Sin City: A Dame To Kill For

Plot Summary: Private detective Dwight McCarthy tries to put a violent past
behind him. He is reached by an ex-wife of his named Ava Lord who tells him that
she is in danger and being tortured mentally and physically. She then persuades
Dwight to murder her pursuers to then find out that he has been played by Ava in a
plan to get her out of danger but putting Dwight in even more danger. Multiple
sides are in play to try and free themselves from a corrupt political system but this
is at the expense of other characters who are forced to fight for their innocence as
the movie progresses.
Genre: Action film/ Crime thriller

Production companies: Dimension Films, Miramax, Troublemaker studios, The

Weinstein company

Distributors: Lionsgate, Miramax, Dimension films

1.) How is meaning being represented at a connotative and denotative level?

In the trailer shots show characters sitting around a table playing a poker game
while smoking which shows us this film is going to be centered around themes
such as gangsters and crime. One man sitting at the top of the table also tells us the
type of character he may be giving the audience information that he is superior
over the other characters.
Another shot shows the silhouette of a man getting beat up while a woman
watched expressionless. This could suggest that the characters in this film will be

familiar to a criminal lifestyle further informing the audience of what they are
about to watch.
This move is shot in black and white however one character who we can assume is
Ava Lord (the major love interest) has bright green eyes and bright rouge lips
which could connote the lust and attraction that the main character has for this
character.

2.) How are the non-verbal communications (gestures. facial expressions)

being used?

Women are often positioned in this trailer in a very sensual way with men watching
them suggesting that lust is a major part of the film. Since there is no clear love
interest in the trailer it could be assumed that this movie is not romantic but more
centered around sexual urges. The facial expressions shown by most characters are
very tense angry and some times emotionless which tells us there is probably quite
a lot of tension between characters and many relationships are not positive.
3.) What can we tell from the position of characters and objects?

From the trailer we can get a sense of characters in authority and inferiority in the
film. For example as mentioned earlier, the character being at the top of the table
shows the audience that he is a very important character in the movie who has a
larger part than other characters sitting next to him. Also the very last shot shows
the character played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt standing looking down on the city.
This gives a sense of power over the city as if it is in fact his city and he is like a
puppet master of the city's population.
We also see in the scene where two characters are looking into mirrors that the
female is stressed by a constant presence of the male character. This presence is
denoted as physical as he is actually there however as he is positioned behind her
this could also be something psychological like he is in the back of her mind at all
times. This gives us a basic understanding of the relationships between certain
characters and whether these relationships are welcoming or hostile.

4.) How have clothing, props, mise-en-scene, sets and setting been used?

These are used to build up our knowledge of the characters and story line. Props
have been used to teach us the genre of the movie. For example we can see stacks
of money on tables. fast cars and guns which normally indicate the movie is going
to appeal to a more masculine audience. We can also see from these props that the
genre is going to be a gangster movie as these do not meet the conventions of other
genres such as romance movies.
The use of lighting is very interesting in this trailer. It is used to help us predict
what characters are going to be like in the film when we first meet them. An
example of this is the woman has a very dark figure while standing in front of the
bright doorway suggesting she is going to block any hope or be a large
inconvenience to the hero eventually. Similarly to many Film Noir movies, this
film uses the low-key lighting to its advantage with Venetian blinds which create
ambiguity for the audience as they cannot tell whether the character is good (light)
or bad (dark).
The setting of the shots in the trailer tell us more about the city the film is set in.
When the shots are not in clubs, they tend to be in dark, cramped alleyways with
lots of graffiti suggesting the town is an undesirable place to be in. The shots in
clubs with women dancing represent scandal and corruption as they venture into
what is normally viewed as tainted. This achieves one of the main goals of Film
Noir movies which is to make the audience feel discomfort while watching.
The clothing in the trailer also makes us feel a sense of unease as well as simply
describing the film is about gangsters and criminality (men in either sharp suits or
scruffy clothes). However women are often seen wearing very provocative clothing
showing figures that are viewed as "ideal" in media today. These clothes reveal
what is viewed as being very sacred and not to be so openly on display making the
audience feel the urge to turn away.

5.) How have soundtrack, commentary and language been used?

The soundtrack in the trailer starts off very slow paced and relaxed as well as the
shots in the trailer. However, when the trailer picks up, the music turns from very
low gritty beats to a very high paced dance song which also matches the speed of

the trailer. Once the trailer has reached its climax the timing of the shots is moved
from the music to shots fired by a gun. This could represent how a single bullet
could potentially change the entire situation in the actual film as it interrupts the
shot and moves on to the next one.
Some phrases are used in the trailer to make the town feel even more ominous and
dark. For example, the final quote in the trailer is "Sin city is where you go in with
your eyes open, or you don't come out at all". Not only does this inform the
audience that there will be a lot of violence in this film but it just emphasizes just
how dangerous and corrupt this town really is.
The subtitles of the movie are often red in a black background which make them
stand out a lot more. Also red is the colour commonly associated with danger and
violence meaning it fits in with the possible themes of the film. In the shots with
writing they also have flashes of white lightning which could represent the feeling
of the movie being full of energy and tension. Also it could represent that there will
never be a moment of safety and comfort as danger could strike without warning at
any moment (just like lightning can).

7.) How are sounds and visual techniques used to convey meaning?

The use of camera angles informs us of the hierarchy of characters in the movie
with certain characters being portrayed as more powerful compared to others. For
example, as mentioned earlier, the character played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt is
shown in an establishing shot looking over Sin City suggesting he is more
powerful than the people in the city. As well as this, the quote played during this
shot suggests that some people who enter unprepared will not come out suggesting
that not only has this character gone in and survived but come out even more
powerful than before. This tells us that the character has "defeated" the city and is a
very strong character compared to other characters.

8.) What are the dominant images in the text and what relevance do they have
to the major themes in the text?

One thing that stands out in this trailer is the bright red lips. These mostly stand out
as the entire film is edited in black and white apart from a few minor details. Bright
red lips are often seen as being very sexual and lustful and on this black and white
movie it is clear this has been done to represent the sexual nature of Femme Fatale
characters in Film Noire movies. The red lips show us that the character is clearly
some sort of love interest to another lead character and the red lips connote a very
complicated relationship where she manages to use her femininity to get the male
hero to do as she wants.
Another image is the stacks of money sitting on the table in one of the shots. This
(along with the characters in that scene) show another dark theme often tackled by
Film Noir movies which is corruption. This shot could show us that the rich and
powerful are often abusing their power and are solely out for their own purpose
instead of the greater good. This corruption can be seen in many other films of this
genre
9.) What genre does the text fit into? How can you tell?

This film is quite clearly a mix between action, Film Noir and Crime. We can see
this as the trailer appears to tackle deep themes such as Corruption and Lust as well
as having conventions of that particular genre such as characters like the femme
fatale. It is also quite clearly an action and crime thriller as the trailer appears to
have fast car chases and lots of violence and gun crime. These are quite specific
conventions to these genres of film and are not often seen in other genres. We can
also assume that the film is of a more serious and dark genre as the low-key
lighting is not normally used in genres that are family friendly.

10.) Who is being represented by the text?

The characters are being represented both individually and in relation to other
characters. I think this trailer's sole purpose is to introduce all the characters as they
all have a few seconds of cameo and all appear to be intertwined. This suggests
that they all have connections to each other whether they be good or bad. All
characters appear to have some struggle with another character and there is a clear
divide and battle for power over the city where people put their own personal needs
before the safety and protection of others.

They have been portrayed in the trailer through the use of insert shots while editing
to show some sort of series of events that all link the characters together. For
example the character shown as being the lead woman mentions a name on the
phone then there is an insert shot of the character mentioned. This is one example
of how all characters are associated in the scene. They are portrayed the way they
are as this is what is standard in this type of film. They are shown as being quite
aggressive as this is the standard character trait adopted in these genres of film. A
reason why this is useful is it gives the audience a template to build their opinions
and thoughts of each character off of. It gives them the ability to make judgments
of which characters are going to be more likable before the movie has started
which allows them to make predictions. This then keeps them hooked as they are
interested to find out if their predictions they made earlier in the movie turn out to
be correct.

11.) What do you know about the actors, stars and writers and why have they
been chosen for this genre piece?

Many of the actors in this movie are frequently in other action movies. For
example, the major names in this film are Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and
Ray Liotta. These actors have all previously worked on other gangster movies
(such as Goodfellas) or action movies (such as the Die hard or Dark Knight
franchise) This all shows they are suitable actors for this movie and have acted as
characters very similar to the characters being portrayed in this movie here.
In addition to this, the directors and writers have also worked on similar types of
movies. For example, one director (Frank Miller) has a wealth of super hero
movies he has worked on such as The Dark Knight Returns (which coincidently
happened to have Joseph Gordon-Levitt in it).

12.) What is the narrative or the logic of the order of its component?

The narrative of this movie is not very clear meaning it does not reveal much of the
plot. However what it does do is show the connections and relationships between
each character in certain shots containing each one. The use of voice overs
however does give a brief description of what we will expect to see in the movie

and the different levels of power and challenegs everyone will face. However there
is no clear cut way to tell which shot will come in which order in the teaser trailer
as it does not follow a linear structure.

13.) How have specific narrative techniques been used?

The use of voice overs can show is which characters are going to be more
significant than others. For example, the last line (as mentioned previously) shows
that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be an important player in the movie. They may
have done this to show that he is a more important character is this information is
more likely to be taken away from the trailer than other shots. We can also
determine who will be more important depending on the amount of shots they are
in. For example, one character is shown in a shot where there is a shadow of two
people fighting on the wall however she is only in this one shot suggesting that she
is not going to have much importance and is more likely just going to be in a side
plot. However, characters such as Ava Lord (played by Eva Green) and John
Hartigan (played by Bruce Willis) are present frequently in the trailer. This could
tell us that they are going go be important in the progression of the main plot in the
movie.

14.) What could I take away from this teaser trailer?

From this trailer I have learnt that we do not need to create a trailer in a linear order
and we could use it as a tool to help the audience familiarise themselves with the
characters. We could use certain camera angles and positioning of characters in
relation to other characters to show dominance or superiority over others. These
would all be used to provide information to the audience.
This trailer was very good at describing the genre and themes of the film without
necessarily denoting what should be expected. I could incorporate this into our
teaser trailer by having certain characters dress in a certain way that conforms with
the conventions of Film Noir movies. For example dressing female characters more
provocatively compared to the more over-dressed male leads.