Léon: The Professional Trailer analysis

The trailer starts with a close up of a picture of a villain that our main protagonist is going to have to deal with-this indicates to the audience that there is more than one villain in this movie. The trailer then cuts to a tracking shot of the guy from the picture who is being followed by two men who are presumably his body guards. The character is wearing a beige coloured suit and orange lens sunglasses which suggests that he is the boss of the organisation. The trailer then cuts to a new scene showing us an array of props including guns, ammo, knives and grenades. This suggests that the film is from the action genre and is going to grip the audience throughout the movie.

A non digetic voice is then heard and a man tells the audience the basic plot of the film and aids each scene by explaining the characters weakness. We don't get to see the main protagonists face until later on in the trailer but throughout we see glimpses but not the full face-this is because, as the man narrating says, "you can't stop what you can't see". Not knowing the appearance of the main protagonist but knowing the mise-en-scene creates an enigma as the audience are left wondering who is this guy?

When we first see the face of our main protagonist, 22 seconds in, we see that from a first glance our character is foreign and perhaps a little simple minded. This is shown to be true in the movie but throughout the trailer our character is portrayed to be a professional, hence the title of the film.

The tone of the trailer soon changes, 40 seconds in, as we are introduced to a little girl, Natalie Portman, who is struggling with her every day life, especially when her family are killed. The trailer uses a low angle shot looking up towards our main protagonist, Léon, from the little girls view to show that the girl is vulnerable and also foreshadows later events as it suggests that the girl will look up to Léon, and throughout the film she does.

We are finally introduced to our main antagonist, who is wearing a beige coloured suit with a white shirt but no tie, and our first impressions are that the man meets our expectations as he looks a little insane. The use of a mid-shot also catches the characters emotions perfectly and we also see a guard/henchman wearing a black jacket and black top suggesting that he is evil.

We then have a tracking shot of the little girl walking past her flat, that has her entire family dead inside, and towards the flat of Léon. This shows that the character Léon now has the task of acting as a father to the little girl as she is now his responsibility. As the little girl walks towards the door the camera cuts to a mid-shot to show the emotions on her face and to show how distraught she is. The little girl then pleads for the door to be opened before she is spotted and the film takes a new turn of events.

The trailer then shows many scenes showing how Léon and the girl will help each other and we see Léon acting as the father but also as the teacher. The little girl then emulates Léon through her appearance as she wears the same sunglasses as he does and tries to do everything he does-this makes the audience believe that the little girl looks up to Léon like he is some sort of father figure.

Overall the trailer is cleverly presented and the scenes are aided through the use of a non digetic narration to explain what Léon does and why the little girl is so significant. The use of mise-en-scene and editing allow the audience to know that this film is from the action genre as see an array of weapons used throughout the film and many explosions. Also the use of non digetic music towards the end of the trailer aids the audience as it allows them to know that the film is intensifying suggesting that it's coming to an end.