The actor in this film playing the main character Ethan Hunt is Tom Cruise. Cruise also starred in the first Mission Impossible film. We see Cruise's face before his name appears on the screen in the fire motif previously discussed. Tom Cruise is very famous, and his face is easily recognised. He is well known for being a good actor, and has a large number of fans, which would be attracted to a film purely because he had the lead. Cruise is the Unique Selling Point (or USP) of the film Mission Impossible 2. At the time of release, he was in no other film, and is also a popular actor. It is Cruise himself that draws in the secondary target audience of all adults. Women may be physically attracted to Cruise, as he is a sex symbol, whereas he is a role model for many men, who admire his career, and are attracted to the genre of film that Mission Impossible 2 is categorised in. After Cruise's name, the director's name appears on the screen. John Woo is a director famous for action films full of special effects, especially Jackie Chan films, which are action-packed and technical. From his involvement, the audience can infer that the film is full of action sequences and special effects.
We see a lot of clips from the film, most of them in colour. Most of the clips are of action, many using explosions, guns and fighting. This implies that Mission Impossible 2 includes lots of violence and action. The first clip used is of a man- who we later discover is Tom Cruise's character Ethan Hunt- free climbing up a steep cliff-face, hundreds of metres up. This shows the audience that this character is fearless. Soon the audience discovers that this character is on holiday, so this shows that he enjoys taking risks. Several clips that appear to be computerised and digitally overlaid, such as a map being placed on the background, come soon after this clip. This shows the audience that the film uses technology, and hi-tech effects to get the desired appearance to the film. The computer-generated image is paired with a computerised voice, saying, "Agent located". This tells the audience that the person is an agent of some kind, and the audience are likely to infer that this is a secret agent [a film about an estate agent or news agent wouldn't really have the same effect]. This is confirmed by another computer screen with the agent's name and the IMF agency logo. This logo looks a lot like the FBI logo, giving the audience enough evidence to make an educated guess that it is some sort of secret agency.
As this is a teaser trailer, very little information about the plot is disclosed. There is no information about what Hunt's mission is, although the pictures and clips used suggest it is dangerous. This entices the audience to see the film, as they want to know what it is about. The film trailer doesn't have a voice-over, but one of the characters- played by Anthony Hopkins- speaks over some scenes, without being featured in the action clips. His voice is played on a tape Hunt receives. His famous voice may attract more people to see the film, especially fans of Hopkins's previous works. He is well known for being an extremely good actor, and recently received a knighthood for his acting skills. His role in this trailer is to enforce the idea that Hunt is on an important mission.
The trailer begins with the distributors logo. In this case, the distributor is paramount. This is the distributor's way of advertising. It wants the fact that it is the company distributing the film to be known to the audience. If the audience has seen any films distributed by this company that they liked, they may be attracted to this film. Throughout the trailer, a wide variety of shots are used. There are long shots of action, close-ups of Cruise's face, and the angles of shot vary throughout. This variety of shots keeps the audience entertained and provides variety to the trailer. The audience may notice and remember one type of shot more than another, so this method of editing emphasises the more important information. Most of the trailer is in colour. The black and white clips could be used to make the audience take note of a particular clip, as the lack of colour makes them distinctive, or to show time has passed since then. Black and white appears dated in today's cinema, so the colour change would easily highlight the desired shots. The different clips go from one to the other, but different shots of the same clip fade into each other. The fire motif used for the film name, actor's name and director's name explodes onto the screen after an action shot. This grabs the audience's attention, so is only used for crucial information, which would keep the film in the audience's mind.
I think this trailer is successful at what it is trying to do. It is trying to advertise a film, and sell it to an audience. It got the film's genre across clearly- with lots of fast moving clips of violence, explosions and stunts, this film is an action film. The teaser trailer also makes the films USP clear. It is Tom Cruise. The whole trailer basically revolves around his character, and it is his name that is the first piece of information we are given via text. The trailer attracts the primary target audience of fans of the first film and TV series successfully by using famous elements of the first film, but still showing that the new film is more hi-tech, and that it has a new plot. The secondary target audience of all adults is also attracted to see the film. Men will stereotypically be attracted to the action and violence, and in general, women will be attracted to Tom Cruise, who is both a role model for men, and a sex symbol.
The second trailer I analysed was the teaser trailer for Tomb Raider. This is also an action film. It is the film version of a very successful computer game, tomb raider, in which the main character (Lara Croft) raids tombs. The title of the film appears on screen, and I spoken by two voice-overs, towards the end of the film. I think this is because the audience are more likely to remember it if they both see it and hear it. It will also stay in mind if it is at the end of the trailer. Being at the end leaves the audience guessing what the film is called. It will arouse more interest. We are told the name of the actress playing Lara Croft- Angelina Jolie- just before we are told the name of the film. A picture of her comes up on the screen, with the text of her name beside it, and a male voice-over (with an American accent) says her name. This echoes twice. A woman repeats this. The man then says, "Is Lara Croft". This introduces the audience to both the actress and her character. The repeating of the name may just be for effect, or could be to help the audience remember it. Angelina Jolie is moderately famous, and is one of the up-and-coming stars in Hollywood at the moment. She has been in many genres of film, such as action and horror; therefore it is difficult to specify what genre the film is just from her involvement. However, because she is a serious actress, we can infer that it is not a comedy. The director is not mentioned in the trailer. This may be because the focus is on the film, or because the director is quite unknown.
We see many fighting clips from the film, including Lara Croft fighting a robot and several men in gas masks. There are lots of stunts in the trailer, and many acrobatic clips, such as Lara Croft doing back flips. These types of clip imply lots of action in the film. Not much detail of the story is told, but as Tomb Raider is a very famous computer game, most people know the basics. Not knowing the exact details may attract the audience to see the film to find out what it is about. The soundtrack to Tomb Raider is quite well known, as it features a song called Elevation by U2. U2 are a very famous band, so by recording a song for the soundtrack, they are promoting the film. Strangely, the soundtrack is not used in the background teaser trailer. Instead, quiet music to suit the mood of the scenes and clips is used. At times, the music gets louder, whereas at other times there will be no music at all. This emphasises quieter parts of the trailer, and loud action-packed clips. The silence builds up tension in the necessary places. Speech is used in a lot of the trailer. Most of this is by Lara Croft, while in conversation with other characters. This gives information about the characters, and their role in the film, but not to the plot. In this trailer, a voice-over is only used at the end, to give the actress' name and character's name, and the name of the film. The change of voice for this key information both emphasises the importance of it, and helps the audience remember it.
The trailer starts slowly, and the action suddenly gets faster. This builds up the element of surprise and comparing the action to the slow clips before makes it seem faster. It actually starts with the paramount distributors logo. This relates the film to previous works distributed by the company. This then fades into the landscape of one of the slower action clips. Many shots and angles are used, and the most heavily used are close-ups of Jolie's face. This is to show the audience who she is, and that she is crucial in the film. Throughout the trailer, the speed changes. This emphasises the faster parts of action to the slow moments of tension. Most of the action clips just flick one to another, with a minority being changed with flashes of bright colours.
I think this trailer is quite successful at marketing the Tomb Raider film. It makes the action genre clear, by showing a variety of action shots involving fighting and weapons. The USP of Tomb Raider is the fact that it is a game turned into a film. This isn't a new idea (street fighter, super Mario), but it is the only film that can be taken seriously from a game, and has what appears to be a substantial plot. Lara Croft/ Tomb Raider is supposed to be the ultimate male fantasy, so this will attract the secondary target of all men. Action will also attract them. The primary target audience is fans of the computer game. This is because the game was a huge success worldwide. The emphasised amount of shots of the main character helps attract both the primary and secondary audiences.
In conclusion, these film trailers are quite similar. Both are teaser trailers for action films. However, Mission Impossible 2 is the sequel to a very successful film. Tomb Raider is the film of a highly successful computer. Mission Impossible 2's trailer mainly uses famous elements of the first film, whereas the Tomb Raider trailer uses mainly shots of the main character and action shots. I think the trailer for Mission Impossible 2 was more successful than the trailer for Tomb Raider because it didn’t emphasise just one part of the film- they all seemed equally important. In the Tomb Raider trailer, all the emphasis was placed on the main character. Her being the main feature may deter people who aren't fans of the actress Angelina Jolie. I don’t think that the Tomb Raider trailer had enough balance in it to appeal to a wide audience.