Analysis of Sherlock Holmes Poster and Trailer
Analysis of Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game Of Shadows trailer
The trailer begins with an extreme bird’s eye view shot of a village, it then fades slowly into tilted angled bird’s eye view shot of a location within the village, this sets the scene informing the audience where the main action of the film will take place. The lighting of the village is dark; this helps to set the era the film has been set in as the 19th century, as London was known as smoggy. In the background there is just the calming voice of a female character, which is setting the story for the audience, this continues until a medium shot of the woman is shown as she says ‘welcome’. Thunder begins to sound as there are quick cuts from various shots, for example a wide long shot that shows an explosion behind a couple. This helps to highlight that the genre of the film is action adventure.
There is then an extreme close up of a moving chess piece, here the audience can see a white glove and silver platters, this highlights that the story line might be based around characters within a high social status. There is then a close up of cards and a chess board, further setting the scene and making the audience query what the story is about. Fast paced orchestra music begins to play, building up excitement as there are quick cuts of a bird’s eye view of people running through a snowy forest, a medium angle mid shot of a man with a gun and then a high angle mid shot of Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downy Jr), this builds up anticipation for the audience as they are able to see a number of different shots revealing bits of the story.
The audience are then shown a shot of Sherlock Holmes beating up a man next to a four-poster bed, this highlights the era of the film, forcing the audience to remember the time in which the film is set. A cut to another long shot of Holmes beating up a man, here the audience are able to see that the males are wearing grey waistcoats and peaked caps. This indicates that the males in this film, particularly Holmes are scruffy, tough, self-defensive and violent. This clothing again represents the 19th century era in which the film is set.
The orchestra music then stops to silence when a mid shot of a man holding a newspaper up is displayed, there is then a quick cut to a side-angle mid shot revealing the character of Dr Watson (Jude Law) as he says “Oh how I’ve missed you Holmes”. Dr Watson is shown to be wearing a smart suit and a top hat; this indicates he is of a middle social class as he is a doctor. This is then interrupted by quick shots of the graphic logos of the production companies are shown, such as Silver Pictures, which is accompanied by quick bangs of a drum building up tension. This is important as it gives the audience an insight on who produced the film, allowing them to judge the film before seeing it on what they know about the production companies.
There are a range of different shots in order to tell the story at this point, such as a panning across a room revealing a wall covered of ripped our maps which Dr Watson describes as Holmes’ “wall of conspiracy”. The fast pace music begins again as different actors voices narrate the story. Different locations of the film are demonstrated, for example there is a panning forward shot of a grand ship, this will interest the audience as they will feel they are watching a high budget film as it is filmed in various locations.
The fast pace music comes to a halt as there is a mid shot of Holmes disguised as a woman, the music stops as he says: “I agree it’s not my best disguise”. This is important as it’s a comical moment, highlighting that although the film involves a lot of action and adventure it is also comical and light-hearted. Fast pace music begins again, however the volume is increasing, this continues as there are a range of mid shots of each character with graphics below with the actors names. This are cut quickly as they are only there with the purpose to introduce each character.
There is then continued shots of action, until the fast pace music stops and there is silence. There is then a display of Holmes disarming a gun, as he does this there is a mid shot of bullets flying out of the gun; this is done in slow motion in order to capture the moment and highlight the high quality shots that are in the film. There is a ringing noise whilst the bullets hover in the air, mesmerising the audience. The fast pace non-diegetic orchestra then begins to play loudly again as there is a fast panning to the left showing a train as it gets shot by men. The connection of males and guns highlight that men are portrayed to be powerful figures in this film, and to be those that are violent. This conforms to hegemonic ideas of how males are portrayed in action adventure films.
