Disney Trailer Analysis: The Lion King

At the start of the trailer the song in the background to the Disney ident is "The Circle of Life" which instantly displays to the audience that the Film will be a musical which then moves onto a shot of the rising shot which introduces a desert setting. The rest of the trailer uses other tracks from the film in order to present the wide range of songs that the film has. The first line of dialogue is from Mufasa saying that "we are all connected in the great circle of life" This ties in with the background music we creates the sense that he is an important character, this is emphasised by his low soft voice which will make the audience feel a sense of comfort. secondly his high position over the desert which connotes that he is in charge. As baby Simba is lifted up the voice over states that the film is called "The Lion King" This infers that Simba will also play a massive role as he is introduced with the title. This is reinforced through the the voice over saying that " he was born to rule" This will appeal to the target audience of children as the protagonist is shown to be a cub and therefore the children can relate with the him. The voice over then announces the antagonist by saying that "A shadow falls over the kingdom" followed by the antagonist Scar who introduces the dilemma by saying that he wants to be king. This layout of the trailer was used in order to make it easy for the films target audience of children to follow in order for them to want to see the film. Timon and Pumbaa are then introduced and they use many jokes in order to contrast the scary scenes before it. Meanwhile Simba is very upset which will create enigma for the viewers as they want to find out why he is upset. This is followed by a montage that shows a change in time as Simba walks along a log. It is then revealed that Simbas father died earlier on in the movie which creates further enigma on how and when he died. n contrast to this the following shots have cheerful music with jokes made by many characters. In order to appeal to a wider audience of adults, it is stated in the voice over that all the songs are made by Elton John.The trailer then ends with the song "Circle of life" which creates a sense of fulfilment for the audience and therefore entices them more to watch the full film