The use of codes and conventions is seen immediately in the trailer as we see the logo for 'Universal studios' pop up. This indicates that the film has been backed by a well established and respected studio and therefore that the film is more likely to be a professional effort and hopefully of a high calibre.
The voiceover is a British man introducing the concept of the film, stated on various posters (like above), and this is intercut with the news announcers that are speaking in the trailer as well. The concept of the zombie apocalypse set in the contemporary Britain of 2004. The audience has a grasp of what the film is about in the first 20 seconds. The music contrasts to the serious beginning of the trailer and hints at the comedic tone that the film will develop. A juxtaposition can be seen. It is playful and upbeat which contrasts to the unattractive features and sluggish movements of the zombies.
In the film itself the atmospheric music ('The Blue Wrath' by I Monster) is heavily inspired by the music heard in John Carpenter’s films, most noticeably Ennio Morricone's music for 'The Thing' (1982). Despite the jaunty tone of the majority of the trailer, the film itself does play with more atmospheric sounds, abiding with the dark and suspenseful conventions of the horror genre.
The film title is seen at the end of the trailer and this is done in the hope that the audiences' attention would have been captured and that they would be intrigued to know what the film is called. It is a very bold and dark film title that doesn't really display the comedy value in the film itself but rather the zombie features in the film.
There is no use of social media in the trailer as sites like Twitter and Facebook were very new in 2004 or hadn't even been created (Twitter, 2006). Despite this, the film was still very popular and now generates more interest through the development of the web and social media sites. Occasionally, Edgar Wright will tweet references to the film and this encourages his followers to watch Shaun of the Dead.
The main characters are shown to give the audience an idea of who is featuring and to boost the interest in the film. Actors like Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (seen below in the film trailer) are associated with comedy films and TV series and this allows the trailer to show the serious side as well as the comedy. There are few women seen in the film trailer and this could be because the target audience for the film has been identified as a male, 15-40 and middle class type of audience. This audience can relate to Shaun and his struggles and this makes it more appealing to go and watch the film.
The time length of the trailer is 1 minute and 40 seconds. This is the perfect amount of time as it doesn't give much away but introduces the concept and some of the good clips in the film in order to appeal to the wide audience. Arguably, film trailers can give too much away, relying on showing their punchlines to attract an audience. But from watching the film it is clear that Edgar Wright and the producers were not overly concerned about
No name captions are seen as well and this could be because the actors in the film were not as popular as they are now and the use of name captions was not seen as often as it is now. This could be from the increase in consumers of film over time and increase in 'fanboys' through social media pages etc.
No release date is shown but 'Coming Soon' is displayed at the end of the trailer to build the hype and intrigue the viewers as to when it comes out.
It is clear the genre features horror and comedy and this is through the use of the main characters (above), several funny clips and the zombies shown. It is not clear that romance is a sub genre as we only see a few seconds of Shaun and Liz in the same frame.
Edgar Wright, the director, uses a very choppy filming approach in his films and this is to create fast and sharp movements in the film, it speeds up the continuity and grabs the attention of the audience. Here is an example of a typical Edgar Wright filming style from the film (not the trailer).
For more on his style, see my post on Edgar Wright.
In the trailer the speed of editing is faster than the content in the actual film and this is because there is a montage of clips seen in the trailer and flashes of as much as possible. The film producers want to entice the audience into going to see the film and appeal to as many people as possible, this results in a culmination of popular clips and less focus on the narrative.
I feel that the trailer is more effective in making me want to see the film as it elaborates on the concept and has some funny moments that foreshadow more funny moments to be seen in the film.
I would expect to see this trailer in the breaks of TV programmes on channels like Dave, E4 and Channel 4 as their audiences are similar to who would be interested in Shaun of the Dead. In addition, the TV series 'Spaced' that starred a whole host of the actors in Shaun of the Dead, also directed by Edgar Wright, aired on Channel 4 and so this audience will obviously be interested in a similar production. In fact, almost every actor from 'Spaced' has a part in the film. On top of this, Film 4 provided some of the funding to cover the production costs of the film.
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