Class trailer review - Pusher Trilogy

The Pusher Trilogy, 1996 – 2005 is a green band crime thriller series directed by “Nicolas Winding Refn”.

 

What happened in the trailer?
In the one minute 25 second video, a fast paced montage full of clips shorter than one second illustrates the disorientating, claustrophobic hell that portrays drugs, sex, partying and violence. In between each fast paced montage, the conventional technique of having text inform the audience of information that they would not necessarily understand through just watching the action is embedded. This extra detail gives the audience more information to understand the narrative and makes it much clearer.

During the first few shots, restricted narration enables the audience to be introduced to different characters and scenes within the film whilst getting the idea of the narrative. With the text between shots, not only do the audience get a feel for the film but also get to hear what other people have said about it. “Simply brilliant…uncompromising…refuses to pull a single punch” – Matt McNally, BBC.  

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?
Despite giving the trailer a personal rating of 4, I managed to find aspects within it that I felt were interesting and cleverly done. The first aspect was the music. As each montage appears on screen, the music begins. This particular music is perfect for the fast action and sounds just like white noise. By adding this to the trailer, I feel that it relates to the action on screen as the drug enthused men stereotypically like loud music, partying and obvious drug use. The white noise is a typical noise that is said to be heard by an individual who has been heavily using drugs and makes the audience almost feel as uncomfortable as it would be to be in their situation.

The second aspect of the trailer I enjoyed was the collision cutting. Due to the sudden hit of music and the few second pause with the text, the music wasn’t gradual in increasing or decreasing. This added suspense between each shot and was a great way to give the audience time to evaluate the action that was just on screen. I will be using collision cutting within my trailer in a similar way.

The next feature was the fast paced action. Although heavy, I felt that it suited this particular sub- genre of horror well and was somewhat like an adrenalin rush.

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?
The first aspect within the trailer that I felt was disappointing was the narrative as a whole. I felt that it was unsuccessful in the sense of targeting a large audience. Using such basic, uninteresting, unemotional topics, I feel that not only does it interest a very niche audience, but also predominantly men.

The second aspect I disliked was the voice-over. This particular voice-over was uninteresting and didn’t pull me into the action. I felt that I didn’t relate to what was being said and it didn’t give me any kind of emotional response.

Lastly, I felt that the constant flashing on screen was too much. Doing this every minute meant that all of the information was not being transferred properly and meant that the audience would switch off and not understand the point of the film.

What was the average score in class? Why did it receive that mark?
During the class discussion, the film was given an average rating of six. I feel that this is due to the constant repetition of fast paced action, lifeless action and an unsatisfying narrative.