‘Captain Fantastic’ Trailer Close Reading Task

The genre of the film trailer ‘Captain Fantastic’ is split between comedy, drama and romance. This, making it a hybrid film.

The trailer features aspects of comedy where one of the children asks how the chickens were killed. The woman tries to explain that she bought it like that but confuses the child.

Drama is highlighted in the film trailer when the mother dies and the fact the children have to explore this new life through the journey of getting to her funeral.

The film trailer features romantic aspects of the mother and father at the very beginning talking about how they have raised beautiful children. There is also young love between the eldest boy and a girl he meets. This is mixed with the comedic aspect of his misunderstanding of love to then propose to her. She finds this funny as this would not happen in the ‘real’ world.

Genre

The narrative is suggested in the film trailer as to be in chronological order. The family live in the wild in a small house in the forest. They are off the

grid and very happy. The mother then becomes ill and dies of a disease. The grandfather then calls the father to say he and the children are not allowed at the funeral. The family go on a road trip to the funeral, learning new experiences along the way. People put them down and say the father hasn’t done a good job with the children. They say the father has not prepared his children for the real world. The family explore new loves and learn the realisation of being lost in the world, not knowing anything unless it has come form a book. The family arrive at the funeral. The grandfather then tries to take custody of the children.

The narrative highlights the love the family have for life and that they still share good times through the dark tragedy of loosing their mother.

Narrative

Structure Opening:

The audience is introduced to the characters and the setting. The

family live in the forest away from civilisation. They are on their own

but have each other and live a happy and relaxing life.

Build up: The mother falls sick and passes away. The children then have to

venture into the outside world to go to her funeral.

Problems:The children soon come to realise they are not equipped for this lifestyle. They don’t fit in. The elder boy feels trapped

as his only knowledge comes from a book. The children are missing their mother. Also, the father has to deal

with their grandfather wanting to take custody of the children.

Events: The children experience many

new challenges throughout their journey to the funeral. They visit family members, try school and

do eventually make it to the funeral, despite the consequences

that might await them.

The target audience for this film is parents who have children and adults. The film trailer depicts a fun, happy tone although also exploring the difficulty of loosing a loved one.

The film rating is R which is restricted. This means no one under 16 can watch it without an adult. There is no direct equivalent with the UK rating system. So, films of an R rating normally become 15 certificates in the UK.

The film trailer has a heart warming feel to it which highlights the loving family. It follows their adventure out of the forest and into the real world.

Target Audience

The pace is slow at the beginning, when he is stood in the forest looking up at the trees. This reflects the peaceful lifestyle they have in the woods.

It then increases when the father is on the phone and when he tells the children their mother has died. There is a drumbeat that plays which increases the pace of the film trailer.

The rest of the film trailer stays at this slightly increased pace to depict the emotions that occur during the film trailer. The pace mirrors their lifestyle and the fact that they are very happy and joyful but are also fearful in the times when they don’t understand or something is new to them.

Pace

‘What we created here may be unique in all of human existence.’ ‘We’ve created paradise.’ These two voiceovers are said by the main character, the father,

at the beginning of the film trailer. They are in their home, the forest, living a serene lifestyle.

‘Our children shall be philosopher kings. It makes me so indescribably happy.’

This phrase is said at the end of the film trailer as they are walking into the funeral. It highlights the love the father has for his children one last time before the trailer ends. This is highlighted so the audience can relate to it and emotionally connect to the character.

Voice Over

Credits 0.01 – Film rating page

Start 0.00

Finish 2:31

0.32 - ‘Bleecker Street’ 0.33 – ‘Shiv Hans Pictures’ 0.42 - ‘Official

Selection Sundance Film Festival’ ‘Official Selection UN Certain Regard Festival De Cannes’

1.37 - ‘A funny film that will have you in tears.’ – Huffington Post 1.43 - ‘Triumphant and

spirited!’ – Huffington Post 1.58 – ‘Heart

warming and off beat.’ – Vanity Fair 2.07 – ‘Viggo Mortensen

is terrific.’ 2.26 – ‘Captain Fantastic’ 2.29 – ‘This Summer’

This is a chart of the film trailer credits in order of appearance.

‘What we are doing out here is so incredible. Our kids are amazing.’ This describes how the mother feels about their choices they have made in bringing up their children.

‘I miss mum.’ ‘Mum needs to be in he hospital right now.’ This highlights to the audience that the children have never been away from their mum before. The fact that she is in the hospital also informs the audience that she is unwell. ‘We can’t go to mummy’s funeral, we have to do what we are told.’ This suggests that there is a higher authority making sure that his adventure with his kids still fits into the real world.

‘Right now, this is your first real test, remember your training.’ This sounds like they have been in a ‘boot camp’ learning about life outside of the forest.

‘How did you kill those chickens? With an axe of a knife?’ This questioning highlights the contrasting lives the children lead to other children, they are not used to buying prepared goods from shops.

‘The kids need structure. They need to go to a real school.’ Hearing this from somebody else would make the father feel inadequate. This could be relatable to the audience and therefore the viewer would feel sorry for him.

‘Unless it comes out of a book, I don’t know anything.’ This highlights the frustration of the elder child. He feels lost and uneducated in this new world.

‘Abbie and I have decided that we are going to file for custody of the children.’ This is rock bottom for the father, he feels like a failure in the fact that others see his children as lesser than what they would be if they lived like everybody else.

Dialogue

The very beginning of the film trailer has diegetic sounds of birds in the forest. This allows the audience to understand the location that the film is initially based in.

Then, there is the relaxing sound of the guitar being played. This mirrors the calm lifestyle the family lead, away from the stress of the ‘outside’ world.

The song used throughout the trailer is ‘Ghost’ by Jeremy Messersmith. The lyrics ‘Broke my heart with sticks and stones,’ ‘Swore I'm never coming

home,’ ‘If there is a line ill cross it’ and ‘Coming back to where we started’ are the lyrics used in the trailer. They all imply adventure and overcoming new struggles. New loves, broken hearts, leaving home, crossing boundaries and maybe returning to what they had before is all suggested in the lyrics. This song is uplifting and mirrors the journey the family go on. This is why the song has been used in the trailer.

Soundtrack

There are no special effects used in the film trailer. This is because it is a realistic drama that portrays real life.

There is no relevance in exaggerating points with such things as explosion as it would not improve the film.

The realism of the film has been kept due to the fact that they have not used any special effects in the film trailer.

Special Effects

The close up, slightly low angle, shot of the fathers face is the first seen after the moving image of the trees. The trees are blurred out in the background which puts all of the focus on the father. The first main character seen.

A long shot of the family sat on the grass, in a circle, with the mountains in the background is displayed. This tells the audience this is where they live and gives the viewer an understanding of the beauty of this place.

Another close up shot is used when the father is in the shower. It is of his face with him looking down. It suggests that at this point in the film he feels defeated and doesn’t know how to make things right.

Angles

The unique selling point of this film is about children finding this whole new way of living in the world.

The film trailer highlights how the film explores new lessons learnt, new loves and how the children and the father deal with the death of their mother and wife.

The family have been taught everything they need to know in life apart from how to live in the outside world. This would interest the audience and therefore, they would go to the cinema to watch the film.

USP