Lost In Translation Case Study - US Independent Film

Director: Sofia Coppola
Stars:  Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson

Genre: Drama
Production Company: Focus Features

Certificate: 15

Marketing: Having 2 well known stars in the film. Released in both the UK and Japan (set in Tokyo). Won 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Bill Murray, and Best Director for Sofia Coppola; Coppola won for Best Original Screenplay. Scarlett Johansson won a BAFTA award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. As well as posters etc.

Release Date: October 3, 2003

Domestic Total Gross: $44,585,453

Worldwide Total: $119,723,856

Running Time: 102 minutes

Production Budget: $4 million

Trailer Analysis 

The trailer starts with the production company logo-Focus Features. There is a non-diegetic voice over coming from Bob which then turns diegetic as we see him doing a shoot for a commercial which appears to be for whiskey. As he comes to the end of this and Japanese man shouts 'Cuto-cuto-cuto!' which presumably means 'Cut' as Bob stops and his smile drops. The director then speaks in Japanese and Bob looks confused. There is a translator who comes over and tells Bob what the director what he wants him to do. Bob continues to look confused as he says ''Are you sure that's it? Because it seems like he said much more than that?'' 
Non-diegetic music starts up along with a caption being show saying 'Bob is an actor'. Behind it is a city landscape, which triggers the question whether Bob is actually in Japan. We then see Bob walking in on a Japanese TV show with bright lights and a lot of clapping and shouting from the host. There is then a straight cut to see Bob on this program where he is unsure what he is doing as it's in Japanese. From this we can tell that Bob cannot speak a word of Japanese, therefore being confused in his surroundings. Another caption appears saying 'Bob is lost' which backs up the last statement about not knowing what's going on. There is then another straight cut to see Bob at a photoshoot for the whiskey again. Then there is a reverse shot from the photoshoot to Bob looking fed up in a car, then back to the photoshoot. This time the photographer is attempting to speak English but is doing so very badly so it takes Bob a long time to work out that he is giving him direction to look like he's from the 'Rat pack' era. Another caption appears which says 'Bob can't speak the language' which is shown in the previous few clips and the next one. This clip depicts a Japanese woman telling Bob to 'Lip her stockings' and this makes him confused. We then see Charlotte (played by Scarlett Johansson). The audience are then shown Bob talking to Charlotte and she is talking about her husband who is then depicted on screen before showing Charlotte lying on a bed looking bored. Charlotte is then shown walking through a busy city on her own. Bob then explains what he's doing in Japan, and then several clips of the film are shown which shows their friendship. Lastly the name of the film is brought up and then a final shot of Bob and Charlotte with her resting her head on Bob's shoulder-this portrays that they have become good friends and she trusts him which is the key to a good friendship.