Hotel Rwanda
Trailer deconstruction
The Trailer opens with the United Artists logo, advertising the film
using this established production company. This is then followed by a shot
showing that it is an award winning film, which will again interest the
audience, as they will know that they are going to watch a high quality film.
Beginning alongside these shots
is a non-diegetic soundtrack, which is traditional to the country that the film
is set in. This shows the audience that the film has a strong cultural context
which is an effective unique selling point for the film.
The next shot is an establishing shot of a landscape in
Rwanda with the caption Rwanda, 1994, setting the scene and date for the
audience so that they understand what they are watching.
Rom here, non-diegetic
narration is introduced by the main character.
This is used to begin the story that is told in this film and give the
audience a brief overview of the plot.
With this narration there is a mid shot of the main character Paul.
These are used together so that the audience links the two together. He is the first person shown in the trailer
and so is quite clearly the main character within the film. He introduces
himself and explains that he is the house manager of a luxury hotel in Rwanda.
This is followed by some establishing shots of the hotel
which gives the audience a deeper sense of the setting and also begins to build
a relatively peaceful atmosphere, for example showing hotel guests on sun
loungers around a swimming pool, creating equilibrium. This continues as he introduces his family
and we see his wife and children making the audience relate to him.
The tone is then drastically
changed as he says “Until the day everything changed” and the non diegetic
soundtrack also changes tone with much bassier notes on a minor scale
foreboding events ahead and creating tension for the audience.
We then see shots of riots and military action taking place showing
that there has been a drastic change in events. The shot of the riot shows many
men holding banners, and you can see flashes of red throughout the shot showing
there is danger. The military presence emphasizes this to the audience.
We are then presented with a text screen which tells the audience
that the film was based on a true story. This draws them in as they realise
that they can relate to the people in the film because they really existed,
plus there is more frightening when a story is true and so more entertaining
and henceforth more appealing to the audience.
Pieces of diegetic dialogue are used throughout the trailer to
explain to the viewer what they are watching for example Paul says “They are killing
everyone” which is a basic narational tool and is used effectively in this
trailer.
Paul then explains that the UN are in the area which gives
hope to the audience as they can see from the long shot of the large UN trucks
that they have quite a lot of power and will be able to offer protection to
Paul and his family who the audience have already made a link with from
previous shots in the trailer. However this hope that has been given to the
audience is quickly taken away as the next shot shows the UN captain explaining
that the UN are not allowed to intervene as they are “Peace keepers” not “peace
makers.” This will confuse the audience and frustrate them so they are
beginning to develop an opinion on the events of the film which is one of the
main intentions of Hotel Rwanda – to raise awareness.
There is also narration here
from an external actor. He says “when a country descended into madness,”
continuing to build the tension and tell the story of the Rwanda massacres
effectively to the audience.
There is then a mid shot of an English woman explaining “they are
killing Tutsi children to wipe out the next generation,” The fact that she is
English makes the story even more relatable to the western viewers of this film
as she is clearly heavily involved and also she brings to the attention of the
audience that both children are being killed and a genocide is occurring. This
is all very emotionally and thought provoking for the audience.
The external actor
then narrates that “The world turned its back.” - This a key feature that we want to take from this film is the fact that
the Rwandan people suffered in such a terrible way, the rest of the world knew
but did nothing to help. – Paul then asks “How can they not intervene,
hundreds of thousands are dying” which shows the barbarity of the reaction.
This is replied to by
a documentary camera man working in the area by explaining to Paul that “If people see this they will think, oh my
god that’s horrible, then they’ll go on eating their dinners,” which shows that as a human race we do not
fight for that which doesn’t bother us and this links into our social context.
After this the audience are subjected to feel the hopelessness that
the characters in the film feel as the UN captain tells Paul that no one is
coming to help or to stop the slaughter.
This creates a very isolated and fearful atmosphere as it becomes
apparent that Paul is the only person willing to help his people.
A voice over of Paul’s speech
confirms this as he states “We have been abandoned” and “we can only save
ourselves.
There is a shot of Paul standing in front of the people he
has been protecting in his hotel as they shelter from the rain and it shows
that he is leading them, giving connotations of a revolution. Paul stands out
in the rain in this shot which emphasises his leadership within the film and
causes the audience to respect him as a person.
Then there are several shots of the struggle faced as well as shots
showing the hope that Paul created in this situation such as this close up of a
mother and her child holding hands. This gives the audience a very strong idea
of the atmosphere faced in their situation and brings them into the realism of
it, but doesn’t give away the conclusion of what happened to Paul, his family
and the people he cared for which is an effective way to end the trailer to
encourage people to go and see or purchase the film.
Finally the title screen is shown.
The Typography is in bold gold colours with capital letters and a blocky
font to show the strong impacts the events of the film had and the importance
of this and the lessons that need to be learnt from this. The cold colour and
the backlight behind the title shows the strength that was shown by the main
characters in the film and the safety and refuge that the hotel provided. This
is followed by a shot of when the film is being released and their web page to
inform the audience about the film and how they can see it.
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