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10 Things I Hate About You Trailer Analysis

The trailer conventionally begins with a message from the ‘Motion Picture Association of America’ telling the audience the rating of the film. This is key information so the audience knows straight away whether it will be appropriate for them to watch this film. This lasts for 4 seconds, giving the audience enough time to read it.

Next it cuts to the ‘Touchstone Pictures’ ident which fades in. It is partly animated the colour orange goes from the right to left side of the ident and then flashes on the circle. As this happens the audience hears a non-diegetic sound effect. This makes the ident a little more unique which could help to to make the audience remember the production company (Touchstone Pictures).

An interesting transition occurs hear which leads us to the words ’10 Things I Hate About You’. This transition gives the effect of the words ’10 Things I Hate About You’ being flipped to (almost like a wipe transition but inter-

title appears on the screen almost like turning a page in a book). I have inserted various screen shots of the transition taking place on the lefty however I think the best way to understand how it

works is by looking at it on the trailer. Complex transitions like these are memorable but most of the time they don’t attract the audience. In the main title the number ‘10’ has a red background whilst the other words have black. This makes the 10 stand out and tells the

audience that the number is likely to be of significance. By having all of the typography in the colour white it helps bring the title together and give the two parts of it something in common so that they don’t look random next to each other. As this transition occurs another sound effect is used. It sounds like a creaking door which now that I think about it is a good way to describe the transition’s movement.

With the title still on the screen, a diegetic ambient sound of birds singing and general background noise fades in. The screen then cuts to a two shot medium close up of two girls walking along (towards the camera). In the background we can see two boys following them as if they were listening to what the girl on the right is saying. This gives the audience the impression that she is your typical popular girl that all the boys have a crush on. Therefore this is an obvious hint towards the romantic element of the film, bringing in consumers who are fans of that genre.

An inter-title is then cut to which is of vital importance to the film. It uses the same transition as before and shows some of the ’10 Things’ someone hates about someone. Non-diegetic up-beat sound cuts in with this to create a dramatic feel. This is the first hint to the genre ‘drama’ which will entice consumers who are fans are drama films.

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For the rest of my analysis I will use sub-headings and group together information about certain aspects. Although, analysing every shot is useful (as I've done in the past) I feel as though it will be beneficial for me to analyse this trailer by pointing out certain things and writing about them separately (e.g. editing, key information).

Key Moments/Narrative

Relationship between girl and boy established soon followed by the father who opposes. Kat is introduced, she is a lot different to her sister. Rule: 'you can date when she does' - the story line is now set up with most of the

characters introduced, the plot can now get moving. Patrick (the other guy) is trying to go for Kat. Interestingly, the most famous actor (Heath

Ledger) is shown at this point. This unusual as you would expect him to be shown early in the trailer to make sure fans of him keep watching. The first proper shot of Heath is a medium shot of him at a desk with him as the main focus of the shot as he is in the centre of the frame. This is pretty typical as it allows the audience to clearly see who he is. From his black clothing the audience may infer that he's the antagonist however it becomes clear that the black is just an icon of rebellion and this links with Kat and her being rebellious.

Montage of good parts of the film with a comedic element at the end as the girl shoots an arrow at someone accidentally.

The final titles are shown.

Key Information

This trailer heavily relies on the shots in the film itself and the voice-over linking together the shots shown on the screen. The audience is not told about the director, who the stars in it are or about any awards it won (if it did). This is incredibly unconventional as in the previous trailers I have analysed there has always been some reliance on the marquee names, star system and the awards it has won. We do, however, see the actors/actresses in throughout so the audience may recognise them. In addition to this the genre is very clearly established (drama, romance and comedy) as many complicated, dramatic ideas and rules are put in place to prevent two people being together.

The fact that it is set in a school will allow the main audience (teenagers) to be able to easily relate to the film. There is some sort of a relation available for older members of the public as the story is a modernization of Shakespeare's 'The Taming Of The Shrew'. Audience members who recognise/realise this will become very intrigued and probably watch all of the trailer to get an idea of how they dealt with the story.

In addition to this the production company's ident (Touchstone Pictures) is shown at the start and the voice over mentions it later on in the film. This is key information and may attract audience members who have seen and enjoyed films from Touchstone Pictures before.

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Editing

Montage (non-linear) editing is used throughout with some sequences of continuity (linear) editing to allow the audience to see part of a scene. From my previous analyses I can see that this is incredibly conventional as it allows the audience to watch seemingly unconnected shots come together and watch a sequence of shots with the idea of time moving forward normally.

Sound

A wide variety of sound is used throughout both diegetic and non-diegetic. Non-diegetic music is heard almost constantly and with this a voice over that is from someone outside of the film talking about the characters. This used to be quite conventional but these days it is more common to just hear diegetic dialogue edited over various shots. Diegetic dialogue is heard in this trailer and it helps join shots together. Ambient sounds are also heard which add to the sense of professionalism, this is something I would need to properly consider as this film is professional whereas mine will not be so it's important for me to identify things I can do to add to the sense of it being professional.

Sound is also used to emphasise the genre. For example, on this shot to the right the father flings his exercising tool high into the air. The high angle long shot emphasises how high up it went. Although, the audience hears the diegetic sound (effect) of a window smashing and a cat meowing. It is very unlikely this would have actually happened as you don't tend to find cats and windows high in the air. (Therefore, this adds to the sense of comedy).

Inter-titles

There are not that many inter-titles in this trailer. There are a couple towards the end and these are in a similar style to the inter-titles I mentioned at the start of this analysis. The trailer conventionally has the title of the film right near the end followed by the words 'COMING SOON'. By not having a date or year a sense of mystery is provided for the audience as they have no idea when it will come out. This could increase their desire to see it so keep them more alert for when it comes out.

In conclusion this trailer follows quite a few conventions but seems a little old fashioned now (especially because of the voice-over). The editing is used well to reinforce the genres and the moments shown in the trailer have been well thought out to show the audience a good amount but not too much.