Trailer Analysis: Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs shows a group of "perfect strangers" who venture into stealing precious diamonds, though through the the fear of a rat having told the police of the what the collection of hopeful thieves  have planned, the group can't help but let the paranoia allow them to suspect each other of the being the source of information to the police.

The trailer opens to a black screen with the quote "Every Dog Has it's Day", in a bold white text, This effectively shows the seriousness of the film due to the two contrasting plain tones, within the scheme of this screen. Over this we then hear the non-diegetic sound of what sounds like more than one man yelling, then hearing clearly "put the gun down !", immediately suggesting to the receiving audience that there will be a strong sense of violence throughout the film, furthermore suggesting an older audience of around 15+. The trailer then opens to a close up shot of an older man with little hair, whose miss en scene of a smart grey business suit, which portrays him as a smart and powerful individual, which is also due to the setting behind him of a chalk board, which gives his character some what of a teacher's dominance over their students, the older gentleman then utters "heres your names", to which the camera cuts to a close up shot of a middle aged man, wearing a white t-shirt, where we hear the older man's non-diegetic voice utter "Mr white", the camera continues to pan in a close up shot to surrounding younger men where the older gentleman voice is heard sating names, effectively introducing the characters to the audience in an attempt to hook the receiving audience onto the film by getting them to know the characters. Humour is shown through this part of trailer with the character who is branded "mr pink" by the older man, shows to be irritated by this and effectively shows the audience there is a light hearted side to the film.

The clip then cuts to a right angled wide shot of the group wearing all smart black and white suits, walking together in a slow motion effect as the non diegetic sound track plays Stuck in the middle with you by stealers wheel, which is a light hearted song that matches the groups mood of restful times. The group is then shown in a back angled wide shot as the group go onto to gather to a car, effectively showing them in a uniform as such to carry out a group task, although we see one individual dressed in a colourful shell suit jacket, giving the effect of the joker the group. The restful song song is suddenly interrupted as the camera cuts to an extreme close up of the hand of one of the suited men, as they knock the cylinder of a revolver into place, showing the audience the intentions to shoot others.


With the non diegetic sound of a man's voice asking what should happen if "the manger won't give you the diamonds", showing the audience the intention to rob diamonds from a bank, the camera cuts to two of the group in a car to which Mr white responds with "cut off one of his fingers", showing the darker side to the film.



As suddenly as the soundtrack stopped, it restarts showing closeups of the members of the crime ring laughing, showing that they find humour in violence, effectively showing the audience the aspects of a dark comedy. We then cut to three of the members at a medium low angle shot of them opening a car boot, they seem distressed, with the camera seeing as a viewpoint for the audience, this hints at a person being in the boot looking up at the three criminals. Suddenly the soundtrack is interrupted again by someones hand smashing through glass, then showing the criminal character mr blonde in a medium shot as he states the shaking comment " if they'd hadn't done what I told them not to do they'd still be alive", showing that there will be death within the film, showing their plan to go wrong. The music then suddenly starts again and shows mr pink violently pulling a woman by her hair out of her car window in a wide shot, as he fires gun shots at who appear to be the police, showing that their plan is continuing to plummet due to the death of people involved in the job and also the fact that the members are being chased by the police.

Again the music suddenly halts to the sound of someone being punched in the face, as they fall to the floor we see a close up low angle shot of mr white cocking his gun and pointing it downwards to who is revealed to be mr pink pointing his gun back at mr white in a wide shot, showing that the groups dynamic fails as they are seen to be turned against each other. a series of fast clips of the gang making a "bam" gun effects over the top of real gunshots, showing that bullets were planned to be fired. Showing a menacing appearance due to the song now appearing as a sadist tone over the film, and when pain is inflicted it is enjoyed by the group.

The trailer then closes on the films title "reservoir dogs" in a bold red text over a black background, changing from what was once white and connoted pure, to the red which connotes blood and violence, effectively showing that what turns out to be innocent turns for the worse intro a situation where blood is spilt.