Existing Trailers - Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (Adventure & Fantasy Genre)

Pirates of the Caribbean is a film series based on the adventures of the main protagonist, Jack Sparrow, portrayed by film star, Johnny Depp. The genre of the film conforms to both adventure and fantasy mainly with other sub-genres such as comedy. The film trailer shows the conventions of all these genres clearly by choosing certain scenes, editing techniques, shots and music to get this across to their audience.


The film trailer includes everything you would expect from this genre, the narrative contains mythical and supernatural creatures such as zombies, the undead, mermaids and also mythical narrative elements such as treasure maps, trying to find magic potions and trying to find spells e.c.t. Furthermore, the setting fits into this genre given that it is set in exotic locations which this one clearly is. Overall, the trailer has made it extremely obvious to the audience that the genre is a hybrid of fantasy and adventure through their combination of establishing and long shots of the locations as well as close-ups and surrounding the narrative with all the mythical elements you would expect to find.

The mise-en-scene in the trailer is consistent with the content and story line. The costumes are authentic with the era and they are realistic when it comes to specific characters, for example, they pirates that are lower in rank than the captain wear less clothing and wear simpler garments with plain colours, whereas Captain Jack Sparrow is dressed more 'fancy' clothing to show he is higher up and has a more important role in the film. Moreover, the female characters are dressed the same as the male characters which is conventional; at that time given that women did not usually appear in those situations with gender roles being tight and strict.

The lighting throughout is various as it depends one which parts of the film they are showing. In the scenes where they are showing humorous parts the lighting is bright to represent this tone, however, at parts such as 1:01 and 1:58 the lighting is dimmer and darker with the surrounding colours being bland and dark to convey the seriousness as well as the tense atmosphere as the scenes involve fighting and discovering.

The sound in the trailer is varied. At the beginning of the trailer the main character, Captain Jack, addresses the audience personally however remains in his role in the film and keeps the narrative going. He explains how he is looking for a new crew to go on an expedition, the way he addresses the viewers and talks to them brings them into the film and grabs their focus instantly. This is a unique technique as it interests the audience and starts the trailer off in a light-hearted way by not starting with action and violence straight away. Whilst the character is talking there is slow and faint music playing in the background, it is an upbeat tone and progresses in volume as the trailer moves on. At the end of his monologue there is an example of caesura - the use of a dramatic pause in music and often a fade to black transition to emphasize something, which in this cases it is used to emphasize the start the adventures shown in the rest of the trailer. After this fade to black and silence there are several intense 'drops' of sound and as each one starts an image appears to make the introduction to the settings more dramatic and atmospheric. The music changes to a slow, intense sound as a dark voice narrates. This narration is accompanied by a series of establishing and medium shots of scenery to focus the audiences attention on the setting of the film. They choose to show establishing shots of islands, medium shots of waterfalls and close-up shots of the ocean to make it clear that the story takes place in a tropical setting.

The editing towards of the end of the trailer is short and fast as the music grows to a faster pace which is conventional as they are showing a lot of scenes in a short space of time to build up the viewers anticipation. The editing pace is slow and steady at the start of the footage as it is easing the the audience into the trailer and introducing the story. Towards the end, the music has built up and the scene cuts to a sudden logo hitting the screen. The logo is a conventional one for pirates and therefore is viewers can make this connection with the film. Also, an editing technique has been used as the title of the film has a sudden reflection along with a matching sound of swords to conform to the pirate theme and the pirate logo in the background (this is at 2.58).

Moreover, the typography conforms to the genre as it is a script, rough, handwriting font which matches the way people used to write in them days. They have used the silver to match the colour of swords, other weapons and possible treasure further matching and hinting at their genre. The last scenes that are on are a list of names of the well known actors that are featured in the film as people will more than likely know who they are and it may make them want to see the film more.

To conclude, by analyzing this trailer as my adventure and fantasy genre research I am now confident in what this genre includes and the type of narrative it involves.