Trailer influence - Only God Forgives

Only God Forgives

Genre: Drama / Psychological thriller

Narrative: In Bangkok, a drug dealer's (Ryan Gosling) mother sends him on a mission to kill whoever is responsible for his older brother's death.

Unique selling point: I love the use of colour and neon lights throughout this trailer. It not only looks beautiful, but it makes the characters look eerie.

Target audience: over 18s

Music: '2020' by Suuns has been used, which is punk / psychedelia genre. This soundtrack works very well with the trailer as the distorted sound of the guitar works in harmony with the dark themes and the eerie lights. It is punky enough to drive the action forwards, but is ambiguous enough (due to the lack of many vocals) to keep the mystery and therefore keep the audience's interest as well.

Shot types / camera angles:  My favourite shots are the wide angles of corridors and doorways, which are full of coloured light and architectural angles. The centre framed portraiture shots are also very enticing, as they are close framed and again the use of colour has obviously been focused on.

Pace: The pace begins steadily, with only drums driving it forward - it then picks up slightly when the guitar is first heard, and then even further in the final third of the trailer when both the guitar and image montage are working together to pick up the pace.

Dialogue: There is no pure dialogue until Gosling speaks at 0:46. The only other piece of dialogue is the famous line, 'wanna fight?', right at the very end of the trailer. 

Voiceover: The mother's (Kristen Scott Thomas) voice is used as the voiceover - this crosses over to dialogue for a second at 0:33 but apart from this her voice is external. However, her speech has been taken from within the film - she is talking to her son, not the audience. The voiceover helps the audience to shape the narrative, as without it there would be (almost) only seemingly random visuals.

Special effects: No obvious CGI, but there was most likely some used for the stunts (e.g. gunfire and smashing glass etc)

Credits and inter-titles: The titles go perfectly with the neon lights of Bangkok, as they look like neon signs. (The red against black). This way, they seem interwoven with the style of the film instead of looking like they have been added in afterwards. Even the white titles placed over the visuals work well, as a good font - 'Helium Extra Bold' - has been chosen.