Low-Budget British Independant Film Trailer Analysis

BULLET BOY

Bullet Boy is a low-budget British film from 2004. It is about a man who, after being released from prison, is trying to change his life for the better. However, he struggles to always do the right thing.

The trailer starts off with police bursting into the bedroom of the protagonist as he sleeps. This immediately connotes that the film is a crime film. An advantage of having this as the first thing that the audience see is that it will attract the target audience. People who aren’t into crime dramas won’t be attracted by this, but people who might want to see the film will carry on watching the trailer to find out more about it. Because this isn’t the beginning of the narrative, it creates enigma because the audience doesn’t know why the police are there.

The filming is in the style of a documentary as the frame shakes and it is clear that a tripod hasn’t been used. Documentaries usually involve the audience being allowed to see aspects of the lives of interesting people that are generally kept hidden. Because of the filming in Bullet Boy, the audience feels like they are seeing important and exclusive information so they won’t want to look away. This style of filming creates a sense of enigma because documentaries usually follow people whose lives are surrounded by a lot of mystery and secrets. It also makes the audience feel more involved as the camera is moving with the characters.

The scenes in the trailer are very short and most of them are edited with cuts. The fast pace shows that there is a lot of action going on in the film. The rush also keeps the audience interested because there is a lot of information to be taken in, so they have to keep watching so they don’t miss anything.

The music playing in the background contrasts with the images on the screen. The music sounds very relaxed, which doesn’t seem fitting with the fast pace cuts of the images. This creates enigma because the audience doesn’t know whether the relaxed sound or the action in the images represent the characters best.