Adulthood: Trailer Analysis

 The trailer begins with almost a birds eye view but a medium close up of two characters lying in bed. The lighting in this shot appears to be quiet dark in order to create mystery and the non diegetic music played above it also helps do this effectively. It then smoothly transitions to a close up of the female character where a piece of dialogue has been placed also supporting the element of mystery as it makes us wonder as an audience why she has said that. We are then presented with a long shot of a city with lights on at night, suggesting to us that similarly to Kidulthood, we are still located in London for the duration of this film. Towards the end of this particular clip of the city lights, text is added on top of it which is the logo of the distribution company "Pathe Pictures", this has been put in place in order to give an idea to new audience members, most likely those who haven't seen Kidulthood what type of film this will be. 

As the trailer continues , the non diegetic music also increases in pace, creating more suspense and excitement as it also gets louder. This is effective as it makes us wonder what will happen next. There is then a quick shot shown which is of a scene from the previous sequence Kidulthood, attracting their already established audience. This shot includes one of the protagonists Sam hitting another character (Trevor) with a baseball bat (which is included on the poster for Adulthood. It then transitions from moving footage to a more illustrative one of the same shot which says "six years locked up" (as seen on the right). In this shot the lighting is quite dark and has contrast in it creating suspense as this now seems to bring an element of disruption to the somewhat calm that was included before (at the beginning). After that, there is another medium shot of Sam with the same lighting and illustrative technique while he is putting up his hood and is walking away from the camera/audience. This is effective because it creates enigma as it makes us wander if he is in trouble again and what will happen, especially as there is diegetic sounds of police sirens in the background further adding suspense. There are then numerous jump shots of different locations in London in a series of clips which seem to have longer screening time. The lighting here appears to be slightly brighter and there is then a low angle shot of another protagonist (Jay) with the same illustration used as the ones used for Sam with an inter-title which says "time to settle the score" which is again used as an opportunity to create enigma as we are left wondering what will happen next. 

The next series of shots are quick paced in order to create more suspense and these are action packed shots so this is effectively achieved. Some shots are of scenes which include themes of violence,drugs, sex and gang culture which link in and support the themes usually covered within a film of this genre. And in between these shots are some shots which again transition with the illustrative technique with inter-titles placed on top of them in order to add suspense and build tension. This is demonstrated where there is a shot of Sam crying with an inter-title saying "nowhere to run" and another shot of him running with an inter-title saying "nothing to lose". These create suspense and interest because as an audience we don't expect to see a character like Sam in such vulnerable situations, making us want to watch  the rest of the film to see what will happen. 

The trailer ends with a series of shots which still portray themes of violence and are heavily reliant on inter-titles in order to end it with an effective way. These are shots which create buzz as they are again action packed and have written on top of them "After Kidulthood" and "comes", then transitioning to a black screen which has written on it in white text the title of the film so the main focus of it is in fact the title as there won't be any distractions. It then cuts to another low angled shot of Jay looking down at someone, suggesting that he has power over them. However this creates mystery as the person looking down at isn't visible to us as an audience so this, along with the dialogue ("think I forgot you blud?") and music makes us wander what will happen next. The very last thing we see in this trailer is a black screen with white inter-tiles that say "coming soon", creating excitement for the audience and letting them know that the film will be released in short time. 

As a whole I think this trailer is highly effective as it uses all the traditional elements such as music, editing, inter-titles and dialogue to make the audience excited and look forward to seeing the film while giving them enough hints and general idea of the narrative without giving too much away.