The wolf of wall street trailer analysis

The wolf of wall street trailer analysis

After production logos the number of shots = around 115 including the texts shots e.g. "from the director of…"

The trailer starts off with upbeat non-diegetic music that sounds slightly triumphant with trumpets and drums which could connote the main characters/ protagonists lifestyle and how the film will be. The first few shots are of the setting from an establishing shot of New York in a helicopter which then redefines the actual location onto Wall St by the shot which shows the iconic street sign. A bull statue is then shown which could connote a fast action paced storyline with a bull-like character. The next shot is a building and it's looked at from a low angle view which then pans down to the entrance, it makes the audience feel a sense of escapism into the world of the trailer as it could potentially be a POV shot of a person looking up at the building. It sutures the audience into the trailer. It shows the location of the building being 120 Broadway and at this moment the main characters voice is heard as non-diegetic voiceover, the character introduces himself and anchors a meaning to a shot which is next shown as the character who is suited up in a professional business suit, a typical businessmen's dark with small white lines jacket. This could connote, along with the characters facial expression, that he is quite a professional, serious  and wealthy businessman. He enters the next few shots into a room of men who are mainly wearing just shirts and ties which connotes that they could potentially be the main characters employees, they seem to be congratulating and celebrating the main character which suggests that he has recently met a certain objective within his business. There is also a shot of the main character with his arms open in front of his employees on some sort of higher platform with a microphone as if he is addressing them but his current facial expression seems to be a vain smirk and a "brush it off the shoulder" look as if he's proud of his success but knows he would have obtained it eventually. 

The music then matches some text which appears on screen. A few extra shots of the other characters involved highlights that they are in the film possibly to attract the fans of those actors. Materialism is also shown through the shots of the vehicle and the moment when the main character walks down the stairs and drinks a bit of orange/yellow liquid from a glass before happily throwing a cheap item away, he is also shown enjoying himself on his large boat and throwing money around as if it's nothing. A shot which followed these is a shot of the main character looking slightly different, he's in an average suit and is at a table with someone who is in a stereotypical business-type suit. The characters emotion and body language shows that he is more interested in knowing what the other character says as if the main character is learning from the other character. Which is supported by diegetic dialogue where the main character speaks about earning money for both himself and his shareholders while the other character is saying to earn money for both but take all the money earned instead of giving dividends. The suit of the main character in this shot is lighter which suggests that compared to shots earlier on that this shot is of the past behind he became the success he is. This therefore suggests that the narrative within the trailer isn't following Todorovs 5stages of narratives as it is a non-linear narrative. In that shot there is also no music which suggests that this part of the story is possibly quite important and therefore the audience should not be distracted. 

After this the music returns and a POV shot seems to be used, if not a POV shot then a shot of the main character speaking to the audience, it attempts to sutures the audience into the story. It also suggests that the work done in the story is illegal as the main character asks "but was all this legal?" this then sound bridges over into the next shot of a man trying to tape money onto the body of a women suggesting potential smuggling of the money. A female character is also introduced in the following shot, a women in pink and surrounded by pink objects suggesting that she is a girly-girl stereotype. She is also a blonde female which stereotypically is associated to the "dumb blonde" stereotype. However it seems as if the female may seem smarter than she looks as she seems to have some sort of control over the main character as she teases him and his sexual desires. One shot later she is dressed in black suggesting that she has evil intentions, it connotes that she could potentially have dark intentions and is using the main character. Party scenes are then shown which seems to slowly show the fall of this main character as he is becoming less professional looking and more of a party animal. Which is also supported by another shot which follows shortly after where the main characters car is being driven fast and dangerously on the streets, wrecking the car and whatever comes into its path. A shot later then shows the main character still feels that he has all the money in the world that he starts scrunching up money and throwing them in the bin.

 A short comedically moment is then shown when discussing a game to have within the office of throwing small males as darts at a board, the main character and supporting actor both then state that safety is important and that they don't want to have a bad reputation, which is ironic seeing as they've already been illegally smuggling money, stealing money and being quite wild on the streets and in parties. The music then seems to speed up and what is noticeable is that the music seems to have no trumpets just drums and crash cymbals suggesting that the character and his success is slowly crashing down towards the end of the trailer.

5 things we could use in our trailer
- The characters flaws and personality
- The way it shows two sides of one person
- The way it shows how the character changed
- The way the music matches the transitions
- How the production logos appear