Analysis - Django (trailer)

Django unchained (the "D" is silent) is directed by Quentin Tarantino, a famous director known for a specific 70's style of composition and music with a extremely well worded script that has allot of puns and word play. This style is shown throughout the trailer from 0:50 onward.
Up to this point the trailer is purposefully shown as a dark and dreary generic spaghetti western remake for the modern time. The clips of the slaves walking over a desert, dusty plains and dark, icy forests in the dead of night. These locations are iconic locations for the genre, the huge and desolate landscape with towering mountain ranges that reveal the scale and give perspective on the dwarfing landscape; This scale helps to show the distance that the slaves have traveled. When we see them in the icy woodland we get an idea of the time they have been travelling to have changed landscapes and walk form day to night. We see the slaves have deep wounds on their backs and are shackled together being marched along by to men on horseback, this show the severity of the life these slaves have and how much the are controlled. While the song is a slow and dreary song by Johnny cash, who has a rough deep cowboy style voice perfect for the opening mood of the trailer the lyrics are are more inspirational and speak of freedom, this is a complete juxtaposition to the visuals we are seeing and implies that they must soon be about to change.
at 0:20 we meet the first speaking character who has a classic Tarantino style persona; he is confident gets in the face for the other character and has strong sense of humor. He come into a traditionally scary and uneasy location (the dark woods) on a funny caravan with a giant tooth on a spring; this makes him appear harmless and possibly even helpless but his continued confidence and direct nature, that allows him to find what he came for instantly, gives a more threatening vibe. When asked to leave by one of the slave drivers with large shotgun he does not even waver but walks straight up to him and tells him to calm down and explains the situation.
When this does not work the man instantly shoots him with a gun the audience didn't even know he had, this shocking moment completely changes the tone of the trailer and it becomes a Tarantino styled mash of violence and 70's soul funk. This is when the directors name appears just as the trailer becomes one of his style. We see Django getting released from his shackles and throwing the blanket of his back proudly. Then as Django is riding through town all the locals stare at him in astonishment as they have never seen a black man riding a horse and they seem to draw allot of attention. This is a signature of the time and location the film is set and continues the racist view of black people felt by many white people at the time. We then see the white man helping himself to a bear in a western style saloon and asking "do you know what a bounty hunter is?" to Django as he replies "you kill people for money"; as he says this we see a low angle close up shot of the white man shooting his shinny silver pistol, focusing on the pistol as it shoots. This is a very iconic 70's cop show favorite shot type and is used often in Tarantino work.
The white man replies saying yes to this answer and shows how unfazed he is with the killing, this all has helped us get a clear image of what this character is like.
As he explains the reasons for finding Django is so he can help him find the "brittle brother" We see a large group of men wearing KKK masks charging on horse back with flames (the size of this racist group again re-enforces the racist view of white people at the time) and then the three faces of the men appear; this associates the Brittle brothers with racism and makes them appear as ignorant hillbilly's to the viewer, they are clearly the bad guys. We see the reason for Django to help him is that he knows what they look like and the bounty hunter does not.
As he puts a new saddle on the horse we can assume he has agreed to join the man and help him, we see a 2 person shot of both men on top of their horses nodding to each other, signifying they are now partners and equals. Django says he has personal reasons for finding the brother being they sold his wife but doesn't know who to; as he says this we see Leonardo DiCaprio turn his head and nod to the camera, acknowledging that he is the one who has bought her. The bounty hunter says if he help him kill the brothers he will give him his freedom and help save his wife; this is the goal of the film and another key to the direction of Tarantino film, as in all his films every scene is simply a lead up to the final goal.
He says this while we see a montage of old world cowboy lands, up in mountains down in deserts and heading passed heads of bison/buffalo and then Django says "were we going" giving consent to the mission.
Django shoots a gun at a small farmhouse but then it cuts to huge explosion causing many men to fall of their houses and Leonardo DiCaprio screaming "YES" to the explosion. This injects a bit more energy into the trailer and then he says "you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention" as this is what the explosion was meant to do to the audience.
The lines LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT, of VENGEANCE appear between another montage of killing and violence, showing the 2 men'S disregard for killing and the general themes of the film. Django is asked how he likes the bounty hunting business to which he replies "kill white folks and they pay you for it, whats not to like?" and then say the very comical line "i like the way you die die boy" to one of the brother they are hunting; as he hits the floor the music stops and the thud of him hitting is made louder to give it more of an impact and show a big bad guy falling hard. Then Leonardo DiCaprio say "he is a rambunctious sort aint he" as he chuckles to himself.
The title appears in a very classic western font as an animation of 2 fists breaking shackles apart move away, This is how they have themed the title to be unique and link to the film more. The final line of the trailer shows Django looking cocky smoking a cigarette and when asked who he is "i'm Django, the D is silent", this shows his confidence has built from slave to proud bounty hunter and fells he can even correct people now.