Existing Media Texts - Coronation Street - Tonys Return Trailer

Coronation Street – Tony’s Return Trailer

This trailer shows the menacing return of Tony Gordon and the streets reaction to his mysterious escape from prison. This trailer is short and uses fast paced cuts to create tension amongst the audience, attracting them to the soap.

The trailer starts with mid-shot showing two police officers stood waiting in a shadowy office; as a figure walks into the foreground of the shot they introduce her as “Carla Connor”, the camera then cuts mid-shot of Carla to confirm her entrance before cutting back to a mid-shot of the police officers who announce they “need a word” regarding her “husband”, as they tell her this the camera zooms in slightly, focusing on the police officers, emphasising the seriousness of the events they are about to reveal.  Behind the diegetic speech a parallel sound track is building that climaxes when the officers reveal why they are present. Within the office the lighting is dark which creates a sense of foreboding and the shadows of the blinds are cast upon the characters faces this connotes jail bars and highlights the theme of crime which runs throughout the trailer.

As the trailer cuts to a different scenario the amount of instruments used within the parallel soundtrack increases therefore increasing the suspense. Non-diegetic dialogue, “Guess who’s escaped?”, is heard over a close-up of black trainers and trousers walking down a cobbled street – an indexical reference to coronation street.  The dark colours and close-up of feet walking creates a sense of foreboding, again heightening the suspense and tension. The camera then cuts to a close-up of another characters, Claire Peacock, and a sound bridge is used as she answers her own question “Tony Gordon”. This scenario is set in the corner shop showing that his return effects a wide range of characters and is a controversial issue. The camera then cuts back to the figure walking on the cobbled ground, this time his whole legs and trainers are in the shot, a the suspense is heighten as the audience will be compelled to watch to see the revealing of the unknown characters face.

The trailer then features quick cuts of other scenarios and character affected by his return. Each scenario is linked by to the figure walking via sound bridges, alluding to the audience that the figure is Tony Gordon. The scenarios are clips taken from the actual soap pieced together for the trailer, this develops the dramatic effect as the audience get ‘sneak peaks’ at what’s to come. The different pieces of dialogue follow on immediately from each other which adds to the fast pace yet also represents a gossip circle, connoting the sense of community and knowing everyone’s business.  Each time the figure is seen a different part of his body is shown until after the last scenario worrying about his return the audience see a close-up of his hooded head turn around and revealing his identity as, Tony Gordon.  He is dressed completely in black with his hood up and a bloodied lip, the whole trailer is based around the urban, traditional, close-knit community Coronation Street portrays this is contrasted with the binary opposite being the negative stereotype of a ‘Hoody’ and the malicious character – Tony Gordon. By having Tony wear his hood up not only does it represent the negative stereotype of a ‘Hoody’ it adds mystery to the character and alludes to the fact he does not want his return to noticed as he is ‘out for revenge’. Over this shot a non-diegetic voiceover is used to explain the trailer, “Out of prison, out for revenge on the street”.

The trailer then cuts to a close-up of Hayley, followed by a close-up of Carla and then Maria; these shots are taken from the final episodes for Tony Gordon and the big event that the trailer builds up too. Hayley wears a blue top which connotes her sadness and distress, Carla wear a grey top which differentiates from her typical black showing she is not the strong powerful character she normally is and Maria wear a red top connoting her danger and also bravery. The setting for this finale is the Factory which immediately connotes some form of danger to the audience; the lighting is again dark foreshadowing the dark events to come. A sound bridge is used again, this time of Tony speaking revealing he is going to murder the ladies he has trapped. When he speaks the words “and I’m going to enjoy it” the camera cuts to a close-up of his face smiling making the dialogue into diegetic. The close-up of Tony is much closer than the previous three which combined with his smiling face and dark setting gives him the power of the situation and makes his appear much more mentally disturbed and threating. The trailer ends with a gunshot followed by the titles and a narrative voice explaining the times and channels that the episodes can be viewed; this is last in the trailer so that it is more memorable for the audience.

I think this trailer creates and devlops tension and suspense throughout which in turn, keep the audience guessing. The soundbridges used to connect the different scene's are powerful in maintaining and devloping supsense, i would like to incoperate something similar to this within our trailer. To incorperate lines that allude to a previous conversation, this will mean that our audience will begin to create there own scenarios and guess as to when and how the lines were said.