Establishing shots

A convention which is used in many existing urban drama trailers is the use of the establishing shot or multiple establishing shots, usually shown at the beginning of the trailer. An establishing shot is primarily used to establish the setting for the narrative which is an important aspect within a trailer and one which has to effectively set a basis for the entire trailer. 

A convention of the urban drama genre regarding the establishing shot(s) is that the shot shows a cityscape or an area which denotes urban life. The image below is an establishing shot taken from the 2006 urban drama, 'Kidulthood'. The image shows an obviously urban setting with a block of council flats towards the left side of the shot.

I used establishing shots from various existing films of the urban drama genre and created three of my own (below) to ultimately use in our teaser trailer. My main aim was to create shots which clearly show urban areas in order for the audience to know exactly where the trailer (and film) is set. The location I chose to shoot the establishing shots was part of Greenwich Park where lots of urban areas of London are visible as well as skyscrapers which explicitly convey an urban setting. The three shots will be effective in the way they establish the setting of the scene as they clearly convey to the audience that the environment, in which the trailer is set, is urban.