2. How is sound used in the trailer?
The first thing the audiences hears in the trailer is “were the Sweeny” in a London cockney ascent. The fact that
instantly the name of the film is said and that the Sweeny is a group of people gives quick and first information to the
audience, the cockney accent is also often connoted as being violent and dangerous. This shows that the people who
are in the Sweeny are hard east Londoners who don’t mess around. There is then the cockney accent again which
simply says “where cops, but we do things our way” this confirms the audiences understanding of the east London voice
due to the “we do things our way” implying that the cops in the Sweeny do thighs a little differently to kosher cops. This
gets the audience existed 10 seconds in and makes them feel a need to know more information about how the sweeny
operate. As the man is talking there is barrel pumping sounds which connotes violence and guns there is also cliché cop
talk such as “armed robbery in progress” which simply reminds the audience that although things are done differently, t
hey are still police.
The next set of scenes are played with the man talking about the Sweeny being under manned and under suited but still
do a great job, t his makes the audience like the Sweeny and respect the work they do as cops. During this there is
violence played on the screen of the Sweeny not abiding normal cop protocol ( hitting people with baseball bats).
As more information about how the narrative is going to be played out, for example people from internals investigating
the Sweeny team to complain about the way they do things, there is heavy guitar being played while the Sweeny are
raiding a robbery, this heavy guitar give the Sweeny a violent, hard and metal look which reinstates there “hard nut”
attitude. This connotes to the audience that the Sweeny are men that are not to be messed with.
The trailer then has a lot of clips which go over the narrative, this gives away key information about the film but holds
enough to keep the audience interested. It shows small clips of the most violent and interesting scenes which attract
the audience who want to know more about what happens later in that scene after it has been cut.
As well as various gun fire and shouts getting louder as the trailer progresses there are loud drum sounds gaining pace,
this is to show the audience that the film gathers momentum as it goes and gets more and more existing, this prospect
is existing to the audience and they will gain pleasure from watching the film, therefore they will watch it.
3. What effect does editing have on
the audience while watching this
trailer?
The trailer shows a lot of quick action shots which are showed very briefly and at peak violent
moments to show the speed and force used in the violence the Sweeney used, there are also a lot of
violent films all showed quickly to show the audience that there is a lot of violence going on in the
film, this attracts a specific audience that will go and watch the film for excitement and thrill of
seeing that level of violence.
The pace of the scenes gaining as the trailer continues also shows the speed of which the film goes,
some audiences enjoy films to get to the point quicker and to have more bulk than films that pay
more attention to detail and take time in telling the story, this fast pace editing aims to attract the
correct audience and to show them that this film is ideal for them.
There are also various match on action shots in the trailer to show the speed and detail of the
violence which is shown in the film, the effect is used to show to close contact situation that the
Sweeny are often in and how close they come to being seriously injured.
In the trailer there is a scene with two men, one of the men is in the Sweeney and the other is not.
The man is trying to shut down the Sweeney and stop its way of dealing with heavy hands. The
conversation is brief but a shot reverse shot is shown to show the emotion on the men's face when
they are having the conversation/argument, this shows the audience the emotion on the mans face
who is in the Sweeney and shows the audience that the Sweeney is very important to the man.
4. How are credits and titles used in
this trailer?
After the main narrative has been established and the main characters have been informally
introduced there is a intertitle which says “ and the only way to uphold the law”, this gives the
audience the indication that what the Sweeny do is no option and it must be done because it’s
the "only way”. This connotes to the audience that the violence and danger which is linked with
the Sweeny group is acceptable and is tolerated because they are doing good.
Towards the final climax of the trailer, another intertitle appears which states “this spring” this
gives the audience a rough idea of the timing for the release of the film, it also gives them a
time frame just before the final climax which will finally excite the audience into wanting to go
and see the trailer. Therefore, having the rough timing of the film release next to the climax may
lead to the audience remembering more Cleary when the film is going to be released
The trailer ends with a final intertitle stating “the Sweeney”. Having the title of the film in the
final seconds of the trailer is important due to the excitement and curiousness the audience will
have to see the film, therefore, having the film name finally will give the audience a final
reminder of the film title so that they are more likely to remember it.
5. Mis-En-Scene
During the trailer a range of props are used to reinstate character identity, for example
the baseball bats used by the team show a “rebel” side to there personality as they do
not use normal police weapons which have passed safely checks etc.. The use of baseball
bats in the police is highly against the rules and therefore when the Sweeny are shown to
be using them, the audience further understand how they often break the rules.
When the team are in there office the walls are light coloured and the lighting is bright.
This is In contrast with the team who are all dressed in black clothing, this connotes the
dark and twisted rule breaking that “The Sweeney” abide to instead of the innocent and
pure kosher ways of the normal police force.
Towards the end of the trailer when we see the main male character becoming a rouge
police man, we see him wearing a flat cap, a flat cap is a typical piece of head wear in the
London east end. The flat cap shows that he is going back to his east London roots and
doing things how they would “back home”. This feeling of rebellion against the police
force will shock and excite the audience as they will want to find out further how he uses
his “east ender” skills to tackle crime.
6. Narrative/Genre
The narrative is explained to the audience clearly will initially a voice
over from the main male character who describe who “The
Sweeney” are and what they do. Once this has been established
through the description of the voice over and the various violent and
rouge police clip the audience are shown from the film, the trailer
starts then to show various scenes from the film which explain how
the film progresses and how the narrative unravels into a problem
and then a solution, however, obviously not showing if the solution
is correct as showing the audience the end of the film would be silly.
