Analysis of The King’s Speech trailer
The trailer begins with a long shot of a male figure walking through a misty cobbled street; he appears to be wearing a large black over coat and a large black top-hat. This instantly sets the era as this clothing is not seen in the modern day to be worn by anyone. The mist could represent that the story has a sense of lack of hope. There is non-diegetic piano music playing, music that sounds rather posh. Then there begins the speech of a female, who is revealed to be Helena Bonham Carter in a close up through a rainy car window, reflecting that this character has something to hide, which we later see to be Colin Firth’s characters stammer and difficulty with public speaking. She speaks with a RP accent, highlighting that this story is following characters of a high social class, the strong posh accent makes it quite obvious she is royalty.
The music continues up until a low angle long shot of a large crowd all looking up towards a male figure standing at a microphone. The microphone is old fashioned, mostly recognised from the era of WW2, highlighting to the audience that this is the time in which the film is set. The silence proceeds up until a close up of Colin Firth’s scared expression, revealed but slightly blocked by the microphone. This indicates to the audience that his fear is of the microphone, therefore effectively from public speaking. There are continued shots to highlight this character feels uncomfortable about the idea of making a speech as there is a high-angle close up focusing on the crowd through the microphone. This demonstrates what the King (Colin Firth) sees as he begins to speak. The long silence used here is another contributing factor that reflects the man’s fear of speech. As he begins his speech there is obvious echoing from the microphone, which continues to highlight the awkwardness of the speech and the nerves in which the King feels. During his speech there is an extreme close up of Colin Firth’s face, used in order to capture every bit of nervous and unhappy emotion his character is feeling during this awkward speech.
Sad, slow, non-diegetic piano music then begins to play, furthering the audience’s sympathy for this characters clear struggle with his speech. There is cross cutting between Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush in an old-fashioned looking room, indicating the era again to be within WW2 times. The dark lighting in the room reflects a negative and possibly sad narrative to the film, highlighting characters the audience will grow to like might not feel happy throughout the movie. There is then a change in scene, as the non-diegetic music changes to fast pace orchestra music, with an upbeat rhythm. This plays whilst numerous quotes from the actors narrate the story. This gives the audience a ‘feel-good’ feeling as they assume the story will show the development of this characters life.
The audience are shown a room with grand gold picture frames and objects, highlighting the characters wealth, reinforcing the idea this film is about a member of the royal family. Within this room there is also obvious view of an old-fashioned turntable with a large speaker attached; reminding the audience of the era this film is set in. Here a high angle close up of Colin Firth’s face is shown, as he looks very uncomfortable about having something in his mouth, restricting his speech even more – highlighting that many speech therapists tried to fix his stammer and failed. This is quickly cut to a wide angle long shot of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush sitting opposite each other in a grand room, reflecting their developing friendship.
There are interruptions of graphics during this trailer, that show buildings in London and text narrating the story, whilst there is a slow zoom into the buildings. Behind these graphical buildings are dark grey clouds, this indicates that the film is a story of a struggle. The ‘feel-good’ music continues as there are numerous cuts between humorous scenes. One being a slow zoom out into a long shot of Firth and Rush standing opposite each other, jumping up and down wobbling their cheeks. Over the non-diegetic music, is the diegetic sound of the characters repeating a “ya – ya – ya” noise as they wobble their cheeks. This makes the film more appealing as it highlights it is not all negative.
The happiness is interrupted by a loud sound of the siren often alerted when there was going to be a bomb-raid in WW2. This non-diegetic sound continues as there is a show of Firth walking outside into a crowd of people. He is dressed in a grand over-coat, with gold embroidering along. He is walking out into the crowd confidently as there are diegetic sounds of the shutter sounds on the Press’ camera. This highlights how his confidence and adaption to the role of King develops throughout the film. Outside where the crowds are stood there is a gloomy grey lighting, this reflects the depression Britain was in during this era due to the war, reinforcing the struggle of the country.
There is cross cutting between Firth and Rush, shown with mid shots of them talking in a misty park, the audience will recognise the mist with Geoffrey Rush standing there and assume that he was the dark figure shown in the first shot of the trailer. Later fast-pace, tension building orchestra music begins to play as there are shots such as a high-angle bird’s eye view of an army marching back and forth. This is then accompanied by the sound of Hitler’s voice as there is an extreme long shot of a video of one of Hitler’s speech. In the way of the view of the screen there is a projector blocking, this indicates that Hitler was portrayed in the media as admirable when it came to his strong speeches.
This music then fades into a choir singing angelically as an orchestra accompanies it, this reflects a hopeful end to the film – appealing to the target audience as they will long for a happy ending to the film, regardless of whether it is based on true events or not, it is what they will expect. There is a close up of Firth crying however, allowing the audience to feel the royal family is humanised in this film and feel intrigued to see what the inside life of a royal member is like. However, the last shot is positive as it shows a high-angle shot, looking down on Colin Firth through a microphone. The angle of this shot implies raised hopes for his final speech, encouraging the audience to go see the film, to see if the speech went as well as they might hope. There is then a fade into the title ‘The Kings Speech’.
The music continues up until a low angle long shot of a large crowd all looking up towards a male figure standing at a microphone. The microphone is old fashioned, mostly recognised from the era of WW2, highlighting to the audience that this is the time in which the film is set. The silence proceeds up until a close up of Colin Firth’s scared expression, revealed but slightly blocked by the microphone. This indicates to the audience that his fear is of the microphone, therefore effectively from public speaking. There are continued shots to highlight this character feels uncomfortable about the idea of making a speech as there is a high-angle close up focusing on the crowd through the microphone. This demonstrates what the King (Colin Firth) sees as he begins to speak. The long silence used here is another contributing factor that reflects the man’s fear of speech. As he begins his speech there is obvious echoing from the microphone, which continues to highlight the awkwardness of the speech and the nerves in which the King feels. During his speech there is an extreme close up of Colin Firth’s face, used in order to capture every bit of nervous and unhappy emotion his character is feeling during this awkward speech.
Sad, slow, non-diegetic piano music then begins to play, furthering the audience’s sympathy for this characters clear struggle with his speech. There is cross cutting between Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush in an old-fashioned looking room, indicating the era again to be within WW2 times. The dark lighting in the room reflects a negative and possibly sad narrative to the film, highlighting characters the audience will grow to like might not feel happy throughout the movie. There is then a change in scene, as the non-diegetic music changes to fast pace orchestra music, with an upbeat rhythm. This plays whilst numerous quotes from the actors narrate the story. This gives the audience a ‘feel-good’ feeling as they assume the story will show the development of this characters life.
The audience are shown a room with grand gold picture frames and objects, highlighting the characters wealth, reinforcing the idea this film is about a member of the royal family. Within this room there is also obvious view of an old-fashioned turntable with a large speaker attached; reminding the audience of the era this film is set in. Here a high angle close up of Colin Firth’s face is shown, as he looks very uncomfortable about having something in his mouth, restricting his speech even more – highlighting that many speech therapists tried to fix his stammer and failed. This is quickly cut to a wide angle long shot of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush sitting opposite each other in a grand room, reflecting their developing friendship.
There are interruptions of graphics during this trailer, that show buildings in London and text narrating the story, whilst there is a slow zoom into the buildings. Behind these graphical buildings are dark grey clouds, this indicates that the film is a story of a struggle. The ‘feel-good’ music continues as there are numerous cuts between humorous scenes. One being a slow zoom out into a long shot of Firth and Rush standing opposite each other, jumping up and down wobbling their cheeks. Over the non-diegetic music, is the diegetic sound of the characters repeating a “ya – ya – ya” noise as they wobble their cheeks. This makes the film more appealing as it highlights it is not all negative.
The happiness is interrupted by a loud sound of the siren often alerted when there was going to be a bomb-raid in WW2. This non-diegetic sound continues as there is a show of Firth walking outside into a crowd of people. He is dressed in a grand over-coat, with gold embroidering along. He is walking out into the crowd confidently as there are diegetic sounds of the shutter sounds on the Press’ camera. This highlights how his confidence and adaption to the role of King develops throughout the film. Outside where the crowds are stood there is a gloomy grey lighting, this reflects the depression Britain was in during this era due to the war, reinforcing the struggle of the country.
There is cross cutting between Firth and Rush, shown with mid shots of them talking in a misty park, the audience will recognise the mist with Geoffrey Rush standing there and assume that he was the dark figure shown in the first shot of the trailer. Later fast-pace, tension building orchestra music begins to play as there are shots such as a high-angle bird’s eye view of an army marching back and forth. This is then accompanied by the sound of Hitler’s voice as there is an extreme long shot of a video of one of Hitler’s speech. In the way of the view of the screen there is a projector blocking, this indicates that Hitler was portrayed in the media as admirable when it came to his strong speeches.
This music then fades into a choir singing angelically as an orchestra accompanies it, this reflects a hopeful end to the film – appealing to the target audience as they will long for a happy ending to the film, regardless of whether it is based on true events or not, it is what they will expect. There is a close up of Firth crying however, allowing the audience to feel the royal family is humanised in this film and feel intrigued to see what the inside life of a royal member is like. However, the last shot is positive as it shows a high-angle shot, looking down on Colin Firth through a microphone. The angle of this shot implies raised hopes for his final speech, encouraging the audience to go see the film, to see if the speech went as well as they might hope. There is then a fade into the title ‘The Kings Speech’.
