The Long kiss Goodnight

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDuma1M09B0
We chose this film trailer as one of the trailers we would evaluate because we believe it has the same genre and we can benefit by analysing the different conventions and style that they use. Especially as this film's main character is a female assassin and this is the character we want to give our female lead.
The first glimpse of a scene in this trailer is calm with gentle piano music. It is a close up of a lady (Geena Davis) and two young girls, that look like they could be her daughters, having a conversation. The conversation is short and humorous and sets a warm atmosphere. The next thing you here is a voiceover begin and it asks, 'what if you don't remember your first kiss?' This includes the audience straight away with the rhetorical question and makes reference to the film's name. More shots of the woman are seen that flow smoothly and slowly and are of her with vulnerable look facial expressions, this suggests to the audience that this is the main character. The fact that the trailer shows you the main character could suggest it is using this to draw the audience in because the actress is well known. We could use this style in our trailer by showing the main character straight away because the film includes a certain kind of sex appeal and may draw the audience (especially men) in straight away.
The mise en scene and setting carries on being calm and normal and gives no reason for the audience to think that the trailer could be a horror or action film. But then you see the woman cutting up vegetables, she gets faster and the excitement between her and her family grows, but then she throws a knife at the wall and the atmosphere immediately changes because the gentle music stops and her families faces turn to worried/scared expressions. There is then an extreme close up of an eye blinking and the shots turn to dark images and you see a flash of a knife which builds tension in the audience. This is followed by gunshots and a disturbing looking man turning up with a gun, showing the obvious change in atmosphere and building more tension.
Next a song in the background starts which isn't creepy and actually lightens the mood again. These changes in mood are effective and keep the audience on their toes and wanting to see more. This could be an important convention to include in our trailer and could make the trailer that bit more effective. The dialogue starts explaining the narrative further by telling the audience the woman has amnesia and used to be an assassin and her past is coming back to her. This tells the audience the story, hoping that they will be intrigued enough to want to watch the film, which is what we intend to do with our movie trailer.
Next you see a shot of the woman with a different haircut, its blonde, short and slicked back, making her look alot more hard edged and begins to make the audience think she is the bad guy rather the victim. This is followed by shots that back up this new appearance, such as a shot of her holding a scared looking man with a gun to his head and beating up a man and also taking shots at a bar. As the trailer goes on more characters are introduced but shots of one particular black guy (Samuel L Jackson) are repeated suggesting this character is important to the story as well. Also the shots of the man are usually humorous, showing the audience his personality as well as the main character's. You then see shots of her with her daughter which shows her nice side and makes the audience favour her again, this messing with the audience's emotions is likely to keep them interested. More intense music follows after a huge explosion and a montage of fast action filled shots are shown, ending the trailer on an intense high and leaving the audience wanting more. The trailer then ends with the voiceover saying the actors names and the name of the film.
The main factor I love in this trailer is the way the mood goes up and down, keeping the audience on edge, and I intend to include this kind of style in mine and my group's trailer.