Research Into Trailers 5

 

When I heard of this film it only appealed to me in a weird and comedic way. Then I found out who the director and producer were Tim Burton who is known for his weird style of filming and Timur Bekmambetov who is well known for his action films such as “Wanted” with Angelina Jolie. The film is also based on a novel by Seth Grahame Smith. 

• The trailer begins with the production logo moving onto non-diagetic narration as well as shots of Abraham Lincoln from when he was young to when he was older, showing different parts of history. In between the scenes we are shown text indicating the directors, producers names. The trailer also shows that Abraham Lincolns mother dies from a vampires bite; from here we learn this is what had driven him to become a vampire hunter. 
• We see a close up of his main weapon and how he makes himself agile with the weapon and fast. 
• Trailer uses an epic music score throughout the trailer, which emphasis the battle scenes in particular, non-diagetic sounds are employed over the musical score to add more atmosphere.

Research Into Trailers 4

 

I haven’t seen all of the resident evils but I do love the actress Mila Jovovich. She is known for playing tough lead roles in films. For example Fifth Element is one of the films where she first made her name into the film industry. I am a big fan of the Resident Evil games I generally like watching others playing them, because I hate surprise attacks. This film another sequel and carries on where the last film left of. The trailer is for a mature audience in the above 18 category due to the violence and the gory special effects. 

• The trailer starts off cleverly with a well known advert which shows the earth at a long shot view, and then zooms in to show a city and a person promoting a Sony electronic device, 
• the background music is an instrumental version of Baba O’ Reily, The Who. 
• The trailer mis-en-scene looks like an advert and later when it becomes clear its a trailer it is an unexpected and pleasant surprise. The shot then turns into a mid shot of the earth and then zooms in on America showing us what the world will look like tomorrow, eventually zooming in on the main character Alice and she tells the viewer “My name is Alice and this is my WORLD”, the tag line from the advert. 
• From here we see various camera angles showing us different scenes in the film including some of her clones. Nearing to the end we see a character that was killed in the first film so the trailer has revealed a twist for us to be intrigued by. 
• The film trailer is also promotes its USP by advertising it is in  3D.     

Research into Trailers 3

I have just watched another trailer, this one is called Colombiana, I really liked this trailer because it has a woman in the lead role of an action film, I like watching action films that empower women for a change, makes them the main protagonist that take charge and are portrayed as ‘stone cold killers’. This way it makes the film more appealing towards women. The trailer is 2 minutes and 27 seconds long; 

• it starts off with showing the audience two police officers on their lunch break when out of nowhere a car collides into theirs, inside the car is a woman (Zoe Saldana). She is drunk, she gets arrested and thrown into jail, then she appears to be sober and starts changing her outfit, 
• the next scene jumps into a flash back showing us a little girl in a house assuming she is the so called drunk woman. 
• We hear shooting in the house, from here it’s quite predictable the drunk woman is the girl in the flash back and in the house there are shootings safe to say her family were murdered she goes and lives with her uncle who teaches her how to be a killer, which will eventually lead her to taking revenge on the people that killed her family. 

The trailer is very complex, some of the scenes it shows the woman doing complicated action sequences. 

• The music in this trailer definitely engages the audience more because it wakes you up, you feel like dancing to it and also it fits in with the films culture, so its music that fits in with the films name and the location of the films setting adding to the mis-en-scene. 
• To give the film better recognition it reveals text that shows the audience that it’s the same writers of the famous Liam Neeson film Taken, this a unique way of appealing to the fans of Taken to also consider this film due to it having the same writers. 
• There is a wide variety of camera techniques used such as close ups, long shots, bottom up shots etc. 

I like this trailer because I enjoy watching Mafia, The Godfather, Scarface, Drug lord type films and the best thing about this film is that it has a woman encompassing similar traits from those types of films, she is a woman that is in control and ready to kill. 

Research into Trailers 2

The next trailer I looked at was ‘Immortals’, this is very different from Mrs. Doubtfire. This trailer is based on Greek legends and myths; the actual film is based on the legend of Theseus. The trailer has many complicated and detailed scenes as you watch it you see how much work is done on the visual effects and how Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) has been seamlessly incorporated into live footage, to the extent that it is indistinguishable to the viewers save for the impossibility of certain shots. 

The movie is made by the same producers of another film based on Greek legend called ‘300’. People, who have seen 300, will recognise the similarity of style to ‘Immortals’. 

• In the first scene we see a bird flying over us then a narration is done by a man called Hyperion played by Mickey Rourke, basically saying that he is going to start a war with the gods and to do this he needs to release the Titans. 
• In the next scene we see Hyperion and his large army slaughtering innocent people while this is happening a character is introduced who we as the audience can assume is Theseus played by Henry Cavill, the main protagonist of the film, he is shown in extreme close up as well as long shot so the viewers can see the man’s physique and heroic looks. 
• This shot links in with the hero giving off that raw sex appeal which can also link to how they wanted to market the trailer. 
• The film was also released in 3D which fits in with another well known marketing strategy, that of unique selling point. 
• The trailer is not at all ambiguous it does give out enough of the plot for the viewers to be interested, and maybe more to those who are big enthusiasts of the Greek mythology. The first thing the viewers will notice straight away is the genre, the setting (Greece), the plot and when the film will be released; which is traditionally given at the end.

The genre for this film is action/fantasy, this means it’s a combination of two genres that have been put together to make one genre. There are many films that are hybrids, for example ‘Hot Fuzz’, ‘Evil Dead’ and ‘Cowboys & Aliens’. Another good trailer technique used is the text coming in between certain scenes which helps the audience to draw even more information out about the plot. Also the scene where Theseus cracks open the rock to find The Epirus Bow, reminded me of the welsh legend of Excalibur the sword of King Arthur which was also known for being plunged in a stone and had magical powers just like the Epirus Bow. 

The ‘Immortals’ trailer definitely interested me because I’ am a big fan of Greek myths and legends, after watching the trailer I definitely wanted to brush up on my reading of the Theseus story and try to remember how it is written in the book compared to how much the film may have followed the story. This is a good trailer for me to be quite imaginative when it comes to making our own but again it maybe too ambitious to think we could pull off something similar. But what is good for us to analyse and try to adopt are the different camera techniques used, camera angles and also how the trailer was consistent with their action sequences. Not only are we analysing the camera work done, but also how the music changed its tempo and rhythm according to each scene, this can be said for both diegetic and non diegetic sounds. 

 

Research into Trailers 1

 

For a better overview into what trailers are and how they are constructed, I’m going to look at a few trailers. If I was to define the word trailer I would say it consists of a few basic and easy interpreted plots with ear opening music. The first trailer I looked at was Mrs. Doubtfire, the opening of this trailer shows a man defending his marriage this is the first introduction we have of the main character or so the audience assume, 

• next we hear non-diagetic music alongside a narrator introducing us to who the man was and what the problem is, 
• we see a collection of scenes of him moving out, at a job centre looking for a job, and then at a house or apartment that is really cluttered with boxes and clothes.
•  Next we find out that his ex-wife needs a housekeeper, the next scene shows Daniel Hillard wanting to be a woman. 
• We see the transformation and find out he gets hired to be the housekeeper which he only did this so he could be closer to his three children. I enjoyed this trailer because it has a collection of comedic scenes with a few technical shots. This is a film that can be enjoyed by the whole family. 
• The trailer is also peppered throughout with songs from the soundtrack.  
• Montage editing is used in order to emphasise the main characters and themes of the film. There are also some examples of continuity editing used when the characters are having a conversation in order to reveal a small section of the narrative. The pace of the editing begins slowly in time with the slow music but then as we get further through the trailer the editing speeds up significantly to keep up with the beat of the musical soundtrack.

 

Trailer Vs Teaser

Teasers and Trailers are two kinds of promotional tools for a movie that differ in duration, nature and characteristics. It is important to know that a teaser is shorter than a trailer. In general a trailer runs approximately for three minutes. A typical teaser trailer is around a minute.Generally they don't  rely on an ordered narrative and give only glimpses of  actors, so as to give the audience only a hint  of what the film is like, without giving too much away. Teaser trailers try to determine genre which then decides the target audience.

A teaser by its nature gives away very little about the movie, since it is very much likely to contain only a few clips from the movie. On the other hand, a trailer can give and provide us many details about the movie, since it is likely to contain quite a few clips from the movie. Sometimes tease may have been filmed a long time before the film shoot. Teasers begin the task of generating interest in an upcoming film, sometimes almost a year before the film is scheduled for release.

On the other hand, a trailer is usually completed only after the entire film is completed. A trailer therefore cannot be made before the completion of the movie. This is one of the important differences between a teaser and a trailer.

A trailer will have some of the musical score of the movie, details about key members of the crew such as director, cinematographer, assistant director. Also the studio in which the film was shot, these are details which are unlikely to be shown in a teaser. In most cases a trailer allows you to get an outline of the film, teasers don't generally follow this convention. Trailers give much more in the way of plot details and will be filled with more actual footage  of the film.

Reference: http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-teaser-and-vs-trailer/   

Research Into Teaser Trailers 10

 

I have been watching the Batman films since I was a child and the recent new ones that I have just been watching have surpassed the originals. The obvious thing is that the special effects are much better now than they were then, 

• the teaser begins with a sequence of the production logos and then it shows some scenes from the previous films. 
• While we are watching the scenes we can also hear the narration from Ras-al-Ghul.
• The trailer gives almost nothing away, builds a menacing atmosphere through the use of diagetic sounds and music. 
• The shots are almost all in low light conditions, emphasising the "dark" in "Dark Knight". 
• The pace of the trailer is slow and measured, allowing the viewer time to take in and savour what might be on the horizon. 
• I would say most of the atmospherics are achieved by the music and sound effects