Film Trailer Deconstruction

Film Trailer Deconstruction

A young girl, Baby Doll, is locked away in a mental asylum by her abusive stepfather where she will undergo a lobotomy in five days' time. Faced with unimaginable odds, she retreats to a fantastical world in her imagination where she and four other female inmates at the asylum, plot to escape the facility. The lines between reality and fantasy blur as Baby Doll and her four companions, as well as a mysterious guide, fight to retrieve the five items they need that will allow them to break free from their captors before it's too late...

Plot

The trailer begins with a CU shot of a dead woman’s body being uncovered by a sheet. A filter is used so that the effect is a washed out grey colour; this mirrors the death of the woman as all the life and colour has been drained out of the shot.

The main protagonist’s voice acts as a narration over the shots we see. She says “I lost everyone I ever loved”, this causes confusion and a sense of foreboding during the funeral scene where the main character is seen comforting her younger sister therefore foreshadowing the girls fate.

Analysis

A series of low angle shots are used when presenting the step father, together with his menacing looks and the protagonist’s suspicious glances indicates to the audience that he is a villainous character or the antagonist of the film.

The use of the eagle eye shot is similar to that of Director, Zach Snyder’s previous film ‘Watchmen’. Clearly the Director wanted to incorporate the same sort of style so that fans of his work will react positively to his latest film.

The Protagonist continues to narrate the trailer; an extreme CU shot of her eye peering through a keyhole reinforces the narrators speech; “then they locked me away”. This shot has an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ feel to it which was very likely a deliberate decision made by Snyder since in an interview he describes ‘Sucker Punch’ as “Alice in Wonderland… with machine guns!”

An emphasis on the eye of the protagonist is used in order to indicate to the audience the psychological subgenre of the film. The protagonists eyes are used as a gateway between reality and her fantasy world. All transitions from reality to fantasy occur through the use of her eyes.

When ‘Babydoll’ is dragged into a building the shot has been edited to show a double take of the same medium shot perhaps to suggest the protagonist’s madness or confusion.

The theme of insanity is further developed in the establishing shot of the sign for ‘Lennox House’.

The non-diegetic music that is introduced when ‘Babydoll’ enters the asylum is very dark and depressing which reflects her mood.

When she meets the other characters, and begins to form a plan the sound of drums and electric guitars slowly builds perhaps to show the protagonist’s determination to escape. It also indicates the turning point in the trailer and from this point on a series of long shots are used so that the audience can see the protagonist in her entirety allowing her to ‘break free’.