G.I. Joe trailer: The rise of Cobra analysis
G.I. Joe follows an action genre as it tells the story of an elite group of people, armed with the latest military and spy technology nicknamed G.I. Joe. They travel the world to wherever their services are needed. In this particular film they take on ‘Destro’ a corrupt arms dealer, and fight the growing threat of the mysterious Cobra organisation. The audience attraction towards the film could be down to the well experienced and popular cast of ‘Channing Tatum’ who has been in other action films such as ‘White house down’ and ‘Jupiter ascending’ or ‘Dwayne Johnson’ who has been in other action films such as the ‘Fast and furious’ franchise. Another unique selling point is that it is filmed in recognisable city’s eg. Paris and features landmarks such as the ‘Eiffel tower’. This most likely helped the film to come across more realistic and be more relatable to viewers.
The trailer opens with an establishing shot of a large underwater ship transformed into a mysterious headquarters, surrounded by approaching submarines. This is followed by a medium shot of a man dressed in a suit with his arms crossed holding an aggressive stance, in the background the audience see two men dressed in all black armour and holding guns. This gives of the sense that this man is highly important or is well protected. These shots are combined with non diegetic intense background music alongside the male characters diegetic dialogue instructing a rule. This male figure could be perceived as a villain in this action film due to his body language, dominance in the shots and his accent. Often villains in action films are often presented in similar ways and are most likely to be foreign. Propp’s theory suggests that every film has eight characters, one of which is a ‘villain’. I believe this man follows similar traits to a villain character and in some way will have conflict with the ‘hero’s’ in this case the G.I. Joe team.
As the trailer continues there is a number of short paced cuts, they include a medium shot which reveals a Hi tech operative lab, a close up shot of missiles and large machinery being launched, a second medium shot of people assembled in a line receiving their uniform and a final long shot showing the launch of a rocket taking place heading towards another rocket. Throughout this short montage of clips showing the preparation from the villain and his team there is a repetition of 3 black screens which appear to break up the trailer potentially to build up tension. This instantaneously sets the scene of an action film as the trailer is packed with codes and conventions of fight scenes, explosions, Hi- tech/ big machinery, fights and mass destruction.
G.I. Joe follows Todorov’s theory but the order is shuffled as the trailer opens with a disruption. The disruption is shown through a number of close up, medium and long shots of the Eiffel Tower being struck by a missile and causing a green mist explosion. This green mist spreads amongst the Eiffel Tower and causes it to rust and begin to fall down. One particular shot reveals a low angle used, which reveals in the foreground people are running towards the camera whilst in the background the Eiffel Tower is falling towards the citizens. This is combined with diegetic sounds of the panels falling apart and crashing to the ground alongside screams of the innocent citizens. This creates a number of enigma codes for the audience as they question “Who has done this?”, “Why have they done this?”, “Will there be other attacks?” and “What is this green mist which caused the disruption?”. At this moment the audience are probably feeling slightly nerved as they don’t exactly know what is going on.
This leads the trailer to show the realisation where they begin to reveal the G.I. Joe team and how they are going to try and stop the threat of ‘Destro’. A medium shot shows General ‘Hawk’ sitting with his hands folded leaning towards the camera, combined with his diegetic dialogue describing how they have never faced a threat like this. Seven to Eight shots follow, including medium shots of the assembled team arriving from different forms of transportation. These characters are all dressed in army cadets uniforms or super suits to indicate they are the ‘hero’s’. This is then followed by an attempt to repair the disruption through a number of short paced cuts showing explosions, fight scenes and unlikely qualities of an ordinary human identifying how special these recruits are. As the clips heighten in tension so does the combination of the upbeat non diegetic music. The closing of the trailer supports the codes and conventions of a action genre massively and encourages adrenaline junkies to go watch this action packed film.
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