FILM TRAILERS

Before I analysed my chosen trailers I read the article “The Film Shop That Cuts Hollywood’s Hottest Trailers and looked at trailers for Gravity, American Sniper and Nocturnal Creatures.  N. Temple who works for Wild Card pointed out that a trailer must ‘boil down two hours of footage inot an intense, two minute trailer that will become a crucial piece – maybe the  crucial piece of a studio’s overall movie marketing strategy”  The impact of a trailer can be huge and make or break the success of a film and therefore it is important that it gets the right message about the film across in a short time, creating an immediate impact through the editing process that raises questions in the minds of the audience but dose not give away everything there is to know about the film making the audience want to watch the full movie.  The trailers for American Sniper and Nocturnal Creatures do this well because they uses footage from the film that show various shot types, which is edited in a series of rapid hard cuts to build a picture of what the movie is about, but they don’t give the plot away but leave you wanting to watch the films to find out what happens and what the plot is.  I didn’t think this was the same with the trailer for Gravity because it didn’t make me to want to know what happened to the girl floating in space, although it might have done for someone else.

All the trailers used music to show emotion as well as the feeling of action or suspense, and conventions such as inter –titles that give more information about the actors, producers and writers were used in all of them.  Including this type of information gave each of the films credibility because the audience can relate these films to other films by the same producer or director and the cast who star in them as well as giving the audience the release dates of the film.

 

The three trailers I chose to analyse in more detail are all psychological thrillers – You Should Have Left, A Quiet Place and The Invisible Man.

 A Quiet Place (2018) Official Trailer – Paramount Pictures

How does the trailer signal its genre through visual and sound codes? 

A quiet place is a horror/thriller film.  The trailer makes a good job of making this genre clear by using clips from the film that a show scenes of the family being careful of where they step so as not to make noise, with eery music and lighting that casts shadows creates a feeling of suspense, as a claw marks comes into view, we see a wide shot of an empty town and them walking along a deserted railway line. These shots are interspersed with inter titles show the words ‘those who have survived’ ‘live by one rule’ ‘never make a sound’.  The opening/establishing shots of the trailer are then repeated, showing a little boy playing with toy space ship. The diegetic noise from the electronic toy makes the father turn in fear and run towards the child.  He is looking around him as he does as if expecting something or someone to suddenly appear.  The use of hard cuts between low to high, birds eye, and tracking shots gives a feeling a pace, and by using shadows and night time shots the feeling that something sinister is going on is clear portrayed.  Using a scene where no dialogue is heard as the family sit in a darkened room use sign language to communicate the camera crabs around them providing close ups of the mother father and children increases the audience feeling of wanting to know more about why they can’t make any noise and why they seem to be in hiding.

 

How does the trailer draw attention to the roles taken, particularly star talent? 

This trailer does not rely on the names of the cast to promote the film.  The selling point is the genre and getting hooked on the story line – why are they not aloud to make noice?  What will happen if they do?  There is very little dialogue involved in the film and it is the music and soundtrack that are a key element of the effectiveness of the trailer.

 

What essential narrative elements are explained in the inter-titles? 

how does the trailer use dialogue? 

Inter-titles are used effectively in this trailer, particularly as there is very little dialogue in the film itself.  A series of hard cuts showing scenes from the film where the children are frightened, the parents are hiding and the only dialogue in the entire trailer is heard when the mother says ‘who are we if we can’t protect them’ is dubbed with electronic synthesised music that creates suspense and fear, the inter titles with the words ‘if they hear you’ ‘they hunt you’ are interspersed again within these shots, reinforcing the message of fear and intrigue of who it is that will be listening, making the audience want to know more.  A birds eye scene of the pregnant mother going into labour in the bathtub shows the claw of a ‘monster’ with diegetic sounds of growling and leaves the trailer on a cliff hanger with the agonised face of the mother as the final image before the title of the film is faded into the next shot.

 

What institutional information does the trailer contain, such as names of Production Company, talent, director, release date? 

The only institutional information the trailer contains is the Paramount Pictures ident that is seen during the trailer and also their logo is shown at the very end of the trailer.  The date is in red text which indicates danger and death. Other than the date of release that flashes up during the trailer and appears again at the very end of the trailer, there is no other information about who directed it or who the actors are. The use of the hashtag #STAYQUIET will be useful to build social media chatter about the film, resulting a more varied and widespread promotion in the build up to release.

 

How does the trailer utilise accolades or other key hooks

The trailer for A Quiet Place doesn’t promote any accolades relating to the actors involved, the directors, writers, or nominations but relies solely on hooking the audience by use of clips from the film and creating intrigue. The music and sound track in the film is key for example the introduction music stops abruptly as hard cuts move between scenes where the female protagonist is watching television screens, listening to news broadcasts and newspaper headlines zoomed in on.  This makes the audience want to know what has happened and why the family are having to be quiet and running away.

 

Summary

The trailer for A Quiet Place follows many of the standard conventions, using repeating inter titles to reinforce the questions in the audiences minds about what or who will hunt the characters down if they make a noise.  The use of hard cuts between the inter titles and scenes from the film create a feeling of suspense and the need to know more. Even though the distributor, Paramount Pictures is included, the actors have not been mentioned by name, and nor has the the director, producer or writer, but this doesn’t seem to matter as the trailer itself makes the audience want to find out more – Who or what is hunting them?. Why is it that noise is the bait? Does the mother give birth to a healthy child?  Are they able to protect their children?  Will they ever be able to live in world with noise again?  The audience will want to go to see the film to find out these answers.  The producers of the trailer have given enough information to hook the audience, but not so much that the entire plot of the film has been given away.

 

 

 

The Invisible Man – Universal Pictures

How does the trailer signal its genre through visual and sound codes? 

Establishing shots (wide two shot, shot reverse shot, long shot, reflected close up, zooming out shot, focus pulls, tracking shot of dog bowl) cut quickly from one to another and introduce the main protagonist (Elisabeth Moss).  The use of narrative from a voice over explains why she might be trying to escape from something.

 

She looks back as she has kicked the dog bowl that zooms into the front ground, with screeching music coming to a sudden stop.

Long wide shots with dark night time lighting invoke a feeling a fear, while hard cuts to Moss running, scaling a wall in shadow, running through a forest in torchlight also increase the feeling of her need to escape from something.  The use of rapid cuts from medium close ups of the protagonist to her friend followed by a selective focus shot of the predator in the background while focusing on the protagonist heightens the fear of the audience. 

The tone and mood of the trailer changes when long shots of San Francisco Bridge and the city are shown, followed by a midshot of the protagonist and another woman talking with the background of the city in soft focus.

 

The use of silence accompanying some scenes increases the element of tension and in the scene where a mobile phone is buzzing in the background but the noise becomes louder and louder until an image of a body is seen on the phone screen gets the audience’s attention.  The following clips with a tilt pan down from the attic to the landing then hard cut to a worm’s eye shot from the landing to the attic adds drama and a feeling of the protagonist being trapped.

 

 

How does the trailer draw attention to the roles taken, particularly star talent? 

This trailer does not make reference to the names of the cast letting the film speak for itself, rather than relying on star talent to draw the audience in.

 

What essential narrative elements are explained in the inter-titles? 

The trailer does not use inter-titles to explain or reinforce the narrative of the movie, although they are used for other purporses during the trailer.

 

How does the trailer use dialogue? 

A series of hard cuts in quick succession increase the feeling of urgency as she says to the dog “I’m sorry, I can’t take you with me”, reinforcing the idea that she is escaping from something.

 

As the predator chases after the car diegetic sound is used as he shouts “get back here”, making him scary in real time.

 

Sound effects of clicking coincide with hard cuts from one scene to another while non-diegtic narrative from the script is over dubbed to the images interspersed with diegtic scenes.  This enables the story to start to unfold.

 

Use of a black screen while hearing non-diegetic narrative saying ‘show yourself’ leaves the audience feeling as blind as the protagonist feels.

 

As the trailer is reaching its climax the music escalates in pitch and volume with dialogue suggesting that no-one can help the protagonist.

 

What institutional information does the trailer contain, such as names of production company, talent, director, release date? 

 

At 51 seconds an inter-title showing the Blumhouse Productions ident is seen.  This reiterates the genre of the film, as Blumhouse Productions are well known for the horror and psychological thriller genre.

 

An inter-title of the date of release is quickly revealed.

 

The final sequence of hard cuts is finished with an inter-title showing the title of the film, followed by another re-confirming the date of release.

 

The last inter-title includes a website address for TheInvisibleManMovie.com which will help with marketing as the trailer generate interest in the movies.  The Univeral pictures logo is also included here.

 

 

How does the trailer utilise accolades or other key hooks

The final inter-title shows the screen play was written by Leigh Whannell and he was also the Director and Executive Producer.  Being one of the original conceivers of the Saw franchise and having his name associated with this film would encourage people who know his previous work to come to see this film.

 

Like all good trailers this trailer condenses a two hour film into a gripping two minute insight to tempt the audience with what they will get when they watch the whole film.  It give enough information to the audience to get them intrigued, but not enough to give away the whole plot. They will want to find out why the woman is being pursued by the man.  The fact that Blumhouse Productions is associated with this film endorses the genre of phsycholgical thriller and therefore will attract audiences who know and like this particular type of movie.  It follows many of the conventions that make trailers successfully promote films, condensing scenes from the movie with appropriate music and dialogue to get the audience hooked on what might happen in the main movie.

 

 

TRAILER ANALYSIS

You Should Have Left - Official Trailer

You Should Have Left is a psychological thriller, starring Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried, it was release on demand 18^th June 2020.  The on demand release was in response to the Corona Virus pandemic. 

 

How does the trailer signal its genre through visual and sound codes? 

The trailer is fast paced with quick successive hard cuts linking scenes from the movie that give the audience a feel for the story it is going to tell, but without so much detail that the plot is given away.

In a series of very fast hard cuts the first 8 seconds let the audience know that the family are going to be moving away from life in the city to a more idyllic life in the country and a dissolve shot from an estate agent website the actual house in the country introduces the next part of the trailer where the mise-en-scene is set well with a long shot of the property and surrounding countryside, with a hard cut to view of rugged countryside.  A hard cut to an in car mid shot of a small girl introduces Ella (the daughter), followed by a reaction shot showing the smiling eyes of the mother reflected in the driving mirror is followed by a two person mid shot where Bacon looks affectionately back toward the daughter.  A wide-angle shot through the front windscreen shows sweeping countryside lies ahead, reinforcing the mise-en-scene of being in the middle of nowhere. An aerial shot helps signify how baron the landscape is as there is only one winding road and no sign of people inhabiting the area. Two shots in quick succession show the car approaching the house and arriving there, which are quickly followed by a tracking shot showing Ella running free in an open field, clearly happy that they are in beautiful countryside – implying freedom from the restraints of a previous city life.

A series of quick cuts show Bacon & Seyfried entering the house and looking around,  a two person long shot reinforces the solitude and isolation of the location when Bacon says “listen – the quiet”.

 

The tone of the trailer suddenly changes and the audience become aware that everything might not be as idyllic as the first part of the trailer made out when the house is shown at night, with diegetic sounds of crickets humming.  Next a mid shot of Ella in bed is back lit, creating a sense of mystery.  She is making shadow puppets with her hands using the back light - we know from the diegetic sound of a dog barking that this is meant to be a dog, however a much larger shadow also appears accompanied by a strange warbling noise and the music creates a sense of suspense as a cut is made to a scene where she turns around very quickly as her father enters the room.  The suspense is heighten by her whispering to him that there was a shadow. Low lighting shots, hiding under the covers and sounds of whimpering followed by a large shadow and growling noise start to build the suspense and fear within the audience.

 

 

The trailer uses non-diegetic sound to great effect when there is an audible ‘click’ heard when he Blumhouse ident is shown. The click continues in a rhythmic pattern and speeds up in time getting faster and faster throughout the next rapid succession of hard cuts which include a combination of longshots, shot reverse shots, birds eye shots, wide shots and tracking shots where bacon is moving through various parts of the house.  As Bacon and Ella measure the interior and exterior of the house using a motivated edit of a tape measure the audience are introduced to the idea that something isn’t quite right about the house.  A figure is briefly seen accompanied by non-diegetic whooshing sound, followed by backlit shots of shadows through the windows at night. All of the these techniques and the close up shots of a note book with notes saying ‘you should leave now’ and ‘you should have left, now it’s too late’ and a close up shot of a watch with hands whizzing round indicates time moving quickly and somehow out of control create a feeling of mystery and fear.  A shot of a bathtub, accompanied by the sound of running water and the sight of a hand and the music escalating to a screech is contrasted by the silence that falls before the innocent voice of the small girl is heard asking ‘are you ok?”  The final shot of Bacon being grabbed by an extended hand, along with music that creates a feeling of fear, followed immediately by the inter- title You Should Have Left which flashes briefly three times reinforces the genre of the film.

 

How does the trailer draw attention to the roles taken, particularly star talent? 

Inter-titles towards the end of the trailer clearly show the names of the two stars in bold white text on a black background.  After their names have been shown there are many more close up, mid shots and reaction shots of the actors that focus the attention of the audience on them as the stars of the film.

 

What essential narrative elements are explained in the inter-titles? 

Inter-titles are used in the trailer to add to the sinister feeling the audience is getting from the clips, the soundtrack and the dialogue with the words ‘welcome home’ adding to the sinister feeling the audience is getting in respect of the house.

The release date is clearly shown using an inter-title in bold white type on a black background. 

 

How does the trailer use dialogue? 

Dialogue is used to great effect in this trailer.  The opening 8 seconds see the two main protagonists at various stages of their life together.  The establishing shot is looking out over LA at night with the car lights illuminating the city. Kevin Bacon’s character (Theo Conroy) asks Amanda Seyfried (Susanna Conroy) to “come away with me”, then immediately cuts to a two shot in a bedroom where the main focus is Bacon getting out of bed in the middle of the night rubbing his head while someone sleeps next to him.  He goes to a mirrored cabinet where he views his tired reflection. This series of hard cuts is dubbed with his voice saying that “if I don’t get out of here for a while I will go nuts” implying that the is something wrong or that he is frustrated by something.  Next we see the couple in a reaction shot by a pool with Seyfried saying “I love you so much” implying happy times for them both.  The feeling that they will be moving away from LA is reinforced by an image of a property on an estate agent website, at the same time as the idea of a daughter is introduced when Bacon says “it’s just the three of us, you, me and Ella”.  This entire process takes only 8 seconds and we gain a lot of information due to the rapid movement from one cut to another and the dialogue.  The audience are starting to wonder why the family are going to be moving away.

 

Later in the trailer dialogue is used again to increase the feeling of mystery when an old man asks Bacon if “anything has happened yet” cutting immediately to a birds eye shot of the mother worrying about little girl climbing a tree.  The diegetic scream from the girl cuts rapidly to a medium close shot of Bacon looking worried and concerned.  The mystery and suspence intensifies as a scene taken from the film includes dialogue of the couple debating who sent who the link to the house – each thinking the other sent it to the other one of them. 

 

What institutional information does the trailer contain, such as names of production company, talent, director, release date? 

52 seconds in the Universal ident is shown letting the audience know that a quality distributor made this film.  This is followed by a shot of the Blumhouse Productions ident indicating the film is the work of Jason Blum who has previously created films like The Purge and Halloween both of these are critically acclaimed psychological thrillers. Later in the trailer the Blumhouse ident is seen again, this time accompanied by the voice of the small girl saying ‘hello’ questioning if someone or something is there. It invokes a feeling that there is a predator and the Blumhouse ident strengthens the sense that this movie is going to be scary.

 

How does the trailer utilise accolades or other key hooks

Reference is made to the film the Invisible Man in an inter-title that says “Produer of the Invisible Man” this underpins the producer’s ability to create a psychological thriller.  Another inter-title showing the writer as being David Keopp is shown – this adds credibility to You Should Have Left, as it is written by a legengdary screenwriter who has previously written films like Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible and Panic Room

 

The trailer for You Should Have left follows the usual conventions for a trailer by using hard cuts of snippets of the film that use different types of shots and camera angles, shown in quick succession, with dialogue and music used to create an atmosphere of fear and intrigue, as well as including the date of release and the writer, director and producers details which all show the film is made by people who have already made really good films of a similar genre.  All of this will encourage people who like this genre of film to go and watch it to find out more, as it does not give the story away but get people interested to know what happens. Anyone who is a fan of the work of Blumhouse productions will immediately want to go and see this film.