Catch Me If You Want

   

    Beginning at the title of the movie, Catch me if you Can, you expect an action filled movie with lots of excitement but the trailer doesn't live up to the first impression the name creates. As the trailer begins they do a nice job of putting Leonardo DiCaprio in our face as much as possible. They do this because of his credible ethos. As Andrea A. Lunsford & John J. Ruszkiewicz wrote in Everything’s an Argument, “If a company (or anyone building an agreement from character) is well known, liked, and respected, that reputation will contribute to its persuasive power” (56). We are naturally driven towards this well known and liked actor that happens to be one of the most attractive men alive as well. Our brains give this movie some hope because of a man we love and feel like we know is not only promoting it but is starring in it. The trailer then goes down hill from there. While they do a nice job of throwing sex appeal in your face as often as possible by providing multiple love interests and what seems like a whole fleet of female flight attendants, the music does a poor job to back it up. I gathered that this movie took place in the 60’s where music was a huge role, while they stuck with the time era that genre of music did not do justice to either the scenes shown or the mood they attempted to set. In clips that seem to be the base of the action side of the film, classical and calming music is played. While feelings seems to be arising, the music takes a upbeat cheerful melody that cuts off the hope for real love. The trailer continues with random scenes of women, doctors offices, airports, banks, and police offices. This does a good job at creating interest in the audience by confusing them just enough to where they need to see the movie and learn the story line. As the trailer comes to a close a nice use of logos comes in with the logical reasoning of just why we should go see the movie. Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, and Steven Spielberg as producer, all have their name run across the screen. Once again, in Everything’s an Argument the authors discuss that once you encounter a claim of logic you then have to further examine it and see if it is backed up by any evidence (109). By listing not only the two big name actors but also a well known producer like Spielberg they give credibility to the quality of acting and also to the quality of the story line and entire production. On top of this they let us know that this is based on a true story- something that intrigues most. Our human nature is drawn to be nosey and dig for information in everyday life. By watching a film that once happened, we are being handed that secret information we so desire.

Overall it seems that they captured the main characteristics you need to entice a viewer to see the movie, but they miss the mark when it comes to creating the specific emotion you want and expect. This is partially do to the unorganized order of all the clips as well as with the scattered array of music. For these reasons I rate the trailer three pickles. While they nailed the essentials of ethos and logos they failed to bring it all together with pathos.