Rise of the Footsoldier Analysis

Rise of the Footsoldier is one of Brittain's most shocking and potent true stories gone blockbuster. It is a film that is not recommended for the faint hearted as it contains shocking torture scenes and harrowing violence. Directed by Julian Gilby, this shocking tale of hooligan turned gangster puts a new spin on the overused and sterotyped gangster genre.

The trailer for this film is a very interesting production. As it begins there is no sound other than the main characters(Carlton Leech) dialog and a faint background sound which succeeds fantastically in creating an atnosphere worthy of a 'Stanley Kubrick' classic.

The shot transition is noticably short throughout but what is noticable is that the trailer very much follows the storyline of the film itself. This then results in some of the shots being longer as this then gives an altertion in the pace and this usually occurs where dialog is present. The content of these shots is also noticably intense and this is a more than popular trait of a teaser trailer. As the film contains large amounts of violence, the trailer is no different and is continually referenceing some of the less savoury scenes from the film. It doesn't however, show any of the torture scenes as this may put a large amount of people off due to the raw content and inhuman quality it possesses.

The audience for this film is clearly suggested through the trailer. It is aimed at men of all ages and although it does contain romance it does later show that romance being literally killed. It certainly aims at a more cult following due to the explicit and often disturbing content. I would say that more younger men would watch this as it does rely on an element of immaturity to succed in gaining your enjoyment.

The soundtrack is played through half the trailer but before this there are constant introductions of non diagetic sounds which support what is happening in the scene aswell as continual mood music. This has been done to create the suitable atnosphere. The length of this trailer is relativly long and this goes against the typical 40-60 second length of teaser trailers but it isnt actually noticable due to the intesity of the action.

Having been relatively cheap to make the actual film and both its theatrical and teaser trailers made a good profit and this shows modern day society's thirst for pointless violence, organised crime and drug usage in, their living room. The setting was in the more deprived areas of east London and Essex and the way in which many of the shots are composed is very suggestive of this. The basis on which the costume is pronounced is also clearly indicating a link to deprived criminal activity but it is interesting how as the trailer progresses, the costume changes to more upmarket and expensive looking clothing. This ties in with the story as the main characters start to make money from the crime they are performing.

We plan to borrow some of these techniques and use them in our own teaser trailer. The presence of a narrative alongside a soundtrack is somthin we will definatly be borrowing and we also plan to use a genre change similar to the one in this trailer to engage the audienc and create a sense of humour in an indirect way. We hope that these techniques will help create the effect that they have in this particular trailer.