V for Vendetta Teaser Trailer Deconstruction

Link to trailer on YouTube

An incredibly effective shot in the trailer is a close up of a woman's feet as she is dragged away; we had considered using a close up of a woman being dragged away, but not from this particular angle. However, this angle connotates vulnerability and submission, whereas we wanted our female character to be struggling.

This close up of the female character, Evey, works particularly well because the darkness of the background highlights the white of her eyes and emphasizes the shadows on her face, creating mystery. The angle of her face, which exaggerates the slant of her eyebrows, also makes her look strong and determined.

The anchorage for this trailer appears part way through, which shows how the plot and characters are more of a draw than the studios who produced it. The Warner Bros, Vertigo DC Comics and Silver Pictures logos are all altered to fit with the red colour scheme, giving connotations of violence and anarchy to follow in the film.

There is a midshot of soldiers in red and black uniforms marching, which tilts down to show their marching feet in time with the non-diegetic music. This shot is effective because it is an iconic army-related image, which show the extreme measures taken to keep order and how individuality is being crushed. Using the colours black and red again cements the idea of violence and darkness in the film.

This close up shot is the first glimpse of the protagonist, who is wearing an iconic Guy Fawkes mask and flat-brimmed black hat, which makes him easily recognisable through the trailer. The shot is particularly effective because he steps forwards out of the darkness, but the angle of his head keeps his eyes in darkness, giving him an air of mystery and danger.

This trailer uses words on the screen, rather than a voiceover, to indicate the finer points of the plot, which is what we also want to do. The back ground is an aggressive swirling black and red cloud-like matter, with a white font, glowing red, indicating the nature of the trailer. This carries on the red colour scheme and uses the same font from the poster.

We also want to use a similar shot to this long shot; the head of the government giving a speech on a large screen to the masses. This one works incredibly well, because the antagonist's head is huge and imposing, adding to the melodramatic effect of having the cross-like symbols of his rule everywhere, and the men watching him are unidentifiable, linking to lost identities within the film.

This close up of the protagonist's thumb about to press the switch for a bomb is juxtaposed with the fast cut action shots preceeding it, which gives it far greater impact and gravitas, as it is a long cut in comparison. Through this, it also creates tension, as it is an iconic bomb switch that every viewer would easily recognise, and the previous cut showed that it was linked to TNT strapped to the protagonist.



Having the protagonist's symbol of rebellion as the very last shot of the trailer has an incredible impact on the viewer; the "V" is bright red on a black background, and the dripping gives connotations of spray paint, or blood, which again link to the notion of a rebellion and violence in the film. It is an easily recognisable symbol that the viewers will remember, over everything else they see in the trailer.