I Am Legend Trailer Analysis

The I Am Legend film title appears only once at the end of the trailer following a crescendo of quickly paced edits, and is followed by a short clip from the film and then institutional information. The film title is not only reinforced by the semiotics of the font and appearance, but also by intermittent white on black sans serif titles appearing in between the quickly paced edits preceding the final title. This is because all titles contain features of anaphora (‘’I am’’) which lends greater emphasis to the slogans and the film title, potentially leaving a more memorable impression on the audience; the intention of a trailer is for the target audience to watch the final product after all. The institutional information exhibited at the end of the trailer gives the option to visit the film website and subsequently delve deeper into the movie’s world, background and cast etc.

 

The film title is a serif font with a pallid silvery hue on a jet black background; in the trailer, the text appears on the screen dynamically, emerging from off screen and moving backwards into place.  The serif font is likely a connotation to more archaic orthography which appears in holy bible scripture, corresponding with the films religious themes alluded to in the trailer – ‘’God didn’t do this, we did’’ (there is actually more discussion of the topic and ‘God’s plan’ in the film itself). The light colour on the black colour, collaborating with the imposing size of ‘legend’, connotes a sense of light, or hope more accurately, persevering over the darkness.  The darkness itself conveys that the film is of a dark, mature themed genre and not a vividly bright, sun washed comedy, for example.

We are only really introduced to Will Smith’s character, Robert Neville, mostly because we can assume that he is bereft of his family, due to the shot choices at the beginning of the trailer of chaos and destruction, and because he is alone, and appears quite destitute, in the majority of the trailer. Neville is clearly the Hero archetype in Propp’s character types, which is prevalent in post apocalyptic genres. Neville’s dog, Sam, is the Companion archetype as she and Neville share a reciprocal relationship: for comfort of each other’s presence, assistance in tasks, food and, in Neville’s case, sanity. Sam is portrayed and interacted with more human qualities since she is evidently the last friendly sentient creature in New York. This is more conventional of post apocalyptic films, with I Am Legend taking inspiration from Mad Max and deviating from the original script of ‘Omega Man’, which it is based off.  The ‘Villain’s’ are the ferocious and extremely hostile ‘infected’ that appear similar to 28 days later styled zombies, but nothing more is revealed of them to maintain an aura of mystery around them; what are their intentions? Are they really zombies? Etc. This is an enigma code defined by Barthes. This also doesn’t subvert expectations as all post apocalyptic films I have seen are either centred around biological warfare/ infection causing a percentage of the world population to transform into violent ‘zombies’, or nuclear warfare eroding society and leaving nothing but thuggish gangs roaming the wastes in search of resources and avoiding mutants. I Am Legend was bound to follow one of these, in fact anything different would subvert my expectations.

I Am Legend is clearly being sold on star appeal as Will Smith is Will Smith, a renowned actor with an illustrious career and many accolades and awards under his belt. The unique selling point to the film could be the lengths that the production team went to transform New York into a desolate wasteland, boasting shots of a Times Square completely barren and neglected. No other film in memory has done so to the sae extent, not even Omega Man. I cannot really say Will Smith is the USP as other post apocalyptic films use famous actors as prominent roles – The Road has Viggo Mortenson and Charlize Theron for instance.

The locations in a trailer are crucial for the audience to derive what genre the film is, and post apocalyptic genres are no exception. In I Am Legend, a devastated New York City, overwhelmed by exuberant foliage and wildlife is chosen, or more accurately created, to reflect the human catastrophe that has befallen the world. Although the primary symbolism is of death, the encroachment of nature upon the city symbolises new life and adaption – perhaps even the slight notion that without humans the natural world would thrive, whether this is a bad thing or a good thing is subjective. The city is made even bleaker with greyscale filters and cgi augmented buildings emphasising neglect and the impact of plantlife flooding through the city.

In contrast, Neville’s home base is completely divergent from the bleak chaos of the outside world; his house appears untouched by the wrath of the infection and is well organised, modern and warming – safety is the ambience felt of it. This is reinforced by the salient changes from a typical house, such as the heavy locks on the doors and windows which sheds light on the reality of Nevilles situation and the fact he is always never too far from danger. This could also be interpreted as a flaw in his personality. Although he yearns for contact with other human beings, accentuated by his abnormal behaviour in the video store where he uses mannequins to simulate a video store we, as the audience, would be used to but that he hasn’t seen in years, he cages himself away behind steel fortifications which is juxtaposition.

The style and pace of the edits in the beginning segment of the trailer are quite slow, though reveal dramatic and upsetting scenes from before the cataclysm has occurred to its fullest extent. It also reveals some panoramic shots of New York. Notably, the sound is slightly subdued and new shot transitions are accentuated by a thick, slightly muffled (akin to an explosion in a far off distance) resonating bass drum which I think delivers a pensive mood, as though Neville, who is voicing over this part, is recollecting moments from his past. This segment uses fade to blacks and then straight cuts to the next shot, up until it reaches the production company logos.

After the production logos cuts are relaxed and fit to the music. They also display a variety of locations and activities that the character performs, although all are lacking danger to fit with the soft music. Instead of the scenes being interspersed with text on screen, which is a common trope of trailers, the white sans serif text is overlayed onto the shots, fades in then out. This leisurely edited and deliberately balanced editing style is effective in conveying Neville’s life, his equilibrium at this point, as routine and unchanging whilst also illustrating his solitude.

After day shifts into night, the editing ramps up with tempo whilst the content is primarily octane pumped action and horror and the music is now consistent with the new quickened tempo and more energetic. The drum beat in particular is more aggressive, louder and faster to be consistent and reinforce the action in the latter segment of the trailer. Now, unlike before, screen with just white on black text intersperse the action that is happening in between; the text has dramatic messages containing anaphora to enforce the message of the film and lend a more memorable, understood title.

4b. In this genre of film, typically the narrative will be established by showing that the world is war torn, or ravaged by a natural disaster. Additionally, a hero and a companion go on a journey to accomplish something, usually to get to safety from the dangerous post-apocalyptic world, or, in I Am Legend’s case, to discover a cure for the infection that has decimated mankind. Many will show dialogue that is quite poignant or thought provoking, to do with surviving at the end of the world – for instance the routine displayed in Neville’s life, the most affecting perhaps being ‘Survive’, which isn’t something we, as an audience living in a comfortable, civilised western world, can fully comprehend, but are still intrigued by. We are generally interested by hardships and dystopias, and then gain comfort by watching how we believe someone would overcome them. Action scenes are also used to appeal to modern audience who now come to expect glossy crescendos boasting impressive CGI and gritty events, especially so in genres, such as post-apocalyptic, that have action/thriller components.

The aforementioned perceivably portentous bass drums used to start each shot at the beginning segment of the trailer build tension at the start of the trailer, whilst also gives us a bit of insight into Neville’s demons. Drums are again used at the end of the trailer with more tempo, and military and aggressive ambience as it focuses more on the action scenes; the emphasised beat in the rhythm of the drums is in time with jump cuts and quick fades – a key selling point for a lot of modern films.

After the production companies at the start, a melodic, ambient soundtrack is used next in the trailer, which is used in time with the cuts to new shots and overlay text used to explain the narrative and key themes the film will tackle; namely, the issue of meeting survivors and then actual survival in a post-apocalyptic setting. The instruments, as far as I can perceive, are simply a piano, that plays sparse delicate chords, an acoustic guitar, which plays a slow and continuous background melody, and then finally a violin sets in with a hauntingly pleasant yet melancholic ambience. Perhaps this is connoting the world of mankind is on the brink of collapse, which isn’t particularly a bad thing for nature, and it is the fault of humankind only. The music is peaceful because, despite the immensity of neglect and death wrought by the infection, the world is at peace. The dialogue emphasises Neville’s solitude, as only he is talking throughout the whole trailer.

The narrative is a pivotal part of a trailer as it cannot be fully divulged, but enough clues, in the form of voiceover excerpts and enigma codes, have to be delivered to the audience in order to appeal to them and intrigue them enough into watching the full production. Some narrative is established through some hermeneutic codes such as “what is this infection mentioned at the start of the film?” and “what happened to all these people?”, ‘’why is New York empty, why is Neville alive?’’. These are common questions in this genre and its framework. Proairetic codes also feature, which ask more basic questions such as “who will survive?” when he is thrown from the window.

In the dialogue, the Neville refers to “helping” the infected, and that he will “fix them’’. This draws us in and raises enquiry into his intentions, seeing as his endeavour to find a ‘cure’ for the infection is obviously a major driving plot point or some sort of equilibrium will be made when/if he discovers it. The most obvious question raised is “will he succeed?” which is the main reason to see the film, aside from the explosive action and tense horror scenes that are demonstrated in the quickly paced montage towards the end of the trailer.

The semantic codes such as Levi Strauss’ binary opposites of safety and danger play a big part in this trailer – Neville’s home and recognised locations to hunt and harvest crops is contrasted with dangerous outdoor locations, and dark chiaroscuro lit buildings that are riddled with dangerous infected. Another prominent binary code is that of day and night. Where day holds elements of safety and familiarity, night beckons the infected and therefore danger – hence why the general mood of the trailer goes from absorbingly melancholic to disconcerting and frightening when night is mentioned.

 

 A male audience is definitely the primary demographic here given the horror and action elements.  This could be further split into two categories of teenage males who would mostly go for the action scenes, and adult males who would go more for the thought provoking narrative – “what would happen if the world ended?” ‘’Is this dystopian future possible?’’. I Am Legend does show emotion and personal tribulations in the trailer through the bereavement of his family, so it could be said to be widening its audience to a female demographic who are into more appealed by films containing sentiment, hence why they prefer romance and dramas. The trailer doesn’t actually reveal any age ratings but we can infer from the ambience of imminent peril and horror alongside the brief, yet brutal, action snippets.