Film Title: Taken (2008) Trailer Length: 1:52 Director: Pierre Morel Release Date: 26th September 2008 Certificate: 18 Genre: Action / Thriller Production company: EuropaCorp Distribution Company: 20th Century Fox Budget: $25,000,000 Opening Weekend: $1,165,986 Gross: $145,000,989
The film 'Taken' portrays a retired CIA agent who discovers his daughter has been kidnapped and sold into prostitution whilst on a holiday trip to Paris. Using his old skills, he travels across Europe to save her. The film is classified in the action-crime-thriller and the film trailer evidently reflects this. There are lots of fast cuts of action sequences that are shown at a fast pace, which depicts the action genre of the film clearly. However, the start of the trailer subverts this as the pace of the trailer is fairly slow to begin with, using long takes to explain the narrative. In addition, throughout the start of the trailer, high key lighting is used, as shown by a medium shot of the male protagonist, Liam Neeson. The non-diegetic sound is also a slow pace and quiet soundtrack, reflecting his peacefulness; all suggesting the equilibrium of the trailer. This is later subverted to reflect the darker, thriller genre of the film, a split narrative that is conventional of trailers for the thriller genre. The medium shot of Liam Neeson also suggests his character is a strong and courageous character. This is conveyed through his clothing: he is shown wearing a black suit, and is constantly seen in dark clothing throughout the trailer, wearing a grey and black colour scheme. The colour black connotes bravery and power, possibly representing he is fearless and a determined character, possibly acting as the Hero of Propps Character Types; willing to go to great lengths to save his daughter, the heroine / damsel in distress.
A high angle / crane shot is used to capture the location of the trailer, an establishing shot over Paris, signified by the sight of the Eifel Tower. This not only therefore informs audiences of the setting of the film, but also highlights the vast size of the city, which is iconic as the size of the city plays a key part in the film when the father is searching for and wide for his daughter. In addition, the chosen location of Paris is significant as it is known for being the city of love, this could subvert the genre of the film as connotations of love are usually associated and iconic with the romance genre. However, it could have been intentionally done in order to suggest themes of the film to the audience that is present throughout the film and is the main motivation of the narrative; that is that the fathers love for his daughter drives him to continuously search for his daughter the whole way through the film.
A split-screen is then used in the trailer to show father and daughter on both sides of the phone call; this conveys the intensity of the storyline. The viewers see the image on the right of the daughter, the shot is well lit and bright, mainly capturing the white walls of the bedroom. The colour white portrays innocence and peace, suggesting the daughter’s environment is peaceful and safe. The shot also shows the daughter’s clothing which is light, pastel colours and a blue denim jacket. This, and the colour connotations of white may imply her youthfulness and innocence, creating a level of vulnerability. The protagonist on the left is shown in low key lighting, possibly foreshadowing the future themes of evil and warning the audience all may not be how it seems, as they are possibly lulled into a false sense of security believing the daughter is in a peaceful and safe environment.
The images on the split screen then show a low angled shot of two men walking through a door. The close up on the shoes connote a narrative enigma as the audience have not yet been introduced to who these men are, they have not yet seen their identity and so creates an enigma as to who these men are, drawing the audience to continue watching in order to find out, creating a narrative hook. This is conventional of a film trailer as trailers never reveal the full narrative in order to leave a sense of mystery so audiences want to then go and purchase a cinema ticket to watch the film, increasing box office sales and potentially profits. This sense of mystery is further reinforced as the shoes and clothing of the men are shown to be all black in the shot, connoting mystery and a level of evilness, death and pain, suggesting to the audience that these men may be antagonists of the film. The fact the men are dressed in black and walking through a white door shows contrasting opposites, and could signify the binary opposites of the film of good vs evil. White has positive connotations of joy and happiness, which is the opposite to black, and could signify the evilness entering the narrative, as it enters the white doors, it is entering the happy and peaceful environment, highlighting the line between equilibrium and disruption of the film.
The screen then splits into three frames. The audience see the three different characters we have been introduced to so far in the trailer; father, daughter and kid napper. Diegetic dialogue of the protagonist is heard ‘they are going to take you’, revealing the storyline will be of a kidnap and reinforcing the genre of action and thriller as suggests disruption is about to occur. The three shots show the audience the emotions of all three characters. The close up of the father was used to show his facial expression of closing his eyes as he does not like what he is hearing and is dreading hearing his daughter being taken, as well as remaining calm. The audience also see the daughter through a close up of her hiding under the bed, showing her fear and panic. The third final shot shows again the feet of the kidnapper, this again gives him power as he is the only protagonist whereby audiences cant see his emotions, he can’t be made vulnerable or broken down emotionally as his true feelings and emotions are unknown, increasing his strength over the other protagonists. The shot is also a low angle, making him seem as though towering over the audience, again reinforcing his power. In addition, throughout this scene, diegetic heavy breathing and panting can be heard by the daughter as she hides from the kidnapper under the bed. This suggests an increased heart rate and so conforms to the genre being fast paced and possibly panicked, conventional of the Thriller genre.
It is only at the end of the trailer that the name of the film is revealed, along with the director's name, Pierre Morel, and the three main stars. These credits are joined by the film's release date and the official website name. This decision to order the credits and information at the end of the trailer has been done deliberately to entice the audience for the beginning part so they want to wait until the end to find out the essential information. By exposing this information only at the end of the trailer, the audience is intrigued by the storyline and wants to discover more about the film. The audience is told who is starring in the film because it could effect the audience members. As each actor/actress has their own 'fan-base', devotees of Liam Neeson and Maggie Grace, or even the production team, like Pierre Morel, would want to see the film- so the target audience becomes a wider range of the public.