Die Hard Trailer Analysis

The trailer above is for the acclaimed action film Die Hard, released in 1988. The film revolves around a cop meeting his ex-wife at a Christmas party, only for the building to be overrun with terrorists looking to cash in on the contents of the buildings vault.

Just like the Taxi Driver trailer there is a narrator. However, their presence is limited, and the narrator only appears in short bursts. The narrator in this trailer highlights basic parts in the films plot that couldn't be illustrated clearly by clips alone. Unlike Taxi Driver, Die Hard's plot can easily be summed up in a small amount of words. Therefore the narration can be limited, as it is not necessary for audiences to understand the plot of the film, due to the fact the short clips explain the majority of the film's story.

Another juxtaposition from the Taxi Driver trailer, is the length of the clips shown in the trailer above. Whilst Taxi Driver used long clips to showcase its plot and the strength of its cast, Die Hard instead uses lots of different short clips to showcase all of its action and special effects. The short clips also allows the trailer to show many of the main character's classic one liners and puns, adding to the comedic effect of the film, allowing it to appeal to a larger audience. This akin to modern trailers, especially for modern blockbusters, with the priority on the action and special effects to draw audiences, with small moments of comedy or drama. Drawing on this, for my own trailer short clips can be used to make it seem as if there is more action than would actually be present if my project was a feature film

The titles of the trailer are also flashy, especially when compared to Taxi Drivers plain yellow text. This adds to the impact of the film.

Overall, the above trailer is similar to that of modern action trailers in it's conventions.