The Departed trailer analysis

The Departed (2006)

Similarly to “Gangster Squad” the opening sequence of the trailer beings with the introduction of the main antagonist character. The Departed shows a silhouette of the villain due to the dark lighting walking and narrating the story, we also see him smoke. This is underplayed with a slow and relaxing track suggesting that he is calm and has nothing to worry about.  The following shots include the introduction of two other characters a cop and a criminal.  Mise en scene used includes the cop wearing a badge and being in uniform, the criminal working out in jail and being “tough” as well as a shot of a gun which could be linked to both sides.  “when you face a loaded gun what’s the difference” the main antagonist says this with the implication of blending the roles of cops and criminals suggesting that they have a lot in common, in this shot, the face of the villain is also revealed in a close up.  This is also when a production logo is showing; following a change of pace showing a scene of the police department more mise en scene is included as we can see a police station. This is where we see a link between the two main characters and how one of them becomes an inspector in the elite unit while the other becomes an undercover agent.  This follows a montage of scenes of the cop working undercover as a gangster. The music also changes to traditional Irish music; this was done to show that the gang is from an Irish origin. That’s also where we find the plot twist of the story and find out that there is people working undercover for both sides. This also works well with the change of music that turns into very dramatic and deep orchestra music  Other mise en scene also includes locations such as bars for the gangsters and office’s for the police men. In the final section of the trailer the song changes to “Comfortably Numb” by Van Morrison (a cover of a song by Pink Floyd) which in my opinion ruins the flow of the trailer, however the continuity is established by the complex story line which includes the characters struggling to cope with their undercover identity. Followed by a sequence of action shots in form of a montage showing the most exiting parts of the movie which suggests that it also has some action film conventions, which is also similar to the movie “Gangster Squad”