Examining Movie Trailers

21 Jump Street Trailer

In the trailer for 21 Jump Street, there are several techniques used to tell the basic story line. The most noticeable one is the fact that all of the shots move very quickly from one scene to the next, which gives the viewer a hint of the fast-paced action that will occur in the movie. The trailer is not meant to give too much away, but just to give the overall idea of the movie. In the beginning of the trailer, the shots continuously shift back and forth between the two main characters of the movie (the nerd and the high school bully). This action shows where their relationship started (high school), and then moves on to tell the reader that they attended the police academy together, as well. The back and forth shots link these two characters together. There are some shots that occur in the trailer that are meant to be sarcastic and make the reader laugh. For example, one of the shots shows the two characters graduating from the police academy, and as the camera zooms in on their face, it is obvious that they are proud and excited to be real cops out on the streets. However, the next shot shows the two riding bikes beside a lake, and then playing with their guns. This shows the contradiction between what was supposed to happen and what actually happened. This trailer effectively uses movement of the camera to convey what the movie is about.