Analysis Of Court Road - Last Year's Year 13 Trailer

The trailer starts with a black screen and a non diegetic heart beat sound. It then switches to a wide shot of a man and woman in a front room lit by two lamps and the daylight streaming through the patio windows. The man is dressed in black and this has connotations that he is the antagonist. He is begging the female, Lucy, who is dressed casually to break off her wedding because he is in love with her. The use of Lucy being casually dressed is to relate to the audience because soap operas opt for a sense of realism to attract their audiences. There is then an over the shoulder shot from the male, Graham, looking at Lucy as she says “he loves me more than you” the over the shoulder shot is used to show the audience the impact of those words. The use of Graham saying the words “don’t make me do something ill regret” add a tense feeling for the audience and the suspense begins to build as the camera tracks Lucy as she walks out the door and a black screen appears saying “Two Choices”. The words “Two Choices” on the black screen are accompanied with another heartbeat and this is done to build the suspense within the audience.

There is then an establishing shot of a church and an amplified extra diegetic church bell sound can be heard, this is to establish to the audience that the wedding is about to take place. There is then a high shot of the church and we can see Lucy and her husband to be at the altar with friends and family in the pews. The camera then closes in onto a two shot of the couple and the vicar as the ceremony begins. As the vicar says each characters name, Lucy Anderson and Warren Coyle, the camera does a close up of each of them from the others point of view. These camera angles are used to highlight to the audience how special they day is for each character. After the close up of Warren Coyle, the camera transitions to a pair of bleeding fists scrunching into balls on the lap of Graham and the another heartbeat sound can be heard. The camera is in a point of view shot from Graham and the use of the heartbeat and his angry movement add to the suspense built in the audience.

Another black screen follows accompanied with a heartbeat and the words “One Outcome” is used, this again creates fear in the audience. Another point of view shot from Graham’s point of view is used to reveal him winding up a wire. Another heartbeat sound can be heard as the camera transitions from the wire in Graham’s hand to a close up of the wire bounding a pair of hands behind a persons back. This is followed by another heartbeat and a transition to a mid wide shot to reveal Lucy curled in a ball with her hands tied behind her back in a dark and dingy garage. The heart beat sound continues at the same pace as the camera transitions to an establishing shot of the front room to reveal Warren running through the door and the room as he calls for Lucy. The camera then switches to his point of view and the heart beat speeds up as Warren runs up the stairs and checks the house for Lucy frantically. The camera then closes in on Lucy who is crying as she is tied up and then the screen goes back and a loud scream can be heard. A final heartbeat is heard and the words “Will he find her?” appear on the black screen and then the title Court Road as a female whisper says the title, then the Channel 7 logo and the whisper accompanies this and finally the words Don’t Miss Out. The use of the whisper is eerie and adds to the terror and suspense that has been built up in the audience.

Overall, the trailer has worked well. The editing has been smooth and the use of the heartbeat and black screens has built up suspense and terror in the audience which will attract them into wanting to know what has happened to Lucy and made them intrigued to watch the soap opera. The settings and characters are believable and similar to that of real life and the storyline is exciting and tense which will attract audiences of all ages easily. Although the camera is shaky in some shots, its is used as a compliment when Warren is running around the house trying to find Lucy as it portrays his fear as he is trying to find her.