Zodiac
Establishing
shot – Immediately sets the scene for the film by alerting the
audience of the location of the film. However, non-synchronous sounds of police
sirens and the sounds of fireworks being replaced by gunshots immediately build
suspense.
Quick cuts and fades to black – Gradually builds the tempo of the introduction to further signify the suspense of the film. This means that the eventual climax of the trailer will be more shocking to the audience because of a prolonged build up.
Slow motion –
Addresses the presence of a weapon and shows that the woman who is in the car
has been shot dead as well as giving the audience enough time to see there is a
silencer attached to the weapon, implying the Zodiac is murdering people in a
silent fashion and will not be caught. The shot also shows a small glimpse of
the Zodiac’s face so audience members begin to speculate who the killer could
be, further raising the suspense.
Change of pacing – Mid way through the introduction there is a change in things such as the background music and the fades to black change to dissolves to decrease the sinister values of the trailer by not leaving the audience unsure. There is also more focus on the main character of the production, with slightly humorous undertones as well as less fear on people’s faces in close-up shots.
Dialogue – There is
no presence of a voiceover man in the trailer because it is a much more modern
work. This means the emphasis on dialogue and character performance is greatly
increased as well as non-diegetic sounds playing a key role in setting the tone
for the film. The presence of edgy music as well as intense character
performance promote the insecurities of the police trying to catch the killer
while the light-hearted music and laid back character performance change the
tone of the film.
There are many similarities between the introductions of
Seven and Zodiac, such as changes of pacing. Despite both having this change
they are used very differently in each of the two films. The change in the
Seven is used to place greater importance on the action of the introduction and
draw attention away from the two main characters focussed on in the first part
of the sequence. Zodiac does the opposite, where the attention is drawn away
from the action and placed on the endeavours of the main character.
Furthermore, there are also lots of differences in the two pieces. Zodiac’s
establishing shot is of the skyline and shows the audience where the film is
based whereas Seven does not show where the film is based and makes the
sequence more edgy initially. Finally, there is also a clear change in
structure of the sequences because of the time gap in when they were made.
The much earlier made Seven still used a voiceover man whereas Zodiac solely focussed on dialogue and sound effects with background music throughout the intro.
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