Film Trailer Analysis

Repo! The Genetic Opera Trailer Analysis

GENRE

This movie trailer is for the genre of horror. The genre of horror is shown in this movie trailer in many different ways, from the costumes and locations, to the colours and over all character appearances. The costumes portray the horror genre as they are primarily gothic and made from black leather, which is associated with evil and villains which are typical of horror films. The colours of rich reds, contrasted with the blacks, gives the appearance of horror, as the colour red is associated with blood and danger and black is associated with the unknown and evil, typical features of the horror genre. The locations shown in the trailer range from a dark gothic building, to a graveyard and a torture room - locations typically associated with the horror genre, as they have elements of fear and danger about them. The characters that are featured in this trailer also give the impression that the genre of the film is horror, as two of the characters are seen clipping/gluing on human faces which is quite horrifying. This trailer also complies with Carol Glover's theory about the final girl being terrorised throughout the film, as the young female character in the trailer appears all the way through the trailer as the central character who is left alive at the end. That theory is usually applicable to horror movies only, making it clear that this movie trailer is of the horror genre. Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes theory of binary opposites is also featured in this trailer, as we see a young vulnerable female character along with a strong elderly male character killing people, which appear to be binary opposites.

REPRESENTATION

Laura Mulvey put forward the theory of 'the male gaze' suggesting everything is seen through a male perspective and I believe that to be true in this trailer. I believe it to be true as all the women in the trailer appear to be objectified and sexualised; wearing revealing clothing and having 'perfect' bodies which the typical male would find pleasing. The gender representations seem very stereotypical, as the women are objectified, sexualised and seem to be the vulnerable ones in the trailer, as they are dressed provocatively and are seen either being sexual, screaming, or looking scared throughout the trailer. In contrast the men are shown as strong, aggressive and dominant as they are the ones killing people, fighting and being fussed over by the women. Age is also stereotyped, as the elderly male figure in the trailer seems the most powerful, whilst the young female seems the most weak and vulnerable.

NARRATIVE

The story of the film is about a company named 'Gene Co.' selling replacement organs to humans on Earth after mass organ failure had become common in the future. However if the people can't keep up with their payments for their organs, then Gene Co's repo man comes and takes them back. The Repo man is also leading a double life as a monstrous legal assassin and a sick girl's loving father. This narrative is shown in the trailer through a few different methods, the first of which is the voiceover which begins to tell the story before the music from the film takes over. The second method is the rather unconventional comic strip featured in the beginning of the trailer to attempt to tell the opening of the plot line to the audience. The narrative is also shown through montages, particularly the montage of the same character flicking from one persona to the other, showing the narrative of him having a double life.

AUDIENCE

The audience of this trailer is anyone who happens to see it on TV or at the beginning of another film they are watching, however keeping in mind the movie is age rated 18, I believe the audience will be people over the age of 18. However, I believe the primary audience that this movie was targeted at was 18 to 25 year old males, who like rock music and comic books. I believe the target age was 18 to 25 because the creator of the movie, who also stars in it, is Terrance Zdunich - a Canadian Comic Book artist and musical theatre star, whose main fanbase is between the age of 18 and 25. I believe the main audience gender would be male, as the female characters are very objectified and sexualised, appealing primarily to males. As the music in the movie and the trailer is rock style, I believe the target audience would be interested rock music, as well as musical theatre as the 'big name stars' in the movie are all associated with musical theatre (Terrance Zdunich, Sarah Brightman and Anthony Head). I also believe the target audience would include students, as it has a very comic book feel to it and stereotypically it is students which love comic books and movie comic book adaptations. The audience need to be quite 'active' to understand the plotline, even though the trailer makes the movie look straight forward and not require much concentration.

MEDIA LANGUAGE

Cinematography

Close ups are used a lot in this trailer to convey the emotions of the characters and show their fear and horror, or similar emotions, to add an element of horror to the trailer. Over the shoulder shots are used so that the audience of the trailer can see something that the character they're looking over the shoulder of can't, increasing the tension. High angles are used on the vulnerable characters and low angles are used on the powerful characters, to show who are going to be the main characters in the movie. The shots are kept at eyelevel with the young girl character, signifying that she is the one the audience will watch the movie and become most attached to and see the movie through her perspective. There are zooms in the trailer to show the emotion and realisation of things by the characters, heightening the tension.

Editing

Jump cuts are used in the trailer to give the impression of something being wrong and increasing te tension for the audience. Fast straight cuts are also used to give the impression of panic and add to the horror genre of the trailer. Titles are used in between the montages of clips to add suspense to the trailer and help tell the story through the trailer. Montages are used to show the equilibrium and disruption that takes place throughout the movie, as well as showcasing the characters and showing the audience a little of what they will see in the complete film.

Sound

The voice over at the beginning is a deep male voice, which sounds very fitting with the horror genre and helps to set the over all scene and tell the story of the film. The diegetic sound switches to non-diegetic and back again throughout the trailer, as the film is a musical and the music that is played by the band and sang by the characters (making it diegetic), is also played over a montage of clips where the music becomes non-diegetic. The music which is both diegetic and non-diegetic has a rock hint to it and also has quite a horror element to it too regarding the lyrics and the baselines.

Mise-en-scene

The clothing of all the characters are rather gothic and black, adding an eerie and element to the film purely through costumes. Most of the shots are in low-key lighting, associated with horror, to show the dark nature of the film. The locations shown in the trailer, such as the big gothic house, torture rooms and graveyard are all places typically associated with horror, which cause tension in the audience.