GTA V - trailer analysis

Grand Theft Auto V's second trailer is finally here, but what does it tell us about Rockstar's hugely anticipated open worlder? After an almost 2 week delay (due to hurricane Sandy), the second trailer has teased us with cinematic graphics, filming and editing to get us excited for the newly announced Spring 2013 release. The screenshots shown on the left are what have caught most people's attention and you can probably guess why... the graphics. It was definitely Rockstar's intentions to show off their new engine and processor capabilities in this new trailer, which they have so obviously pulled off as you can see from the amazing draw distance and sweeping establishing shots of the games' setting; Los Santos where no distance fog (usual in most games with extreme long shots of a setting), is apparent, showing the superior graphics and capabilities.

Before the trailer even starts, we are immediately hit with the "mature" age rating warning, confirming that we are to expect the typical fast paced, action packed, highly violent content that Rockstar don't intend to shy away from, and also that only over 18's are required to play the game, further supporting this showing of the age restriction.


A component that brings the whole trailer together for me and what we are first exposed to is the song "Skeletons" by  Stevie Wonder, which instantly adds relevance and reinforces the song choice from the connotations of the title name. This is because skeletons are a symbol of death which will be (guaranteed a lot), throughout the game and so the song was effective having been played throughout the duration of the trailer. After the initial establishing shot showing the skyline of  Los Santos,  the first few  jump cut edits are  noticeable in time to the music combined with the emergence of the credits and the introduction of the game with the "Grand Theft Auto V" text containing dollar prints within the title, connoting/suggesting that money will be a major theme of gameplay. After these first cuts we are introduced, through non-diagetic narrative from the character himself, to the first of three of GTA V's protagonists. We are shown through cinematic low angle and high angle shots of an Audi R8 spider and Hollywood style mansion, ex bank robber Michaels luxurious lifestyle. Complete with a Tennis Court, relaxing drinks beside his pool, he seems well off, however with the addition of obvious family difficulties. In this scene there is diagetic dialogue from the argueing mother/wife and daughter with an as mentioned non-diagetic narration voice-over  from Michael himself as the frame switches. Dialogue in the trailer really enables it to flow like a film trailer would, which is Rockstars aim, and provides an explanation alongside a visual on screen so the
audience can understand and denote a lot of various details.


Next a few panning shots of Los Santos reveal new areas of the city and its surrounding highways, showing off the 18-wheelers, buses and freight trains you'll (presumably) get to hijack. Heading out to the sticks, we're introduced to Trevor Phillips, GTA's psychopathic second playable character, through presentation of the binary opposite to the first. Trevor lives in a rough part of town. We know this because there's fighting in the streets, beat up old bangers, men in dungarees, bar brawls and gun showdowns outside mobile homes. The editing to portray this is shown in faced paced jump cuts showing him slamming a man's head into a metal post and setting a house alight with a cocktail. This action edited scene is what is expected from a GTA game and is Rockstar's way of telling us that GTA V will be no different.

After more cuts showing off the incomprehensible detailed long shots of Los Santos, the third and final protagonist is introduced after a dialogue switch and a series of faced paced jump cuts of high speed car chases, with diagetic sounds of police sirens, a bank robbery, again supporting the role/theory of money being a recurring theme in the game and even the unexpected scene with the addition of a dog, a breakthrough in GTA games as animals have never been prominent. He is introduced as Franklin after Michael, the first protagonist is questioned (the first sign of the links between the characters), and after an argument with a woman we presume to be his partner. He also seems to have issues with his close ones in life but also is shown to be quite well off, money wise, suggesting that his and Michaels paths may intertwine.


Nearing the end of the trailer, the cuts become a lot more frequent as the music gets louder and faster. In the final scenes we are exposed to a range of activities and missions that gamers will  become part of, such as high speed motorbike chases, escaping a freight train collision and skydiving from a falling Jeep out of a plane. This gets the audience excited on what the game consists of as the pace picks up. Following more jump cuts of action from a nightime helicopter/jet chase, all 3 protagonists are introduced to eachother after crossing paths and portray the pose of the three wise monkeys; see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil, which could become a very symbolic representation of the highly awaited game that pushes boundaries and the start of a new era for Rockstar come Spring 2013.