war of the worlds trailer analysis

The establishing shots at the beginning of the trailer are quite interesting and from them we know that the film is set in the city of New York this creates a feeling of familiarity as the audience knows where New York is and therefore they recognize it and for worldwide audiences as it is a place a lot of people want to go and therefore they can identify with the location.

Tom Cruise's character is a major feature of the trailer and we find out that he is a father in this film and this creates a feeling of empathy in the audience as people don't want his character or the characters kids to get hurt as  the audience empathizes with a family as they may be in one. As things begin to happen in the trailer we always hope that the family is OK as one member is a small girl and this creates a protective feeling in the audience. As the other child is a teenage boy that creates a feeling of sympathy with people who are also teenage boys as they will sympathies with his situation.

There is a really interesting shot that stands out for me and that is the close up of Cruise where his character speaks to camera.  This makes it feel as if he is talking to us the audience watching the trailer therefore giving us the feeling that he is talking to us therefore it is a direct mode of address therefore we keep focused on Tom Cruise's character. This shot is also used in a cross cut as he is talking to his daughter and she is in a low angle therefore showing her vulnerability and he is shown in a low angle to show his control and authority in the situation and that he may be able to beat what is coming. This also shows us that he is very serious and may be in trouble therefore creating worry as we can see other things going on around him and he is a likable character in the trailer.

The use of music in this trailer is quite effective and builds tension.  We can hear at first the peaceful and calm tones showing us that everything is OK and the characters we see a good characters as they aren't accompanied by dark and sinister music, but this music also builds tension as the audience know that this wont last and it gets a little more tension as it continues. the music drastically changes in the background as the narrative changes, when we start to see the earthquakes and the lightning hits it helps establish that this is a major plot point.

The director of this film is Spielberg and he is a unique selling point because of his reputation for making successful big budget films.  This is communicated to the target audience when mid action montage a credit comes up with his name and this shows that the audience need to know that Spielberg had a major role in this film, and it is in the middle of the action montage to show that it is a big budget film.

There is some interesting fast paced editing used when we see the destruction of the city therefore showing us that whatever is coming is much more dangerous than first thought. we also see the army fighting something this shows that there is something big coming therefore they know that Tom Cruise's character is in big trouble.

You can tell that this film is a science-fiction film because in the trailer we see lightning hitting in the same place and many things happening which are not able to explain by the technology we have. We also see large tentacle monsters which are thought to be aliens but both are big science fiction staples.