Genre Essay

 

The trailer shows the main character Katniss Everdeen and The Capitol rebels in district 13, trying to find a way to overcome President Snow and rescue fellow tribute and rebel, Peeta Mellark. It shows action shots of helicopters being shot down, nuclear bomb scares and exploding arrows. We also see people running down stairs (underground) to escape a threat or enemy. This signifys that all the tension and events of the previous films have been building up and they are starting to resolve the conflict and show that they're strong and want to fight. The settings are underground bunkers and fighting in districts. These things show that the trailer is typical to the action/fantasy genre. The characters are shown fighting along side each other or clashing with each other with shows they are all under a lot of strain to try to repair the disruption of the plot. The music creates dramatic tension and adds to the fast action of the trailer; there's a slight pause in the music to emphasize the loudness or boom of an explosion. We also hear Katniss's iconic whistle that the audience associate with the film and the characters associate with the war and uprisings. As well as the whistle we see the mockinjay symbol which is the logo of the films and again, what the audience and characters associates with Katniss and her fellow rebels. The shot types are mostly medium close ups of the main character Katniss to show what she's saying, her facial expressions reactions to things that have happened and when she's shooting an arrow to show she's concentrating really hard on her aim because it's vital she hits her target. Long shots are used when showing action scenes so as to get in all the action and show the setting and immediate aftermath. There's also a close up of Peeta to show his black eye and his facial expression and reaction to what he's just seen on television. The Binary oppositions are rich vs poor, powerful vs weak and good vs evil. We see powerful vs weak when there's a shot of Katniss and Gale shooting down helicopters (Katniss and Gale could be either weak or powerful, it depends on peoples opinions) which could also show good vs evil (Katniss and Gale being good and the Capitol's helicopters being the evil). The binary oppositions show that anyone can stand up and fight in what they believe in if its the right thing to do. The dialogue said by Katniss "If we burn, you burn with us" shows she is ready to fight and has grown up since the previous films and when she's asked if she's there to fight with them she replies "I am. I will" shows she has really made up her mind and any reasons she had not to fight are now gone as she has an even bigger cause.The fictional dialogue "Capitol", "Mockingjay" and "President Snow" reinforces the fantasy genre. It also tells that action is about to come, which reinforces the action genre. The narrative development shows that at the start of the trailer Katniss is reluctant to fight but finally agrees to be the Mockinjay and negotiates with what she wants or "You will find another Mockingjay". The shots we see of Peeta looking bruised shows he has been beaten and his character development has took a turn for the worse and he's getting worse than better or stronger. The fact that we see him only a couple of times shows that we may not see much of his character development in the film and we may have to figure out or anticipate whats happening or has happened to him. This could challenge the audiences expectations as they could expect or want to see more of Peeta as he paid such an important role in the previous films.

The names of the stars or director is not mentioned in the trailer. This could be to show that the fan base of the films is that well known that the audience already know who the actors and directors are and don't need reminding. The stars might not also be mentioned because they don't want to remind the audience that it's a work of fiction and that the characters are played by actors because they want people to really feel like they're there and part of the action.