Analysis of 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' Trailer
During the opening of the trailer, there is a medium shot of three characters, judging by the chosen framing, at least two of these characters are main characters throughout the film. The use of bright purple uniforms gives the impression that the hotel that they work at, is very extravagant because purple is often seen as a royal and luxurious colour. Also the bright red paint on the elevator walls contrasts their uniforms in a substantial way which draws even more attention to the characters. Also the colour red represents passion so this could mean that these characters are also forming a personal relationship, outside of their job. Further on throughout the trailer, red is used a lot which reiterates the passion of a number of the characters. The setting is also established very quickly as various shots of the hotel are shown as the lobby boy walks through it. The majority of the main characters are then introduced which follows the typical structural convention of trailers. There is also a voice over which is telling you about the chronological story of the film but the clips that are used are not chronological to the film.
There is then a build up of intensity when the police arrive which gives a different feel to the film itself as it started off very light-hearted with Russian Folk style music which adds a comical element to the trailer and film. This again, is following normal structural conventions of a film trailer as it has to entice the viewers into questioning what the film is actually about. Also I noticed that the trailer was filmed and edited into an unusual aspect ratio for today's common 'widescreen' style was this I imagine was added to give the audience an idea of when the film was based, which was very 1930s' 'esque. When the Russian Folk music stops, the trailers warm feel changes into something much more serious as there has been a death which then adds a great deal of depth to the story line of the trailer.
After this they then show who directed the film, which was Wes Anderson and this style of film and trailer is very typical as he is well known for his narrative style. After this there is significantly less amounts of bright colours throughout the trailer as the atmosphere has changes and become more serious and this is shown through the dull 'mourning' colours.
After this there is another change as the Russian Folk music comes back as the mood of the trailer is starting to lift again as it is showing significant events that occur in the film, but not in a chronological order as there still has to be a sense of mystery and uncertainty from the audience to intrigue them further. The music then intensifies when there are jump cuts between footage of all of the main characters that appear within the film. It then gets even faster when the climax of the soundtrack is representing the action taking place and the highlights of the film, none of which are clear to the viewers as to what is occurring to encourage their intrigue.
Overall, this trailer follows the common conventions of film trailers that are aimed at mainstream audiences as they have the task of managing to intrigue the viewers into watching the entire features, based on what they have seen in the space of 2 and a half minutes. They also follow the convention of having a trailer which tells the story in a chronological order but the clips that are used do not appear in this order throughout the film. This is to give the audience an idea as to what happens in the film but without ruining the entire story line for them and without being misleading. Another common convention of a film trailer is to have the sponsorship and creators logos at the start of the trailer, which this one does whilst the actual action is beginning. However, it doesn't show the title of the film until the end of the trailer, which breaks the convention of film trailers. It also doesn't contain any form of social media promotion either. But does contain name captions of the top billing actors that appear in the film. Finally, it also doesn't have the release date of the film which is unusual as most trailers do contain this to make the audience aware of when the film is available for consumption. All in all the trailer does not following the common promotional conventions that come with the majority of trailers that are released in this day in age. This could be down to the film and trailer being in a traditional 1930's style so they were trying to still with what would have occurred back then.
