Our official trailer
Our teaser trailer
Cloverfield
The trailer begins with the institutional information (Paramount and Bad Robot) glitching. An inter title comes up using military language such as 'retrieved at incident site'. The hard cut to a found footage getting rewinded. The words 'Surprise' and then a quick black and white snap shot like makes it seem like there was wasn't a very happy surprise as it does another hard cut to an explosion. It does a close up to the explosion and does another black and white freeze frame type. All camera work is hand held so when the head of the statue of liberty came crashing onto the streets, it was very hard to have a clear view. It glitched to another found footage of a man in a dark and scared. It does many rapid hard cuts and then a glitched inter title of the producer. Then more quick moving hard cuts to give the sense of it all being hectic and with no time to relax or you could die. Hard cuts with flashing lights and a man on the phone asking 'where are you?' and a girl saying 'you can't go in the middle of the city' which shows how dangerous it is even though we haven't seen what is causing all the damage and danger. A military officer saying 'there's nothing we can do right now' and 'what ever it is it's winning' which also showing the severity of what is going on. 'Turn that camera off' shows that the authority doesn't want people knowing about whats going on. The sound effects are alien like which gives a slight hint that what is damaging the city is a human. The quick moving shots almost like a montage of the military trying to shoot it down with their huge fire guns to try stop what ever it is. Explosions and smoke everywhere almost resembling a war zone. The guy who had been filming everything that was happening got hit as you can see his feet in the corner of the shot and his friend running towards him. It suddenly went quiet and still filming to create tension and uncertainty about what's going to happen next. The horses walking the empty carriage on the streets and papers floating and falling out of the sky has a very unsettling feel.
Gravity
The trailer begins with inter titles appearing on the screen "At 372 miles above the earth There is nothing to carry sound No air pressure No oxygen Life in space is impossible". It then jump cuts to an astronaut getting spun around violently in space with broken pieces exploding from the space craft which makes the audience want to know what has happened. Also with the text they showed before, it makes it more intense. the actor is screaming while there is a voice over of someone trying to get in contact with her. The camera movements are very rapid and not very clear which shows the viewer how the astronauts must be seeing. The music is getting more and more intense until when she lets go and her scream fades out and it all blacks out. It then shows the production companies well known name and logo, Warner Bros. It has a voice over like in the movie as it showing the logo. It then does quick, glitchy cuts of objects floating around in the space craft and to reaching out hands to then the astronaut spinning around alone in space with the voice over 'do you copy?' and her screaming desperately for help. As most audiences know that if you are lost in space you should remain calm and not use up all your oxygen as you will run out faster and suffocate which causes uncertainty if she will survive. The loud black outs make it seem like it is a timer counting down the minutes of oxygen. One of the non- diegetic sounds in the background if the low booming of a heart beat while her repeating 'I can't breathe' which infers she is slowly suffocating. The hard cut close ups show her raw emotion. It then jumps to an inter title showing the directors name which is edited to go to the beat of her breathing. This emphasises she is struggling to breathe. In the background of the montage of her lost in space, getting hit by a space craft, things blowing up her harsh and quick breathes make the audience feel uncomfortable. It also shows clips of a man being with her in space which leaves the viewers something to think about; 'where did he go?'. Inter titles showing names of well known actors such as Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. At the end of the trailer is shows the title, when it will come out in cinemas, production names and actor names.
American Sniper
How this trailer creates a sense of genre
The trailer shows the genre of the film immediately as it has diegetic sound of a rifle reloading, tanks and bombs exploding inferring it will be a war/ action film which it then confirms it in the following first scene which shows a rifle. You can also identify the genre as there are American soldiers wearing combat uniform, talking in American accents who are in conflict with a foreign country. The shots that they show are almost like the ones you would see on the news because of the crumbling buildings, the grime down the side, blown up cars and buildings and this creates a scene that many viewers would be familiar about from the Iraq war.
The central character
The camera moving up to a close up of a characters face suggests that he is the main character as he is a well-known actor; he is also the first to talk. Although there are two people in the shot the camera focuses on Bradley Cooper, he is the one reporting the action into the radio and it is his view when looking through the sniper at the man, woman and child. It then does a hard cut to set the scene and show were they are; a war zone. In the trailer they use dialogue over different scenes where it shows the main character's private life; his wedding, the birth of his child, struggles in his life.
The central conflict
The trailer uses hard cuts to go from war scene to personal scene which is in sync to the non- diegetic sound of a heart beat getting faster as the scenes are changing faster, this introduces the idea of a personal conflict in the characters life and also introduces more characters. Cutting from scenes from his personal life teases the audience and raised questions about whether or not the conflict in his personal life were before or after the war. The rapid cutting from the woman holding a grenade to his wife holding their new born child is also building suspense to see if he would shoot the child or not and the trailer leaves the audience on a cliffhanger as it blacked out before anything could happen. The trailer uses lots of copy to show that the main character has a more complicated life other than just being a soldier in a war.
Sounds and dialogue
Pedigree
The graphics used to show the inter titles are clear but simple, in black and white only. It shows a level of seriousness to the movie. It is obvious that it is an American movie as its released dates are written with the month first then the day.
The Birth of a Nation
How this trailer creates a sense of genre.
The trailer creates the genre from the start as the background music is slow with a sound of chains rattling together which infers it's a drama/ history film. The slaves working in fields and getting treated poorly with the white in authority show true events from the 19 century which shows that it is historical.
The central character
It introduces the main character early on as it shows a man working in the fields with a voice over of a man talking to him when the central character was young. Throughout the trailer the majority of the shots are of him with shots of him as a child to him finding love and becoming a leader. There are also many shots of close ups of his face and eyes to show his emotion for example when he was getting whipped we could clearly see he was beaten as blood was coming out of his mouth and a single tear drop falling from the corner of his eye.
The central conflict
The central conflict is shown many times throughout the trailer. The first example was when a white upper class woman is racist to a young black boy. During the trailer you could see the slaves getting treated almost like animals; a little white girl was pulling a little black girl by a rope around her neck like a dog. The white people were very aggressive especially to the slaves as it showed us how the main character was playing around with a white child and he got whipped severely. The slaves had to be working extreme hours in the heat and if not done correctly, they would get punished. The emotions on the slaves faces shows how miserable they were and how it affected all ages as it showed a little boy holding up a sign saying "slaves for sale".
Sounds and Dialogue
The whip has a very sharp sound and almost makes you jump like the character did. This makes the audience... Half way through the trailer it changes types of music to more of a gentle one when it shows the slaves coming together, finding love and rebelling back. This teases the audience with a bit of action as the end it shows all of them running to fight after the main character shouts "Rebel!'
Pedigree
The inter titles that come up shows that it is based on the true story and how injustice is anywhere. At the end of the trailer it shows the title of the movie in an old style writing and the the production company.
The trailer creates a sense of genre from the slow moving shots and the slow breathing in the background with a voice over of "I'm worried about you" which can infer it is a drama. To then a contrast of a man pressing his horn of the car and then to the quick moving shots of an unknown man, bloody hands, knife, sheets, a gun, another man with his tongue out with a very unsettling high pitch screech in the background. This also adds to the genre as a psychological thriller and crime.
The central character
The audience can identify the main character as the first shot is a close up of her eyes following people concerned about her and how she's sleeping. She begins to explain more about her and how she had an ex husband who has written a book about her. As she is talking about this, her body language suggest that she is uncomfortable or trying to hid her face. Throughout the trailer it begins to unravel what might have happened between the couple and what she had done to make them separate. "It is violent and it's sad, and it's dedicated to me." makes it seem that she is violent and sad which makes the audience wonder what has she done to get described like that.
The central conflict
The central conflict is between three characters, the main character, her ex husband and an unknown man. The trailer never reveals what the protagonist had done but from the dialogue, emotions and the fast moving pace of the shots it can show that the crime that was committed was terrible.
Sound and Dialogue
The non- diegetic background sound had a main instrument of a violin which gives it an uncomfortable and tense feel to the trailer.
Pedigree
AMERICAN SNIPER Good work. You have considered all the bullet points thoughtfully. You identify the genre sound and vision codes that indicate that this is a war / action film (although you could draw attention to its USP, that gives it individual appeal - the backstory of self-doubt / romance). In this way, the character is more than just a soldier - the cross cutting to his private life enriches the narrative of the central conflict, which you explore well.
ReplyDeleteYou pick up on how the soundtrack creates, sustains and increases tension, holding the audience's attention.
The graphics emphasise the seriousness of the subject matter, as you rightly point out; they also underline the authenticity of the subject matter "The most lethal sniper in US history'.
CLOVERFIELD Your approach here is a bit more an analysis of media language than a focus on trailer genre conventions, but you do show understanding of how it engages audience attention.
ReplyDeleteYou draw attention to stylistic features such as glitching, so-called 'found footage' and a series of rapid hard cuts which together with content such as military involvement, war-like threats and alien invasions create both enigma and fear.
GRAVITY Again, your approach is more descriptive of media language than a focus on trailer genre conventions, but you do show understanding of how the trailer for 'Gravity' engages audience attention, through the visuals and the sound codes.
ReplyDeleteHow do the inter titles that open the trailer work - why are they in complete silence?
What is the function in this trailer of copy that reveals the names of Bullock and Cluny? Of the director Cuaron?
'Gravity' is more than just another space movie; it is a thriller / drama. How is the trailer audience invited to experience the film as a thriller?
THE BIRTH OF A NATION You understand how important it is to feature the protagonist in a film of this genre ('true story' / historical) and to do so in a way that makes the audience sympathetic. This is related to the central conflict between freedom and slavery, which you identify. Perhaps in your analysis of sound, you could have drawn more attention to the use of song, especially the key meaning behind 'Rise Up'.
ReplyDelete