By Atiya boksh

Trailer Analysis – The Purge Anarchy

Summary of the film

• The Purge: Anarchy is a 2014 American action horror thriller film directed and written by James DeMonaco. It is the sequel to the 2013 film The Purge.

• In the Purge Anarchy, a couple are driving home when their car breaks down just as the Purge commences. Meanwhile, a police sergeant goes out into the streets to get revenge on the man who killed his son, and a mother and daughter run from their home after assailants destroy it. The five people meet up as they attempt to survive the night in Los Angeles where all crime is legal for one night.

• The trailer starts off straight away as intense by the use of a countdown and fast paced harsh music along with a man commentator announcing ‘In 5 seconds, you are about to experience anarchy.’ in a serious and a demanding voice. This alerts the audience that the movie is about the absence of a government and the absolute freedom of individuals in which they are free to do whatever they want. This suggests that the movie will be full of criminal activities and therefore the audience will be curious and willing to watch it to see what it would be like if there was no rules or a government controlling the country so they would be interested in watching this particular movie as it is very unique from other horror movies.

The Purge Anarchy

• There are various camera angles of the city which is based in America mostly done in a birds eye view as the scene is shown from directly above. This is a completely different and somewhat unnatural point of view which can be used for dramatic effect or for showing a different spatial perspective. This can mean that the audience are seen as ‘God like’ as they are watching everyone take part in the purge and how they would react if there was no rules. Therefore, this technique has been used effectively as it shows that the purge is entirely taking place in America and that is an activity in which every citizen can take part in.

The Purge Anarchy

• In the middle of the trailer, the purge is starting to take place as you see a man loading a gun in a sharp movement. This indicates that the movie will contain highly powered weapons and it symbolises that the character's are afraid of the world and insecure in themselves that they rise against anyone who degrades them. They live their lives in fear, and project that fear into violence, an attempt to make others as frightened as they are. Also, in the trailer it says ‘some people do it for revenge’ and ‘some people just want to survive’ showing that the purge is a matter of life and death.

• After that, a man commands ‘If you're not purging, we advise you to get off the streets as quickly as possible’ which emphasizes the fact that the streets will be full of danger and raises the tension between the audience.

The Purge Anarchy

• As the trailer paces up along with the intense music and sound effects getting faster and sharper, you see various camera shots of criminal activities taking place. For instance, someone riding a bus with fire, a gang with dogs, guys dragging women from the roots of their hair whilst screaming in pain and various citizens wearing masks. This is done in order to create an anticipation between the audience and a feeling of being excited or anxious uncertainty as to what might happen.

• The trailer specifically focuses on a man wearing a joker like mask that is white and says ‘God’ on the top. This suggests that he thinks he is superior than everyone else and no one can tell him what to do.

The Purge Anarchy

• During the end of the trailer, the pace slows down and sad emotional music is playing in the background that contains an enquire. This symbolises death as they are usually played at funerals. This may be due to the various events taking place in the purging as nothing can be done in order to prevent it. Also, the use of sound effects in this trailer has been used very effectively. For example, the use of gun shots which emphasizes the murders in the movie.

The Purge Anarchy

Conclusion

• We would like to take the idea of a masks and social violence into our title sequence.

• We feel Purge Anarchy was a suitable case study as it fits into our genre and narrative to a certain extent.