Film Title: London Has Fallen (2016) Trailer Length: 2:32 Director: Babak Najafi Release Date: 3rd March 2016 Certificate: 12 Genre: Action Production company: Lionsgate Distribution Company: Focus Features Budget: $60,000,000 Opening Weekend: $21,635,601 Gross: $62,401,264
At the start, an establishing shot pans across the Whitehouse. Using an establishing shot is a common trailer convention as it establishes setting, in this case shows the audience the film is set in Washing DC. Having such iconic locations is also conventional of the action genre. It may also attract audiences as they are familiar with the setting, increasing interest in the film and possibly increasing audiences. It may also increase their target audience as it attracts international audiences, those who may watch the trailer in interest of seeing other cultures and iconic foreign buildings such as the Whitehouse. Increasing audiences may result in increasing box office tickets, the main goal of films produced by the Big 6.
A long shot of 2 individuals running is shown, with three security cars following behind and another runner. This suggests the importance of the two runners at the front, as they are ahead of all cars, showing they are leading and the most significant. The colours of both the cars and the two runners at the front are all black, which can be seen in this long shot. This again further reinforces their status and importance as black connotes power and status, suggesting to the audience that these may be the film’s two main protagonists.
The film’s production company is also shown at start of trailer, ‘Lionsgate’ and ‘Millenium Films’, both which are commonly known for producing films of action genre, for example ‘Power Rangers (2017)’ and ‘The hunger Games (franchise). Therefore shows the audience it is not only apart of the Hollywood Big 6, and that they can expect stars etc due to a large budget, but also suggests the genre of the film as audiences may be familiar with these production companies being involved with a lot of action genre films.
A long shot is then used, showing helicopters flying over the houses of parliament, London; again showing iconic locations. Along with this shot, diegetic dialogue ‘with security at unprecedented level’, and the build up of a non-diegetic beat s built up, gradually increasing suspense. The beat could portray a heartbeat, connoting the struggle for life in the narrative as many characters find themselves in situations where they need to fight for their life. It could also resemble of the heartbeat of the characters in the narrative, as they begin to panic, shown by the beat increasing in pace as action breaks out, signifying the disruption is about to occur; almost suggesting the audience should also feel paniced and on edge, as their adrenaline increases along with the heart beat.
A close up of a gun is then used, suggesting the genre of action as weapons are an iconic prop of the genre. It also connotes violence as this is a weapon with one use only – to kill. Therefore using a close up of this weapon results in the whole frame being filled with the connotation of violence and military, connoting a hostile environment, an environment commonly used in Action genre films. As well as highlighting the genre, it could have been done to foreshadow future disruption of the narrative (Todorov’s narrative stages), and so prepares the audience for the nature of the narrative to follow. However, the gun is not positioned in the centre 3rd of the frame, it is in the right half of the frame, decreasing its level of importance and significance, contrasting to the previous suggestion that the film is focused on violence. This could be intentional in order to portray mixed expectations, to keep the audience engaged rather than be expecting the typical action genre whereby the trailer is set up to show violence, it may come as a shock for some audiences later in the trailer when they witness the high level of action as they partly expected violence to not be the centre of the narrative, just like it is not the centre of this shot. Explosions are shown throughout the trailer, for example a long shot of two cars exploding is shown. This again suggests to audiences that the film is of the Big 6 as it has the budget to use SFX, and is what audiences expect to see in a large Hollywood film. This is further reinforced through the use of close ups on A-list actors such as Morgan Freeman and Gerard Butler, a common type of advertising in trailers to sell the film to their audiences as it may attract fans of these actors to the film, again increasing potential audiences. These explosions act as a juxtaposition to the slow transitions of shots, however these increase as the non-diegetic music builds up and action / explosions increase, as well as diegetic sounds such as buildings crashing. The fast paced transitions, suspenseful music and explosions all further support the genre as these are common conventions audiences would expect to see in an action film.
This is then followed by four screens of writing which individually read “In 2013”, “Olympus fell”, “In 2016” and “London Will Fall”. These help to set the scene and establish the storyline for the trailer. In addition, making reference to previous films of the franchise, attracts fans of the franchise, increasing potential audiences for the film. At the end of the trailer, the film title is shown ‘London Has Fallen’. This supports audiences expectations of the trailer as through deconstructing trailers, it is a common convention of all trailers to show the film title at the end of the trailer, possibly so it sticks in the audience’s mind for longer. The film title is in a white sans serif font, over the dark background of a black and white map of London, with what seems to be a black smog – like colour slowly covering the map behind the text. The white text suggests the innocence and hope of London, being targeted by the terrorists, signified by the black smog, connoting evil and darkness. The smog slowly covering the map of London suggests the film will show the terrorists slowly overtaking and overpowering London, almost suffocating them as it slowly covers up the map. However, the white text overpowers all of this as it is positioned on top, suggesting London’s innocence and hope will eventually come out on top and win. Therefore the film title could be an attempt to suggest parts of the narrative to audiences, that London is under threat from evil, however its innocence and hope will eventually win, which is what happens in the film.