A trailer is a form of advertising in which the purpose of it is to promote a new movie or to persuade the audience to buy the film or see it at a cinema. The genre of a film is usually represented in trailer through the combining of certain scenes and cinematography techniques. For example, a action film may use the camera shots from far away, or slow down the scenes a little bit so that the suspense is able to build, whereas a horror film is likely to be fast paced and allow a lot more close ups of the actors, or certain scenes.
The actors in the film could represent more than just the characters they’re portraying, for instance Jim Carrey is mostly known for his roles in comedy, while Rachel McAdams is more known for her roles in romantic films. Based upon the film and what the producers want the audience to see all comes together when creating a trailer. The Huntsman: Winter’s War trailer (https://youtu. be/F2LOQL9fBk) The Huntsman: Winters (2016) is a film from the action/drama genre directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan. The film features Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Jessica Chastain, and Emily blunt as the main characters.
With the original movie based upon the story of Snow White, Troyan portrays the story of the Evil Queen before Snow white and how the story came to be. The opening credits for The Huntsman: Winter’s War trailer reveals that Universal studios produced the film, and the Comcast Company is responsible for distributing the film. The opening trailer introduces an audience to the setting through a distance shot of a forest, carried on by the narration of a man’s deep voice. By doing this the audience feels a sense of demand and control, the man speaks with ease but there’s an edge to each word.
The universal symbol which is recognized by appearing to look like the globe followed by the words “Universal” draped around the body of the globe is naturally the colors of the world, for instance brown, green and blue; whereas this one is a solid gold indicating the sense of elegance and respect. After the symbol disappears the man’s voice becomes more monotoned and demanding, and soon the warm colors begin to shadow into darker and colder colors.
Once the man is done speaking a woman comes over with the recognizable words of “mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all. By including this scene, the audience senses a feel of comfort from these words they recognized from a classic tale, however; when the Evil Queen, played by Charlize Theron, is introduced to the camera she does not appear to be as evil as we perceived her to be in previous images of the Evil Queen from snow white. Rather than white pale skin and dark brown hair, she has olive colored skin with blonde shimmery hair that rests on her shoulders. She appears to seem comfortable and at ease, until the mirror replies to her message.
The audience is then introduced to new characters as the Evil Queen’s younger sister, played by Emily Blunt is brought into the story and how the life of her child depends on the life of the Evil Queen. The younger sister is warm with life and color, unlike her sisters blonde hair her hair has a tint of red, her hair is also resting on her shoulders except for the two sides twisted together to meet at the back of her head. The audience could conclude that she is more comfortable with her face, and prefers for it to be shown.
The two sisters together are relaxed and at ease with one another, their actions allow one to believe that they care for and love one another. However; once the mirror speaks to the older sister of what will happen with her younger sister’s baby, if the baby lives, the Evil Queen’s demeanor changes. The Evil Queen’s facial changes from warmth to stiffness, she is no longer at ease but is rather tight and uncomfortable. As the camera quickly changes to a castle tower, it gives a distant camera shot of the tower in flames and within seconds the camera is then switched back to the younger sister as she darts towards the tower in the darkness.
Perhaps the director did this scene in the darkness to allow the audience to recognize the flames and how big they were, or perhaps to conceal the audience’s fears that all things terrible happen at night. As well as the Evil Queens demeanor, the younger sister’s demeanor changes as well; as the camera takes the audience into the tower there is smoke simmering from the baby carriage and the younger sister begins to scream. The director may have included the baby carriage in smo the younger sister screaming so that the audience could presume that the baby had not made it, therefore causing complete grief onto the younger sister.
As she stood in the doorway screaming, an icy fog leaves her mouth, like breathing out in the cold hair, and the color in body is soon turned to white pale skin. The once tint warm red hair that she had is replaced with a white, icy, blonde hair that is unrecognizable. The Evil Queen who stands by, doesn’t comfort her sister but rather turns away from her; her hair is no longer down but pulled up tightly underneath her crown and they eye shadow around her eyes are dark and deep.
The Evil Queen’s hair is pulled up to put more attention onto the crown rather than her hair this time, representing the crown as a sense of power. As the trailer continues, the setting is no longer taken in the forest but in icy, cold fortress created by the “Ice Queen”. The scenes begin to pick up as well as the narration, the man with the deep voice no longer speaks but instead a man with a slow and calm tone. The Ice Queen’s clothing represents that of her fortress, white and dark blue. As the scenes continue her voice begins to overlap the man’s and then takes over completely.
Unlike earlier in the trailer her movements mock those of her older sisters, stiff and uncomfortable; however, she strides with more confidence than before and this gives the audience a sense of leadership from the Ice Queen. The Ice Queen speaks of revenge and creating an army, while she is speaking the scene is then automatically switched to a group of children and young adults shooting archery. When she speaks she is looking down at these children and young adults, therefore; creating a sense of responsibility upon them.
The children and young adults are dirty and are wearing rather cheap material unlike the previous Queens but their body movements prove they are not shy or timid, for instance while holding the bow they hold it with ease and comfort. As the Ice Queen continues to speak the young adults are now grown up, and the main focus is among two characters; A woman, played by Jessica Chastain, and a man, played by Chris Hemsworth, Hemsworth makes a slight remark and Chastain replies with slight grin, indicating a sense of humor between the two.
The scenes soon begin to flash in front of the audience quickly, each scene only long enough for them to make their own inference before switching to a new camera angle with a new scene. As the scenes begin to speed up, they slow down for two specific parts in which you are able to hear the Evil Queen patronize the word “Little Sister”, she could be described as mocking the Ice Queen or underestimating her abilities due to her being the youngest between the two.
Unlike the Ice Queen’s apparel, the Evil Queen’s include gold and black, ironically gold represents confidence and power, while black is linked to that of energy unknown representing the Evil Queen’s intentions through her outfit. The Ice Queen’s outfit is constructed of color such as blue and white, the blue representing a sense of inspiration and sincerity whereas the white would represent purity and the energy of light.
As the trailer begins to come to an end, the producer includes text between certain scenes, he may have included this to make the audience question these two forces against each other but the coloring of the text is important as well they are solid gold; the same gold that covered the Universal symbol in the beginning of the trailer and much of the Evil Queen’s outfits. By doing this the producers allow the words to stand out better for us, but we are now also more comfortable with the Evil Queen; the audience is able to recognize the color with that of her clothing, instantly allowing the Evil Queen to stand out more to the audience.
So now when the audience goes to see the movie in a cinema or buy the copy, they are instantly familiar with the Evil Queen, creating a sense of underdog for the Ice Queen. Before the trailer ends, the title The Huntsman: Winter’s War: is brought onto the screen, once again in solid gold letters, and the man’s deep voice returns with the words “The story before Snow White”, giving the audience the feel of suspense and right before the screen goes black the producer includes a scene of the two sisters facing eachother with the Evil Queen’s laugh fading in the background.
The laugh is that of a sinister who laughs about their mistakes as if there’s nothing to worry about, allowing the audience to believe that the Evil Queen is maybe too confident. The screen then turns black and the trailer comes to an end. By choosing certain scenes, camera angles, characters, clothing, and makeup the producers and the directors were able to create this trailer while still allowing the audience enough anticipation to watch the movie.
