FILM TRAILERS: basic conventions to include

Here is a link to my mind map of basic conventions to include when making our own film trailer:

Mind Map created by Etty Hope with GoConqr

DRAMA TRAILER ANALYSIS: The Beach

The Beach:

Here I am going to analyse, step by step, the trailer The Beach, in order to gain a wider understanding of how films of the drama genre are portrayed through their trailers. I chose to look at The Beach due to the young characters exploring and discovering the world, discovering who they are which is the sort of plotline I wish to create - discovering yourself.
Here is the trailer:

Straight after the production companies being shown (0.04), a voiceover of the main character is introduced, as if he is talking directly to the audience using the personal pronoun 'you', telling them who he is 'my name is Richard' while a shot is shown of him filling his name onto an online document (0.07).

While the voiceover continues shots of him beginning to travel Bangkok (mentioned in voiceover) and other places are played; starting on a train 0.12, then a boat 0.14. Next there is a shot of Richard leaving what appears to be an airport across a busy road 0.16 before looking at a massive golden statue 0.18. I feel that these shots are to show that he is only just beginning his adventure/life and that the world is a huge place for people to explore and discover new things.

During the voiceover shots change to relate to certain words such as 'more beautiful' the shot changing to look at a beautiful woman and 'more dangerous' the shot changing to fire. After this there is a loud bang 0.35 and the backing music stops as well as the voiceover, this to bring the narrator back to reality or so we are first lead to believe.

The music and voice over stops as this is a crucial bit of dialogue as this is when the protagonist is told about the beach (which features the title of the film). Once he begins to explain the beach, soft music begins again while he thinks of his memories there and beautiful visuals appear while the dialogue continues before the main protagonists dialogue starts again showing grubby hotel room shots while the music again becomes more mysterious. The contrast in soft music to more mysterious as well as the changing from visually stunning shots, imply the contrasts of the protagonists life in appose to the life he could have by being at 'the beach'.

0.54 new music starts as a montage of shots are shown while Richard and his two newly found French friends go on their search for this wonderful beach island. Once they are on the island more stunning landscape shots are shown, showing views the beautiful place the film is about and drawing the audience in, as for me, it makes me want to find a paradise like this.

At 1.28 all dialogue stops while the backing music continues and snippets of their adventures on the island are shown: jumping of clips into the water, spearing fish. I especially like the visuals of the underwater shots looking up at them swimming, I think they are particularly beautiful shots.

At 1.45 the music stops abruptly and there is a flash of lightening and the sound of thunder, before dialogue of Richard explains to another character that the person who told them about the beach is dead. The sudden gloomy weather change, reflects the sudden shift in tone which is suddenly in the trailer. This is when 1.52 a shot of the man before his death appears, grabbing the protagonist by his colour talking to him aggressively and using the f-word - which is quite uncommon to use swearwords in trailers, showing that this film would possibly be targeted at a slightly older audience.

After this the tone has shifted and it becomes more confusing and less easy to follow the plotline, which I think is important to draw you in and not give too much away. The shots become quicker and busier such as a shot of leaves where you can only see slightly through them. The tone becomes more dangerous, as the protagonist is clearly having to hide from someone and showing shots of guns as well of shots of the protagonist 2.02 making traps in the jungle floor.

By this point there are just sounds of what you could only assume to hear in the jungle while shots of the protagonist holding or sleeping with a gun are shown, before the sound slowly but clearly begins to speed up clearly building towards something.

2.12 sudden gunshots are fired and there are lots of quick paced camera shots, showing people being shot down with the guns but not being able to see who are firing the shots. There are also more shots of the protagonist running and getting his French friends to be quite while they all hide - this is all while a fast paced drumming sound begins.

There isn't much dialogue in the last montage of fast paced shots except while the protagonist shouts 'I will not die today' before another shot of him running and jumping off a cliff.

This immediately makes the audience question 'does he die, or is that him just jumping off of the cliff into the water like earlier?' - This is a very important part of the trailer trying to draw the audience in and make them want to watch the film. The shot of him jumping slowly disappears while the title appears over the top, which I think is best to have last as its the last thing the audience remember, which is also the most vital.

BRANDED SOUNDTRACKS: Bond

 When a signature song becomes recognizable to a film sometimes the soundtrack becomes a part of the branding of  that film. This works best for successful for large franchise movies such as the Bond films and Mission Impossible. The James Bond film series has had numerous signature tracks over the years, however the most well known of these pieces of music is the classic "James Bond Theme." 

 

The Non-digetic sound is minimal throughout the newest trailer for the upcoming bond film, Spector until the end 10 seconds where it becomes clear. At this point 'Spectre' appears on screen and the Bond theme tune starts to play, targeting excited bond fans and makes the trailer memorable.

 

Other instrumental pieces, such as the "007 Theme" as well as many songs, such as Duran Duran's "A View to A Kill" and Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" have also become identified with the series and have now been released as a compilation soundtrack. More recently Sam Smith's 'Writing On The Wall' was released alongside Spectre which quickly became number one. Sam Smith later won an Oscar for his single.

CAPTIONS: different trailers

This post is to explore the different effects on captions during trailers, such as colour and font.

Nightmare on Elms Street:

Like many horror film trailers, the credits shown are in red which is typical due to the connotations red has to blood and gore, which are typical features of horrors that Nightmare on Elms Street appears to follow. The background is black, which is carefully chosen which links well to the idea of everything being in teenagers dreams and it being all dark. Also on the background there are red dots, which look like splatters of blood, which adds to the gore and theme of the film. 

The captions also appear to shine through the screen before forming into words which I think links to the scissor-like spears that the villain has in the trailer and the idea of him ripping down the screen with them like he does to the people's skin in the trailer. 

The captions are also all in capitals and at the end of their showing they slowly fade out to black again.

Victor Frankenstein:

 The first thing I notice about the captions of this trailer is that is the fast pace as it jumps onto the screen before slowly zooming in. There is also a sound effect that fits perfectly with the sudden appearance of the wording 'This Thanksgiving'. There is also a greenish background which could be linked to the idea that the colour green could me a connotation of Frankenstein.

All of the captions are in silver, however after the second caption, which is 'The Legend' there is a clip with the actor Daniel Radcliff with a lot of lighting strikes and again later the trailer there are electricity bolts to make the monster come to life, which I feel links to where the colour for the captions comes from. The colour of the font is also similar to the font of the trailer 'Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows'.

  (The image above has been screenshot from Sherlock Homes.)

The captions 'The Legend' and 'Is Reborn' is also extremely dramatic, fitting with the music of the trailer very well. Also, like Nightmare On Elms Street the captions are again in capitals, making them clearer to read due to the short time they are shown but also to show their importance. 

Pan:

The captions on this trailer are very different to the previous two due to the genre and the target audience being younger for this film. The biggest difference is the starry background behind the captions which links to the classic Peter Pan fairytales of 'Neverland' being 'the second star to the right and straight on till morning' and the idea that it was a place in the stars. However, like Victor Frankenstein, the captions are silver, this time I feel, again, linking to the relevance of the stars.

Unlike Victor Frankenstein, instead of the captions zooming in, they are slowly zooming out in this trailer, however in all of the trailers I have looked at the have had some sort of zoom effect on them, suggesting it is a common effect to use with captions.

Like the previous trailers all of the captions have been in capitals, however in this trailer I have also noticed that the sizing of the captions vary depending on the information being given. An example is when the characters and actors are being announced and the actors names are bigger than the character they are playing, suggesting the actors are actually more important for the audience to read. This could be due to some of the actors, such as Hugh Jackman being so well known and having such a massive fanbase which would then attract them to some and watch the film due to his involvement. 

VOICEOVERS:

The Boat That Rocked

The voice over in The Boat That Rocked trailer, fits the time era of the 'swinging 60's' seeming slightly tacky and cheap as well as fitting the comedy genre. It uses a more generic tone, typical of older trailers describing all text shown on screen which is distracting of the images. The dialogue is mainly used to add to the comedic tones of the film with witty one liners, while the voiceover informs the audience of every piece of information, suggesting they are aiming their film towards a younger audience, who may not pay proper attention or notice important details without the voiceover.

Legend

I've chosen to talk about the voiceover on this trailer as this film has recently become one of my favourites, as well as the fact that when first watching the trailer I didn't think the voiceover was that effective, however having watched the film and the narrator of the voiceover is the storyteller/narrator throughout the film, making the voiceover in the trailer VERY important. The voice over sets the scene of the film by informing the audience about the story as well as explaining a bit about the characters. It successfully does this as it doesn't give to much away or distract the audience from the visuals but rather compliments them.The tone or voice represents the 60's cockney slang and therefore fits 1960s Bethnal Green film. The use of a female voice over challenges the typical codes and conventions of film trailers, male voice overs often used to present power and authority or portray the male protagonists in the film.

TITLES

Here is a PowerPoint I have made on researching film titles. I have looked at their use of typography in different genres; focusing on font, colour and other details.