The film trailer for Kidnap depicts the narrative of a frantic woman who embarks on a high-speed car chase to save her kidnapped son. The use of editing captures the tension of the film drawing the audience in causing them to want to watch the film.
The use of close ups and extreme close ups show the emotion on the characters’ face. The protagonist realizes she can’t find her son so she gets up and starts to look, as she starts to panic more and more the camera shots change gradually from medium close ups to, close ups and then to an extreme close up when she realises her son has been kidnapped. This is done to increase tension, and has a greater effect on the audience, creating an anxious atmosphere. The use of close ups reveal the protagonists gradual change in emotion as she begins to realise her son is nowhere to be seen, this keeps the suspense of the trailer high drawing the audience in. The use of extreme close ups entices the suspense and dramatises the scene. The extreme close up of the protagonists’ eyes is the climax of the trailer as her eyes fill the entire frame the audience can tell that she has seen something shocking but they do not know what again creating suspense, this forms a narrative hook the audience want to know what the woman has seen this as a result leads them to wanting to watch the film which is the aim of the trailer. The use of extreme close ups and close ups conforms to thriller conventions, close ups and extreme close ups are commonly used in thrillers for example thriller trailers such as ‘taken’ , ‘the girl on the train’ and ‘intruders’ use close ups in their trailers. Furthermore, there is the use of an aerial shot, in this case I believe the aerial shot was used to establish setting and depict scale. In this trailer the aerial shot is used skilfully as at the beginning of the trailer the audience see them driving into what they believe is a park of a small scale however when her son disappears it makes a quick cut to an aerial shot of the park, this is when the audience see how large the park is. This then creates tension as the size of the park adds to the fact that her son could be anywhere as it is such a big place and it will be difficult to find him, increasing narrative enigma. The use of the aerial shot helps clarify where they are, using this shot makes the trailer look highly professional. Another aerial shot is used when she is chasing the car that has her son is inside. This aerial shot creates tension as you can see she is catching up to the car and is almost very close, creating suspense and raising questions within the audience will she catch the antagonist or not. In addition the use of a long shot allows the audience to see what is surrounding the character. In a long shot we see the mother walking into a police station, she is the only person in the shot and this presents the location as isolated. This is done on purpose to signify how secluded and helpless she feels.
In Kidnap the first section of the trailer starts with folk, acoustic non-diegetic background music with dialogue over it. The non-diegetic music sets a happy tone at the beginning of the trailer and makes the audience feel comfortable, this therefore makes the disturbance of happiness more impactful, this is a popular convention of a trailer as the disturbance of the film needs to be established in order to get the audience’s attention. The dialogue between the characters is synchronised, as the lips of the characters move at the same time the audience hear the words, dialogue in the first part of the trailer is very important as it establishes the relationship between the two characters being shown. The little boy who the audience first see is sitting in the back of the car he says “choo choo , mummy your turn”, the camera then makes a cut to a middle aged women driving the car and she replies “choo choo” instantly this tells the audience that the relationship between the two characters is mother and son. This makes the storyline more emotive as the relationship and bond between a mother and son is important and a strong one, people watching the trailer may have had this relationship which may as a result make the trailer tenser and therefore attract the viewer more.
After they arrive at the park and the drama begins to unfold as she can’t find her son the music stops and eerie sound effects can be heard making the audience feel uncomfortable. The change in music has a greater effect on the audience as the non-diegetic music previously played sets a happy atmosphere, so the audience were not expecting something bad to take place so quickly. As the protagonist starts to panic because she can’t to find her son the audience too start to panic and questions are raised; this therefore creates narrative enigma which is a typical convention of a trailer for a film. The distorted booms and heartbeat sound effects are used to evoke emotions of panic and worry within the audience. In the space of 30 seconds there are 10 different close ups of the protagonist face, which are accompanied by the eerie sound effects, the sound effects are carefully coordinated with the editing and each time a cut is made to a close up of the protagonist face a booming sound is heard – helping to create this tense atmosphere and dramatising the scene. Additionally, the heartbeat sound effect sounds as if it is coming from the protagonists hear. The pace increases as she becomes more worried leaving the audience in suspense. Both of these sound effects are the most frequently used throughout the trailer, this has been done on purpose in order to create a tense atmosphere within the trailer. In the scene where she tries to chase the car her son has been kidnapped, suspense music can be heard. The use of suspense music helps confirm the films genre as it is often associated with the horror/thriller genre, this is therefore a genre and trailer convention.
Quick cuts are used when the disequilibrium takes place in the trailer, her son has been kidnapped and this is when the tension is at a high within the audience. The use of quick cuts is mainly between the protagonists’ car and the antagonists’ car. The uses of quick cuts reflect the fast-paced action taking place. These quick cuts are frequently made on what seem to be the exciting parts of the film which show the protagonist possibly finding the person who kidnapped her son, therefore leaving questions within the viewer like who has taken her son. Quick cuts keep the audience on the edge of their seat as they want to see more and this is what entices them to go and see the film at the cinema. However, they enable the audience to get an idea of the narrative and what’s taking place without revealing too much. There is also the use of flashbacks in the editing, which are shots of her son playing in the park which is the last time she saw him, the first flashback is shown when she first realizes her son is missing, this could be used to reflect what the protagonist is thinking at this very moment, she’s trying to remember where he was last playing. The second flashback is shown when she is chasing the antagonist attempting to try and find her son. In this flashback the audience see a close up of her son laughing this used to reflect a past emotional happy time she had with her son. It’s also a reminder to the audience that she’s doing this because of the love she has for her son is unexplainable, giving an understanding into the protagonists’ erratic behaviour, as in the trailer she injures a lot of people along the way. Overall In this trailer flashbacks are used to give an insight in to the character’s behaviour, and leave us left with questions causing us to watch the film. Flashbacks are a common convention of trailers as this is a way of showing the storyline without revealing too much. A common convention used in most trailers is fades to black. It helps show the passing of time and it gives the audience a break from the action taking place in the film. In Kidnap, there is use of fades to black but text is placed on the black background. The colour of the text is red this has connotations of death, blood and love. It could also be used to signify danger also helping to define the genre of the film as thriller. The use of placing text on the screen every few seconds helps give audiences a break from the action but it also gives them information on the film this is used to draw them in and want to watch the film.
Lighting is used in the trailer to help set the mood. In this trailer, high key lighting is used at the start of the trailer, this signifies the happiness that is presented before the disruptions of the equilibrium. Lighting can help set a happy tone by the use of a brighter scene. There is a significant change in lighting which can be seen towards the second half of the trailer, the lighting is low key. The use of this lighting created a more eerie and tense atmosphere. This may also be used in order to foreshadow that something bad is going to happen. In one shot low key lighting is used as the audience are unable to see who the mother is trying to hit with an axe, this creates suspicion as she tries to catch the antagonist.