Week 3_1/29/16_A Jaunt off Cape Cod

The Finest Hours, starring Chris Pine, is defined by the International Movie Database website as an action, drama and history movie all rolled into one. This can first be identified by its recognition that it is “based on the incredible true story” of a rescue attempt off Cape Cod’s coast by the Coast Guard in 1952 (0:44). This trailer immediately sets the scene and tone of the movie, and moves right into the main issue: half of a large ship has been torn off, and the remaining half is set to sink within hours, with crew members trapped onboard. This is quickly followed by the decision of an unidentified male authority figure to “assist that ship” (0:50). This is appealing to the ethical, in that the assumption is that a person of good character would help others in danger if he had the ability to do so. Assuming he is a high official of the United States Coast Guard, it is his duty to attempt to help those in peril. With this act the audience will feel that he has completed his duties as he should have and to the best of his ability, even should the mission go sour, thus aligning the audience to relate to the character.

The next part of the trailer depicts the protagonist with a woman we can assume to be his love interest. She asks him, “It’s your job to go out, right?” (0:52). This scene is a pathetic appeal to the audience’s compassion for those who need to leave a loved one in order to complete their job; other such common jobs would be army or naval members, police officers and firefighters. These are people who sacrifice their physical safety in order to protect others. As these are such highly regarded positions, it is easy to evoke a strong emotional response from an audience by playing up the necessity of the protagonist to leave his significant other. This tactic is especially well-used if the two are depicted to have a strong emotional connection; the audience will then feel it to be an even greater tragedy that they have been separated by duty

Another pathetic appeal is the trailer’s allusion to a dispute between the men, seemingly about escaping via a small lifeboat. Although there are lifeboats available, a crew member cuts the rope, causing the boat to be lost to the sea. The other crew members attack him, asking if he wants them to die, to which a secondary protagonist says “every fella here wants to live, the only way that happens is if we work together” (1:06). This is an example of a “there is no ‘I’ in team” mentality, which is a relatable concept for any tragedy movie – provided that it is not dystopian in nature. The rest of the trailer depicts what appears to be the crew members working together in order to ensure mutual survival. This is also interspersed with flashes of scenes of the male protagonist’s love interest and home life, in order to evoke a strong sense of all that this man would miss out on should he perish.

Finally, the trailer’s use of classic dramatic theatrical effects was done particularly well. Intense music, monochromatic color schemes in scenes not involving the love interest, and a lack of a narrator all leave the “edge of your seat” vibe with the audience. This, paired with the concluding words, “the most daring rescue mission in U.S. Coast Guard history,” allow for an intriguing trailer (1:42).