This is an analysis of the Sherlock Holmes trailer, poster and magazine cover for my a2 media coursework

1. Sherlock Holmes Trailer
Breakdown
Charles Harris

2. The trailer starts with the logos of the
production companies, the logos have
been adapted to make them seem more
old fashioned, this conveys to the
viewer that the film is sent in the past
The logos rotate around
a cube; the fast pace
transitions create
excitement for the
viewer, and the cube
could be a reference to a
dice which implies
gambling, this reflects
the protagonists
character in taking risks
and his gabling habits
There is an exaggerated non-
diegetic banging that happens as
the logo’s change, to draw
attention to the screen and
announce that the trailer is
happening

3. The master shot is a deep focus tilt, this is
done to set the scene for the viewer so
they can establish that the film is set in
the Victorian era (1891)
– as shown by the construction of tower
bridge and the fashion. There is colour
correction used to make the colours more
dull, this acts as pathetic fallacy because
the weather is bad to foreshadow that
something bad will happen.

4. The text is used to engage the reader
as they wonder who is “the world’s
most brilliant mind?” by structuring
the trailer like this, it creates intrigue
and builds up suspense to the reveal
of Sherlock Holmes, this gets the
viewer excited about the film rather
than opening with Sherlock Holmes.
The off-white text contrasts the black
background making it stand out to the
viewer and the serif font makes the
text look more classy, attracting it’s
adult audience and is also reminiscent
of the Victorian style of writing
The sound track is a quiet low pitch drown which works well as ambient
background noise to go under the dialogue as the soundtrack builds tension
and excitement without drowning out the talking. The dumbing that occur
when a black out comes up is in a rhythm that is like a heart beat, this is done
to get the viewers heart racing as they can sense something big is coming.

5. The Voice over says “Sherlock Holmes,”
as the actor playing Sherlock appears
on screen, this conveys to the viewer
who Sherlock is, meaning the rest of
the trailer makes sense to them.
A very low angle shot is used to make
Holmes seem very powerful and in charge,
this belittles the viewer as the shot makes
Sherlock more powerful than the viewer,
this is a reflection of the characters ego and
how he perceives the world.

6. The voice over is speaking in a sinister whisper: the tone to his voice puts the viewer
on edge as he sounds menacing. The voice over says “twist the very fabric of
nature,” which matches the image of a women floating, this conveys to the viewer
that some mystical stuff will happen, and therefore it wont be a typical action film.
The actress is wearing white, a symbol of purity, but in the Victorian era, it was
tradition to wear white at a funeral, implying that the girl is dead or is dying.
The sound track is string instruments playing
at a medium tempo, the choice in
instruments reflects the time period and
adds tension, while the choice in temp adds
to the excitement however it gives room for
the pace to build as the trailer climaxes.

7. There is a close up of big ben striking 12, clocks striking 12 is a convention of
horror films as that’s the time events tend to happen in films, the clip is then
followed by explosions –sticking with the trend. This follows Neale’s 1980
theory of repetition and difference as the director is conforming to the
convection of the clock striking 12, however they have added the difference
of setting it in the past and not the present or future.
The voice over says “tomorrow the world as you know it,” which builds up
excitement and intrigue, then the explosion happens which delays the rest of
the sentence adding tension, then the voice over finishes by saying “will
end.” which is matched with the image of explosion to make it clear to the
viewer the jeopardy of the situation which adds excitement.
This is then contrasted with the protagonist saying “well, there isn’t any
time to waste then, is there?” this adds humour as the films hero is so
relaxed about the end of the world in the casual manor that he says it,
conveying to the viewer that there are light hearted elements to the film.
The prop of the pipe makes Sherlock seem classy to the
viewer which contrasts his informal costume making him
seem down to earth.
The medium close up has Holmes breaking
the 4th wall and is directly addressing the
viewer with his line, this engages them with
the film and makes them feel like Sherlock is
on their side

8. Action matches are used to show Sherlock jumping
out of a window and falling into a river, this is don’t
to create intrigue about why he is doing this
instead of walking out of a door. This conveys
Holmes quirky character nature to the audience.

9. Synchronous sound is used, as Sherlock hits the
water, the explosion happens. Meanwhile the
sound goes from ‘light hearted strings’ to a more
intense soundtrack, exciting the viewer

10. A sound bridge is used of having the horse sound
effect come in before the shot of the horse chase,
this draws the viewer in as they wonder where the
horse has come from, before finding out
Low key lighting is used to make convey how
dangerous what is happening is as it’s hard to make out
what is happening. The excessive shadows conveys the
characters on screen to be untrustworthy.
Track shots are used in this section so that the
clip looks more exciting and action packed, an
action match is used to convey the action from
different view point making the viewer feel
more involved in what's happening.

11. The protagonists sidekick isn’t brought in to
the trailer until nearly 40 seconds into it,
this conveys to the viewer how unimportant
he is compared to the protagonist as he
gets significantly less screen time.
Watson is present at eye level with the
camera/ viewer in his close up, this
conveys him to be a “man of the people,”
as he is put on par with the viewer
compared to Sherlock who when he was
first introduced was put above them.
Watson’s character fits into Propp’s character
theory, Sherlock is the Hero, Watson is then
the helper assisting the hero.
The character is shown in high
key lighting conveying he is a
good person to the audience,
the close up shows his emotions
to be rather stern, this implies
he might have a dark side –
which intrigues the viewer.
When Holmes and Watson are first
presented together, a low angel is
used, this conveys them to be
powerful together – implying that its
Sherlock who provides Watson with
his status and without him, John is an
ordinary person.

12. Symbolism is used from a
relatively un-known religion
or cult, this creates mystery
with the viewer as they
wonder what it is, persuading
them to see the film
The low key lighting makes
the picture rather dark,
implying that what the
symbols mean isn’t good

13. The shot of the actress topless
from behind creates sex appeal
attracting guys to see the film.
This is an effective way to
attract some of their target
audience, although it is
stereotyping young men

14. In this section, Sherlock Holmes is
losing a fight, this gets the reader to
sympathise with the protagonist as he
is getting very hurt.
The diegetic sounds of the character
screaming helps to further convey the pain
of the actor, increasing the sympathy

15. The montage of Holmes and Watson
arguing shows that their relationship isn’t
always a happy one and that there ups and
downs which gets the viewer interested.
The dialogue acts as a sound bridge because as John
rants “practising violin,” there are relevant shots
[Sherlock playing a violin] going through out the section.
The close up on the actors
face conveys how annoyed
he is at the protagonist,
adding impact to what his
saying in the voice over.
The topless show of the
actor playing Sherlock adds
sex appeal to attract woman
to watching the film.

16. The names of the famous and staring
actors come up as people who like the
actors will want to see the film as well
as people who like the look of the film

17. The film name is presented
in a really simplistic way as
it’s the text against a black
background, this makes it
easy for the viewer to see
what the film is.

18. A form of credits come up at the
end as people who know, trust
and like certain cast crew and/ or
production companies involved
will see the film.
The last thing to be
shown is the release date
and the website which
involves a challenge. This
gets people to go to the
website where they will
find out more about the
film, and having this
information at the end
means its more likely to
be remembered.

19. The antagonist has his back to the
viewer, this conveys that he isn’t
trust worthy as you can’t see his
whole face. His pose is pragmatics
to vampires and Dracula which
conveys the supernatural element
to the film.The main 3 good characters are
all touching/ are connected,
this implies to the viewer that
they are linked and will work
together to save the day.
The pun “Holmes for the holiday,”
is a play on words of “home for
the holiday.” this is done to convey
the humour in the film, as well as
reinforce the release date of
Christmas day, which is also the
only thing in red at the bottom of
the page to draw peoples
attention to it.
The lead actors names are at the
top making it one of the first
things the reader sees, this means
they can see the famous names
and get excited about the film.
The models are dressed in smart, old-
fashion clothing, this is done to make
them seem intelligent as well as convey
the Victorian time period. Because they
look smart, they seem trust worthy to
the viewer.
There is a blue and grey colour scheme,
this makes the poster seem cold and
shady, the protagonists stand out in this
as they seem to have a warmer colour
correction, this has connotations of them
bring the good to the film and putting a
stop to the bad guy. The fact that the
female is in the dark makes it seem like
she has a dark side compared to Sherlock
and Watson
Although hard to read, credits are at
the bottom giving people more
information about the film.

20. The cover follows the blue colour
scheme of the poster, this gives
constancy to the advertising
campaign. Blue has connotations
of wisdom is fitting for “the world’s
most brilliant mind”
Big ben can be seen in the
background, however it is
blurred, this conveys that
although the film is set in
London, it’s not important
to the films plot.
The cover line “Extra,” is
pragmatics to Victorian news
paper sellers stereotypically calling
out “extra, extra read all about it,”
this matches to match the era
films in which the film was set, and
conveys that to the audience.
The Magazine’s website is just under the masterhead
putting it in a place that’s easy for the reader to see
and go onto if they so desire
The Cover line “Sherlock Holmes”
goes right across the bottom
third, this means the readers eye
is drawn to so that they can easily
see what the feature article in the
magazine is compared to rival
magazines in the shop.
“world exclusive!” is written in the
banner above the pull quote, this was
done to get the viewer to buy the
magazine to find out what the
content is that they can’t get
anywhere else.
The pugs are in the bottom corner of the magazine
as they need to be present to sell the magazine
but not draw attention to themselves
The masterhead is in a bold font which makes it clear and easy to
read, the model is covering part of the masterhead as the brand itself
is recognisable enough that it doesn’t need to be completely shown.
The model looks content on the cover,
he is in a non-threatening pose
however isn’t in an overly welcoming
stance, this makes it harder for the
viewer to ‘get a read on him’ so they
will read the magazine to get a better
idea about him.