Trailer Analysis: The Incredible Hulk

The trailer of The Incredible Hulk focuses primarily upon the character of Bruce Banner for the majority of the trailer, due to him being the main character. We see glimpses of Banner at the start of the trailer, as a military operation is conducted to find and bring him back. We are then show clips of the operation going into plan, forcing Banner to flee, and shown shots of Banner travelling away, in between different shots of the military chasing Banner. The early parts of the trailer have a prominent bass behind the guitar playing, the style of the notes playing connoting a sort of Spanish-Mexican influence, possibly giving a hint at the location of Banner at the start of the film. The bass playing underneath the guitar gives the trailer a feel of it building up, the sound becoming more prominent as we see military forces advancing towards the house in which Banner is in, clearly connoting that an action scene is soon to come up, also giving us our first glimpse of the actual Hulk.

We see Banner locked inside a corridor, the diegetic sounds of the locks slamming shut locking Banner inside of the area. We are also given various narrations over the top of the trailer, such as the one by Banner in this scene talking about how he cannot control his anger, connoting that he is soon to turn into the Hulk, the narration taken from a different section of the film, just placed over this scene. As tear gas fills the room, we are shown one last glimpse of Banners arm, shown progressively getting larger before it is enveloped in the smoke filling the room, as the scene fades and cuts to shots of the soldiers faces surrounding the room, all the shots of the faces being close ups, we hear the enhanced diegetic sounds of heartbeats, before the hulk smashes through the wall of the corridor and attacks the soldiers.

The title of the film also carries clear connotations describing the size of Hulk, the term hulk clearly higher bigger than the word “incredible”, showing the size of the Hulk. We are given various shots after our first glimpse of the hulk showing his size, such as the size of the character in comparison to various vehicles he has destroyed, and stood opposite a man who is shown to be the antagonist of the film. The hulks size and strength, shown clearly in the second half of the trailer, is the main draw of the film itself, which is why the trailer focuses heavily on showing the hulk throwing around objects such as cars and tanks. These shots and scenes are normally very short in the trailer itself, keeping the trailer to the point and exciting for the audience to watch. Close to the end of the trailer, the antagonist of the film is shown throwing a car directly towards the camera until it reaches it and causes a black out, a convention which is used often in action films and their trailers.

The Trailer also uses the idea of having various narrative voices, taken from different scenes in the film, to help give the audience an idea of what is going to happen in the film, as well as setting the scene for the film itself. The narratives in the trailer come from the main character of Banner, as well as from his antagonist, and other characters relevant to the main plot of the film.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1726152985/ - Trailer for The Incredible Hulk