Circle Trailer

Breakdown
The Trailer begins with a panning shot of 4 characters that are evidently not conscious that is faded in
from black and the low-key lighting that is still present after this shows that the tone of the film is dark
and negative. This short panning shot fades to black before another similar panning shot displays a
different 4 characters in the same way. This is repeated a further two times and the constant motion of
the camera suggests that these characters are all lined up in a circle, alluding to the narrative of the film.
Then, introducing the first character to speak, the camera breaks away from the panning shot following a
white flash, to show a mid-shot of one woken female character who is still surrounded by unconscious
people, and her positioning in the rule of thirds draws the audiences eye to her presence in the middle.
This gives importance to this individual, making her seem isolated and helpless as her facial expression
and body language also shows. These prove to be strong themes within the film, therefore they are
appropriately highlighted in the trailer. When the trailer then cuts to a long shot of the same character
this idea is emphasised further and accented by the non- diegetic minor keyed, synth droning of the
score.
This extreme long shot then confirms what previous shots have alluded to, revealing the strange and
mysterious nature of the film which is again a strong theme. The following thirty seconds of footage then
feature extra technical and explanatory plot points for the nature of the film, with dialogue that
connotes fear, discomfort and a slight awareness of what might be the context of the characters
situation. This is typical of most trailers, as they are required to reveal a certain amount of detail about
the film to create interest yet not spoil the plot.
Following on from this, each character suddenly comes more clearly into view as the room lights up
slightly. This is accompanied by an up-tempo drum beat and much faster panning shots that display the
confused and irate reactions of the characters. On top of this, the editing of this sequence is much faster
heightening the distress of the film.
As a character is then shown to be struck by some bolt of electricity using Computer Generated Imagery
in post production, the tone of the film and the plot is revealed even further drawing in the attention of
viewers even more as the action has increased. From this, fast paced editing is again used as the facial
expressions and body language of the shocked characters is very clearly presented in a sequence of mid-
shots and two shots.
After this, the pace of the trailer slows down again to introduce the most pinnacle point of the
mysterious and dark plot that has already been shown, which is presented with more invasive and
investigative close ups, mid shots and a slow build up of white noise that increases as a asynchronous
dialogue explains the context of the story. This, like in most other trailers would be considered the build
up and usually occurs in the last third of the trailers running time like here.
The finale of the trailer follows the white noise sound-bridge into an intense drumbeat and heavily
distorted bass score that plays over briefly shown clips that quickly cut in and out of a black screen. On
top of this, clips of dialogue that become increasingly more distressed and loud are played
asynchronously over the top of this montage sequence, again solidifying the tone of the film before the
title credit is shown and the trailer ends. The fast-paced and more distressing end to the trailer signifies
that this will be one of the overall themes of the film.