Unit 6: Critical Approaches Trailer AnalysisLauren Allard

Trailer AnalysisTrailer AnalysisGenre Theory Steve Neil Genre constitutes elements of repetition and difference. Nick Lacey

Setting Character Narrative Iconography Style

Spectre Trailer Analysis - ExampleThere was a variety of different locations shown throughout the trailer, the start of the trailer was a shot of London with a stereotypical shot of the London skyline in full view. There are a few main characters shown in the trailer, most of the characters showed the connection of good vs evil. James Bond vs the main villain, except in this trailer there looked to be more than one villain shown, there seemed to be a few against James Bond, the female characters of the filmed were sexualized how they normally are during Spy/Crime/Action Thrillers. The editing in the film was done at a very fast pace, a pace that makes the trailer very exciting, it keeps the audience excited and entertained. They also included the very noticeable and popular James Bond theme song that gives the audience a instant hint that the film is a James Bond movie, the footage is edited to go at the same pace as the audio, the music is in a fast pace and so is the the video syncing it all together. Giving the audience more of a hint to the genre of the film is the props that are included in the trailer, The Aston Martin cars which have always been a stereotype for James Bond films, the guns and the massive explosions giving a very dramatic effect to trailer showing that the film is very dramatic. The main character (James Bond) wearing a fancy black suit despite fighting and doing very dangerous/dramatic scenes can show the audience what kind of film it is.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=YdgQj7xcDJo The main location setting is in New York City in what looks to be in-between 1920 -1940. The trailer starts with a startled man explaining that he had seen a magical creature that had destroyed a building. The props that are used in the trailer already tell the audience what kind of film this is; the characters are shown using wands which tells the audience that this will be a fantasy film including magic. The creatures that are shown are goblins, dragons and many more that wouldn’t be shown in most fantasy films. A lot of things are shown in the trailer that catches the audience’s attention, not just the visual images but also the text and the audio, what the characters are saying such as “A Wizard entered New York City with a case full of magical creatures”, the next “Written by J.K. Rowling” grabs the audience’s attention since she is well known for creating the Harry Potter series. The colours that are used can help show the time the film is set in; the colours have a vintage tone to them showing the age. The props and costumes help to show the decade

Unit 6: Critical Approaches Trailer AnalysisLauren Allard that the film is set in such as the old fashioned cars, the costumes that the characters are wearing. Also the way some of the characters talk, their accents sound like they’re from an older period of time. The music used in the trailer is suspenseful, when leading up to the big reveal, the start of the trailer has a man explaining about a strange creature destroying a building, as he talks the music becomes louder and faster picking up the suspense for the audience. The text used in the trailer can bring the audience in: “From Writer J.K. Rowling” “A New Era of Magic Begins” “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” The music used throughout the trailer is a familiar tune that has been used throughout the Harry Potter series, but altered a bit it would take a bit of focus to full recognise it, hearing the tune already brings in an audience, the fans of Harry Potter would hear the tune and it would be immediately obvious that this film is connected to the Harry Potter story, set way before Harry was born and before Voldemort was at power and trying to take over the wizarding world. It’s including the magic and everything that would bring the audience in, but without having the original Harry Potter characters, keeping the focus on “A New Era of Magic”.

- This is a clip from the trailer, the colours have a very vintage tone which can help show the audience that the film is based in a different time zone, as well as the other props shown in the background, such as the old cars and the old fashioned clothing worn by the people

walking around the street.

- This is a clip from the trailer, during this clip a man is explaining that there is another world that have a secret society that has been going on for years, looking at this shot you can already tell that the woman in the picture is an important character in the film and her character holds high authority, by the way the camera is positioned, its looking up at her showing in this situation she is in power and she holds importance.

Unit 6: Critical Approaches Trailer AnalysisLauren Allard

- The effects used in this part of the trailer on the studio’s logo, can help give the audience a hint towards the genre of the film, the light blue and purple colours making a Smokey and magical effect around the logo, give a hint towards a fantasy film.

Blair Witch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girSv9UH_V8 The trailer starts with a piece of recorded footage from the original Blair Witch movie, already telling the audience that this is the third movie to the original and sequel, so that there is no confusion. The camera is shaking and already shows that the filming was done through the characters recording their experience in the woods, this can be done to make the story of the Blair Witch more believable to the audience. Throughout the trailer the lighting is all low key, with the only source of light being the torch that the characters are using. The trailer has a group of teenagers ready to film their experience in the woods where the main character’s sister went missing in 1999 (In the original Blair Witch movie), it’s set out like a scary documentary, with the characters starting their experience with a question. “Do you really think your sister is still out there” the meaning for their night in the woods is to find his sister and see if she is still alive after all these years. The trailer includes shaky footage from both the original and the sequel, matching up the two stories together.

The trailer includes stereotypical horror movie settings, the location is a typical horror movie location, in the middle of a cursed forest that goes back centuries, with a typical group of characters staying the night to find out something about the forest.You can tell that the sequel is set 17 years later, in our present day due to the technology shown, the fancy new cameras, the drone used to get most of the still shots shown in the trailer. The only time in the trailer that had still shots was to show the main location to the audience, the story and the locations tell the audience what genre of film this is. The trailer starts with the footage from the original Blair Witch movie, then with the brother of the main character (from the original), 17 years later watching the found footage believing it to be his sister in the footage. When the group go into the woods there is bright natural light, lighting up the whole forest, the colours can help tell the audience when the situation is going to go from good to

Unit 6: Critical Approaches Trailer AnalysisLauren Allard bad. There is a shot of the sun going down over the forest and the music begins to pick up before the screen goes black, and the forest is now dark at night and this can help tell the audience that the good has turned to bad. The narrative in the trailer isn’t clear, other than that the characters are trying to find out what happened to his sister, there is no full narrative hints. The trailer gives a hint to who the final girl will be, as the trailer goes on and on you notice that a few characters start to disappear until towards the end only two characters are actually shown alive, with the trailer ending showing one final girl crawling through the tunnel, with the voice of one of the male characters crying saying “I’m so sorry”. The trailer has a certain pace, it gradually shows the situation in the forest between the characters getting worse and worse, it starts with the story, the group walking through the woods and the sun going down which is when the music picks up which is already showing the pace of the movie, with it getting worse and worse instead of it all happening at once, the symbols held over the tents which can already tell the audience that something Is coming, but with the pace of the trailer it helps build the tension and it creates a heart pounding effect with the audience as they wait for the worst to happen to these characters.

The narrative isn’t too obvious but the trailer does give a hint to who the final girl is, the trailer doesn’t have the footage in an odd order, you can tell by the way the characters are acting and the conditions that they’re in and also the number of characters decreasing throughout, that the trailer is in time order. It’s instantly telling the audience that one will be left alive at the end, and it makes the audience want to know what happens to these characters and why more of them keep disappearing throughout the trailer. Before it the lighting changes in the trailer, there is a clip where the group walk past a tree, which has a note

written on wood attached to the tree which says “No Entry After Nightfall”, which already tells us part of the story, it’s already telling us before it gets dark that something will happen to the characters when it turns dark. There is text included in the trailer, it includes reviews by critics which can give the audience another reason to see the film, based on what they see in the trailer, based on what they saw critics say about the film. The ending of the trailer has the title of the film with the familiar symbol in the background which could have a connection to the story, the background is black but the title lights up, and glows with a fades bright colour. The symbol

Unit 6: Critical Approaches Trailer AnalysisLauren Allard tells the audience that it’s a part of the story by the way it looks, it looks almost like a person with their arms and legs tied apart, with a look of anger/terror on their face. The colours throughout the trailer are dark and dull, with the only light from a torch which gives a more realistic feel to the film, the film is made to look like it’s being recorded by the characters whilst they stay in the woods, they have to make the lighting as natural as possible, especially at night, they want to make it look realistic, with the light coming from a torch so you can see what is happening to the characters but from how they would be seeing it, causing a more realistic feel to the film. Narrative: In the trailer the beginning, middle and end to the film is shown. It shows the beginning which shows the characters starting their journey into the Blackhill’s forest and why they go there, the middle when all the scary and unexplainable events start happening

and also the end with the ‘final girl’ crawling through the tunnel. The colours used with the characters can give hints to different parts of the story, the colours black and red are used a lot, which would show danger, blood and death.

Bridget Jones’ Baby Trailer Analysis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJsvmscPY9w The trailer starts with the main character Bridget Jones sitting on her bed, writing in her diary like a teenage girl. With a voice over of her telling the story of how she met this new man at work, then also how herself and her ex-boyfriend got back together for the night. Then a shot of the camera looking down on her, showing that right now she is in a vulnerable position of finding out she is pregnant with no clue of which man is the father. Throughout the trailer it has really up beat and modern day music, that’s happy and lively which shows that this is a happy and energetic film. The genre to this movie is immediately obvious with the upbeat music, the clips shown from the movie and the dialogue used. It tells the audience that this is a Romance Comedy. The trailer could immediately attract the audience to the film, with the amount of very popular and recognisable faces, from the previous two films and also many stars that are

recognisable from many other popular movies. The plot to the film is obvious throughout the trailer, it’s about a woman called Bridget who ends up being with a new man called Jack and also another man who happens to be her ex-boyfriend called Mark, she ends up getting

pregnant and has no clue who the father of her first child is. Which brings a bit of competition between the two men on who can win Bridget’s heart. During the reveal of the

Unit 6: Critical Approaches Trailer AnalysisLauren Allard pregnancy to the two men, the background music fits the situation by playing a very popular pop song about competition, which just adds to the comedy part of the genre. The other Bridget Jones movies were released in the early 2000s, and you can tell instantly

that this third movie is set in the present day which is over a decade since the sequel, by the new technology, Bridget is sat in her bed at the start of the trailer on an IPad writing in her notes like a diary. It shows the audience that she now works in the media

industry and during that shot you can see all of the recent high tech camera equipment. There are some parts during the trailer when a character does something awkward or something awkward happens to them, and the background music would stop at the awkward moment. There are some heart-warming moments during the trailer, that just show that there is a lot of happiness, a moment in the trailer when Bridget is at an ultrasound appointment and she’s looking at the baby on the screen with a massive smile on her face and she says “You’re the best thing I’ve ever seen”. The bright colours throughout can show that there isn’t a lot of sadness in the film, it’s mainly happy and heart-warming. The trailer is already showing bringing the audience into the film, by including them in the plot. There are two men that have a massive possibility of being the father to Bridget’s baby, which can include the audience since they will have their own opinion of who they want to be the father. The audience get that excitement throughout the whole film, with that agonizing tension, the waiting to find out who is the baby’s father. Which is obviously something that they have to wait for and they have to watch the entire movie to find out who the baby’s father is, which is another way of bringing the audience in, making them

want to know, making them need to know who the baby’s father is.During the trailer the colours purple and pink keep showing up, both colours could represent Love, Lust and Romance. Which could be a hint to the audience about the gender of the baby since both colours are very feminine colours.

But the colours shown in the trailer could also be a way of showing the target audience that this is a very feminine film, and that the target audience would be women and people who

have followed the Bridget Jones series. Throughout the trailer pieces of text keep appearing showing which time of year the film will be released. “This Fall”. “Two Choices”. “One Big Decision”. “Endless Possibilities”. When the title of the movie is shown it shows

Unit 6: Critical Approaches Trailer AnalysisLauren Allard Bridget Jones, then the word “Baby” pops up, showing that this is a new addition to the Bridget Jones series. Then at the end it shows that the film is Due in 2016, giving more of the baby hints in the choice of words. With the social media placed below, and the many studios and companies that helped bring it all together. There are a lot of familiar famous faces shown throughout the trailer, which could be a big reason for the target audience to want to see the film, based on who is included in the film. The music throughout the trailer tends to change a lot, it starts with some fast quirky music to introduce the movie, which then changes to a fast pop tune when it shows a clip of Bridget finding out she’s pregnant, and also when she is telling the two possible fathers, a pop song that shows the competition between both possible fathers. There are some funny awkward moments which shows some of the films genre. There are some establishing shots shown in the trailer, mainly above shots of London, showing the audience where the film is set.