Silver Linings Playbook Trailer Analysis

Camera Angles, Shots, Movement and Composition

• The male protagonist is talking to another man saying “I hate my parents and I want to control them”, with this there is a high angle shot from the males point of view, even though the two men are sitting at the same level. This shows that the male protagonist is very passionate about what he is saying and is going to give it all the power and determination in the world to make it happen, it also shows that he has power and dominance over the other man he is speaking to.
• The first shot as the trailer starts is a zoom, close up shot of the house that the male protagonist is living in with his parents. This gave me straight away as a viewer that they are an averagely middle-class family in America and live an everyday life. By doing this shot, gave us an outline or the male protagonist and his family’s life.
• There is at the beginning of the trailer, a two shot of the mum and dad in bed whilst listening to the male protagonist talking and raging about his life. This two shot showed me that the mum and dad were very tired of listening to the male talking about his life in this way, and all they wanted to do was help him but he wouldn’t let anyone.                                     

Editing

• The male protagonist narrates “Im ready, im motivated, I go running all the time”, whilst this was being narrated there was a shot of the man walking down the road with a bag of crisps. The fact that these two things were put together showed that the man wasn’t going running all the time he was going walking but also eating junk food. However, I felt that this didn’t fit into the genre completely straight away as it almost had a chunk of comedy in it, not so much romantic drama, as yet.

• There are two shots cut together, the first shot is of the man and woman sitting back to back and not even wanting to speak to each other and both rolling their eyes at each other and the shot it is cut with is of them both standing really close together and looking at each other and laughing. This is really nice to see as a viewer as you have witnessed them both being unhappy and now they are both making each other very happy.  

Sound

• The trailer straight away began with upbeat, optimistic non-diegetic music which straight away gave me the impression as a viewer that the trailer was going to be fun, enjoyable and entertaining.
• There is non-diegetic music played throughout the trailer, until the man says “Do you want to go on a date with me” and the female replies “pick me up at 7:30”. The music was stopped which highlights that its a significant moment in the trailer but also the film as it is a turning point for the two due to know them both being so miserable and unhappy before but this is a turning point for them both. Following on from this, there was a build-up of non-diegetic music and this led up to the main protagonist characters going on their date, this showed me as a viewer that this was a big and main part of the story and where everything changes.
• There is positive, cheerful music playing until the female protagonist narrates that she got sacked from her job as she “had sex with everyone in the office”, at this point all music stopped corresponding with a reaction shot close up from the male protagonist showing his awkwardness and discomfort, with not knowing what to reply.

Mise en Scene 

• At the beginning of the trailer, it shows the male and female protagonist’s in loose, baggy, earthy coloured, ripped clothes, showing their personalities through clothing and what they looked like and showing their unhappiness and misery, however, this contrasts at the end of the trailer when the male and female protagonist are together and the male is dressed in a black suit and the female is dressed in a white sparkly dress. This for me as a viewer, showed me that their personalities, qualities and behaviours all changed once they had fallen in love and they had changed eachother for the better and that they saved eachother from becoming “depressed”, and that they were looking for eachother all along. This then links into the genre really well due to all the drama they had been through just to be together and have romance.
• Throughout the beginning of the trailer the light is very dim and indistinct, though towards the end of the trailer, the light becomes more bright and lively. This to me as a viewer gave me the impression the light was symbolising the lives of the two protagonists and that at the beginning of the trailer/film their lives were low, unhappy and miserable but at the beginning it was happy, content and delightful due to being in eachother company.