The Hurt Locker trailer

The establishing shot in the trailer for The Hurt Locker is an establishing shot, which shows the audience that the film is based on a military base of some kind, this suggests to the audience that the film is likely going to be an action film because this is what we would expect from military films, also due to the release date of 2008, it is likely the film is based in Iraq or afghanistan where most people would be aware of the war, it also means the audience are aware of the background and why they are there. We are initially introduced to what appears to be the main characters, and they appear to the audience that they are not going to be the best of friends, this suggests a underlying conflict of interest, this could show that the main character is a rogue soldier, someone who doesn't like being told what to do, evidence for this is the way he is described as a 'Wildman' this description suggests he does what he wants when he wants.

Although the audience might initially believe they are just ordinary soldiers we are quickly shown they are specialists in bomb disposal, as the main character wears a massive suit which many people wouldn't have seen before, this changes the audiences view on what the film could be about, as there are very few films about specific jobs in the army, normally war films show just the ordinary soldier, this could show that this film is different from other films. The non-digetic music in the background helps build tension until we are shown the bomb in the car trunk. the fact that the location is in a hot desert in what appears to be a foreign land also suggests the film is an action film, because they are commonly used in action films. As the trailer continues we are slowly shown different aspects of the main character, this helps the audience get to know the character better, making the film more immersive so we feel sympathy for the main character.

The text that appears on screen looks dirty and broken up but cracks, this gives the impression that the film takes place in a foreign country, it could also suggest to the audience that the country they are in is broken as white can often signify hope and peace, the red used on certain words in the text, draws attention to the word, this could be used to describe the main character, the red font the words are in makes it stand out, but it also could be to illustrate the danger the characters are in, as the audience would normally associate the colour red in war films with danger and death. Also appearing on screen are a number of reviews with the main emphasis on the action based words such as 'suspenceful and near-perfect', this encourages the audience to see the film, these appear to be very postive reviews and this is likely to persuade the audience that the film is worth seeing.