Analysing the difference between a film trailer and a film opening

Casino Royale

Trailer

Opening

In order to establish the specific differences between a film trailer and a film opening, I have looked at the trailer and opening of the film Casino Royale. I have looked at the difference in how they set up genre, narrative, character, atmosphere, themes and setting.

When looking at genre, a trailer should make it obvious as to what category the film comes under for example, in this trailer, from the car chases and violence the film is clearly of the action genre whereas in the opening sequence it is only hinted that the genre is action as it could also possibly be a thriller or detective type film. This is because a trailer is to advertise the film to draw the audience in and therefore they need to have a clear idea of what genre the film is.

When considering the Narrative, the trailer makes the plot of the story clear showing us that there will be a chase involving violence between two men involving an important game of poker with some blanks left to be answered once the film has been watched. In contrast to this, the film opening should only introduce the plot which is shown by the animated men fighting and the iconography of the playing cards and roulette which hint the concept of a Casino. The Characters are shown very obviously within the trailer as it is clear that there will be three main characters: the two men in conflict along with the woman who are regularly shown throughout whereas in the opening it is only hinted that there will be one main male character who the plot will be about. This is because in the trailers the big Hollywood actors are shown throughout to interest the audience and to show off who will be in the film whereas the opening should only introduce one or two of the characters.

The atmosphere in the trailer is a lot more powerful that that in the opening as it is quite tense, full of suspense and danger whereas in the opening it is still full of suspense but not along with the tension we feel from the trailer. This is because the trailer shows a journey of emotions and moods whereas the opening sequence is only one scene and has only one type of atmosphere. The themes we see in the trailer are things like danger, violence, chasing, romance and gambling which are likely to be the common themes throughout the whole film whereas in the opening sequence the use of iconography of the roulette board shows the theme of gambling and violence is shown through the fighting and the guns.

In the trailer we see a lot of different settings like the casino, aeroplanes, and it is clear that it is set in another country whereas in the opening sequence it is difficult to determine a specific setting as the sequence is animated but we are led to assume that it is set in a casino because of the playing cards. The use of sound in the trailer uses the iconic Bond soundtrack as well as voice overs with give hints to the plot of the film whereas the opening sequence uses the soundtrack to introduce the film. The trailer has the production company logos and the film title with the dates flash up at the end and a lot of fade to blacks are used throughout whereas in the opening sequence the actors names, director and production companies all come up throughout and the title ‘Casino Royale’ comes up at the very start which is opposite to the trailer.