Analysing Film Trailers - Answers

The Woman In Black

1.       It starts off with a house, this house a history and looks like it is haunted. The main character has to do something there but is still not identified at the start of the trailer. The house is isolated in a remote area and he has to deal with all these traumatic events involving a ghost that is in the house. The locals warn him about the house and they fear it. The whole film revolves around children and bad experiences. The genre of this film is horror/mystery, this is shown through the jumpy fast soundtrack, the dark and low lit locations.

2.       There is no introduction and no end, only the main character is shown, the history of the house is missed out, and why there is a curse on the house is also not shown in the trailer. The viewer does not know what will happen to the main character, the truth is disturbed. Many scary scenes are shown throughout.

3.       There isn’t an order to the shots; the story line is mixed as the whole story isn’t wanted to be shown.  The movie is in chronological order and the trailer has only a miss match of important parts of the actual film.

4.       70 shots or more were used.

5.       The trailer starts off slow as the introduction is shown, and how they show the whole house. The editing picks up pace when there are scary and exaggerated scenes and then go back to slow so the words on the screen can be read.

6.       The transition show how the film is pieced together and also shows the main settings that are used in the film and the main concentration of the viewer is on the voice over.

7.       The words “Daniel Radcliffe” are shown as he is a very famous actor, and is used as the unique selling point.

8.       The sound used were very high pitched and many of the scenes would have a gentle fade and then a jump of high screeching etc.  There were also some parts of the trailer where a low sort of religious singing that was used to show how the film included dead people. Very loud bass sounds were used to show how the main character was scared when running through the forest.

9.       There were many close ups which would show facial reactions and expressions to events happening. Establishing shots were used to show the isolation of the character and his terrifying surroundings.

Analysing Film Trailers - Answers

Dark Knight

1.       The story advertised is about a villain (Joker) who is destroying the city (Gothem), and the hero (Batman) must try and save everyone from him. This shows how there are binary opposites as there is a conflict between good and evil. The genre of the film is action/thriller, as there are many fighting scenes and a lot of the parts of the trailer show conflict between good and evil will keeps the audience at a excited pace and off their seats.

2.       Not much of the narrative is revealed, only the main and important parts of the film were shown. This was achieved through many short clips of action in non-chronological order and a voice over of the main narrative before the visual is shown to match on screen.

3.       The shots were not in chronological order. There were quick changes of shots when the action scenes were shown, the trailer starts of slow then moves fast and at the end slow again. This is different from the actual film.

4.       Around 48 shots were shown.

5.       The trailer starts slow and then then the pace quickens when the villain is shown, then becomes even faster at the action scenes and then the pace decreases again when the fights are finished and the hero is involved.

6.       Transitions such as flashes and high pace fading would be expected in an action/thriller film, this is because the high paced flashes can control the audiences heart rate and have them at the edge of their seats when watching.

7.       The trailer started off with the villain’s voice and how he introduced himself and the hero.

8.       The soundtrack was fast and showed the villain’s character attracting the audience. The dark music to0ld some of the story and built up tension between the two main characters.

9.       There were many close ups of the villain which showed his character and how he would act in the film. View shots were used to show the surroundings which tells the audience the location and what is about to happen or is happening.

Analysing Film Trailers - Questions

Analysing Film Trailers

Questions to ask:

1.       What is the narrative of the feature film being advertised? What is the genre?

2.       How much of the narrative is revealed? How is this achieved? (Voice over/ shots)

3.       What is the narrative order of the shots? How does it differ from the order in the movie?

4.       How many shots are used?

5.       What pace of editing is used? Does the pace increase/decrease at any time, if so when and why?

6.       Are any specific transitions used that you wouldn’t expect in the movie itself – wipes/fade to white/black etc. What effect do they have? Why do you think they have been used?

7.       What does the voice over/text say? How does this link with the visuals? How does this set up the narrative of the film?

8.       How does the soundtrack help create the genre and/or narrative?

9.       What specific camera shots are used – when/where/why?