British Trailers

Doing research on "300 Rise Of An Empire" I wanted to start looking at trailers for British productions. Currently British actors are having a lot of success within America. Game of Thrones has helped showcase the best of British acting and now because of this some of the cast are now moving into other franchises for example Emilia Clarke will be playing "Sarah Connor" in the rebooting of the Terminator franchise. Then there is Andrew Lincon who is currently playing lead character "Rick Grimes" in The Walking Dead.

One of the things that is great about British productions is that they often rely on the acting more then special effects and make-up.  Watching the trailers for British trailers shows that a lot of them showcase different sub cultures within the UK and a lot of the time deal with a lot of social issues. Films such as "The Full Monty" and "Billy Elliot" are two different types of movies but both deal with closure of the mines during  Thatchers rein as PM which led to hundred of workers losing their jobs.

There are certain trailers which are American influenced such as "Dog Soldiers" but it also has elements from British hit "Zulu" and its great watching how success in the industry has helped boost the quality in films that this country is producing.

The trailer for E4 smash hit "Skins" is one of the first drams I really got into. The trailers for it make it seem like it was just going to be about drug, sex the usually youth culture. But the trailer was deceiving as the more i got into the show the more involved you get with the characters. Each work it deals with a range of issues such as eating disorders, religion, sexuality, peer pressure. As a viewer you feel like you are watching these characters develop from where the trailer where they are so care free. So one thing i have learnt from this is that a trailer doesn't have to give to much away without revealing a plot.

Shane Meadows work are a great at showing the kitchen sink drama within a production of a film. "This is England" is a story of about his own youth and growing up as a skinhead. This too deals with problems during Thatchers Britain (she really is a popular women...) the trailer for the film though only mildly hints at the racism during the film and as viewer watching the trailer it makes the film seem more of a comedy drama coming of age tale. Even the location are a lot more realistic compared to American trailers. Another example of British production like this is "In The Flesh" though it is a drama about zombies the location in Lancaster gives it a more British feel to the show.

Watching some of these trailers has helped my understanding a bit when it comes to producing my trailer. I want to make something a lot more subtle. I will be now thinking about what i want to produce for my small trailer.

Below is an article about how creative industry in the UK is growing
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-celebrates-success-of-growing-creative-industries-in-britain