audience while creating equilibrium.
The trailer then ends on disequilibrium, conventional of the teaser trailer form as this creates an enigma that intrigues the audience, making them more liable to watch the film due to the unanswered questions they have. The last image is of a person jumping off of something, which again connotes danger, creating tension that conforms to the genre.
Evaluation
This deconstruction went quite well, as this allows us to evaluate the mise-en-scene and camera angles that we should consider using in our own teaser trailer. One point that particularly interests us is the lack of knowledge regarding mental health issues, though we would not use schizophrenia as our example. Also, the use of voice over in this trailer could be something we consider, as this was quite effective at conveying the narrative.
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