Film Trailer Narrative Idea

Title: Forgotten

Main concept: Loss of memory

The main idea of the film is that there is someone who has lost their memory. The film is set is at the time all of the memories are coming back, good and bad. The issue is that the main character doesn't recognise anyone in the memories. As the memories come flooding back the main character gets more and more confused, they don't understand what is happening. They realise that some how they have some one else's memories.

In the trailer there won't be much about the story line, it will hint at a lot of different things and will make the audience want to see the film in order to find out what happens. It will involve a lot of short shots and will be fast paced which is a convention of the thriller genre.

Audience Research Survey

I don't want to base all of my audience research on this survey, i think that my focus group is better to find what sort of things i should include in my trailer, but i think that this survey will help me choose my target audience. This is some of the questions on my survey, to see the full survey please go to this link:

Survey Monkey Audience Research

How will Trailer Analysis Help me?

I think that trailer analysis has really helped me get a good grasp on the codes and conventions meaning that I know have a good understanding of how they are used and how they can make my trailer better. Furthermore this has also meant that I have a better idea of how trailers are edited meaning that I can use this to make my own trailer. Also I it has given me a good idea of what sort of shots that I can use in my trailer.

Third Film Trailer Analysis

This video was made with the presentation software called Powtoon, it was quite easy to use but to do a lot of writing it isn't very good as you have pause the video in order to read the writing.

Second Film Trailer Analysis - Slideshow

First Film Trailer Analysis - Essay Form

Before I Go to Sleep is a thriller film based on a bestselling novel. A women is in a traumatic accident where she receives blows to the head which cause her to wake up every day having forgotten everything she learned from the day before. She is told to record a video diary so that she can remind herself of what she learnt the day before, whilst doing this she discovers the truth around what happened to her.

The close up of the eye in the establishing shot of the trailer is very disconcerting to the viewer as this breaks the conventions of a trailer when the establishing shot is normally of a setting to set the scene and this normally gives the audience an idea of the genre of the film as they can tell from where it is based. The fact that there is an extreme close up of the eye could make the audience quite uncomfortable as they are so close to a person which is not normal. Having dilated pupils is an obvious sign that someone is scared, but the eye does not have dilated pupils which could confuse the audience as normally we are shown close ups of faces and expression to portray an emotion, but there doesn’t seem to be one, this will make the audience wonder what the significance of the eye is.

The sudden movement of the woman waking up shows that she woke up suddenly as of from a bad dream, then she looks around and doesn’t seem to know where she is. The audience then see a man lying next to her. This is seems normal, except for the fact that she asks “Who are you?” This has connotations of a drunk hook up which would explain the fact that she doesn’t know where she is. The man replies saying “I’m your husband” which is confusing as she should know who her husband is. This, along with the fear in her eyes when she is talking to him makes the audience worry for her as they don’t know why she is in that situation.

The unknown man who states to be her husband starts to help explain why she doesn’t know who he is because she had an accident which resulted in her “storing information for a day” but then forgetting it when she wakes up the next. This is the first bit of information about the narrative and even though it does answer some questions that the trailer has already created it makes even more.

The short flashing image of the police creates a sense of dread as this could imply that everything is not as it seems. This is then followed by the phone ringing, the short shots create a sinister feel to the phone ringing and the fact they zoom in on her hand when she pick up the phone makes the audience assume that the person ringing is bad.

The person on the other end of the phone turns out to be Dr Nasch, a doctor who is helping her with her memory. The thing that creates tension is the fact that he then says “I’m not sure if Ben knows”, this sounds shifty and makes him seem untrustworthy, combined with the fact that the camera work has made him seem like a bad person makes the audience distrust him.

The shot going backwards down a hallway, probably done on a dolly, depicts a bigger problem, there is an overshadowing thing that they need to work out in order to get past this. The solution seems to get further and further away as the camera quickly moves back. Later in the trailer the woman is seen running down the same corridor,
almost she is chasing something, the resolution?

The woman asks “Who tried to kill me?” after she found out she was found naked with “repeated blows to the head”. This is a convention of the thriller genre, they are trying to figure out an enigma or two, who tried to kill her and how can she keep her memory.

The white light that flashes on screen could represent the woman’s memory, blank, nothingness. It could also symbolises her aloneness which is then solidified at the end of the trailer when she tells herself to trust no one.

The use of the black and white flashbacks create a sense of unease for the audience because along with the tense music makes the audience untrusting of “Claire”.

The music that accompanies the trailer is full of big drum hits and otherwise is quite repetitive. The use of this music creates tension for the audience and the repetition of the motif could represent the repetition of the woman trying to get her memory back each day.

The sound of the heart monitor not picking up a heartbeat could be foreshadowing to the audience that something bad is going to happen to her, such as the person who tried to kill her previously trying to kill her again. This creates a sense of worry for her as she is in a vulnerable position, but at the same time intrigues the audience as they want to know what happens to her.

The husband is represented as the victim as his wife doesn’t know who he is and he has to remind her every day. Also he is shown to be crying about the situation that he is in, making him get sympathy from the audience. He is also shown to be protective over her as he tells Dr Nasch “get away from my wife” this shows him to also be very loving towards her as stayed with her even though she doesn’t know who he is.

There are lots of short shots that are edited into a montage which is a convention of the thriller genre, also the fact that the story line is quite realistic and it seems like it could happen to anyone which makes the story scarier and more intense for the people watching it.

This is a very effective trailer as it creates so many questions for the viewer to answer.  Also as it is quite confusing the viewer will want to watch it in order to understand the story line better. I think that thriller trailers should create lots of questions which cause the viewer to think about it more and even what it again without knowing the story line completely and I think trailer has managed to do this. 

Format Research

I did an analysis of The Maze Runner Trailer with a partner, when doing this I looked at 4 main headings which were, Genre, Narrative, Representation and Link to Theories. With in these headings I looked at camera, editing, mise-en-scene and sound which really helped me analyse the trailer, so I think when I analyse the film trailers that this layout will help me more with my research.

Here is the Slideshow we made along with what we said about each topic.


Genre: The use of the sudden sounds makes the start of the trailer jumpy and creates a sense of urgency immediately. This implies to the audience that there will be jumps and the film will be quite intense. This is a stereotype of an Action film. Also at the beginning there is a sound that could be connoted as a heart beat, this could make that the audience feel tense, this implies that it is a thriller. The way that the sound is used, with the loud bangs and sudden silences creates tension and tells the audience right from the beginning that the film will be tense and there will be action, this implies that it is an action/thriller The fact that this is a dystopian film and that there is the use of mechanical creatures and unknown technology implies that this is a science fiction film. There is a sense of make believe which again links to science fiction films. Towards the end, the trailer gets faster and faster, this shows that it is an action film also the fact that the setting gets darker and more sinister makes the audience tense. This is part of the thriller genre as it creates suspense and excitement. There is also an investigation about an “enigma” which is another convention of the thriller genre The reason that this trailer/film is part of the science fiction genre as it incorporates hypothetical themes that are a main part of the plot. This is a dystopian film.

 Representation: The contrast of the dark and light lighting could link to the idea of religion. You ascend to heaven and the white lights could represent heaven. However this is not the case it is the complete opposite, Tomas does not appear in heaven. This is a juxtaposition. The black guy (Alby) is seen as quite and a leader. He is shown to know the most about the maze and why they are there. This is shown when he says “they are never going to let us out” this makes the audience wonder who they are. Although he is in charge of the glade, he is not in charge of the bigger picture. Also Tomas seems, through the trailer, to end up taking over the leadership position. They are both show to be leaders as the other people in the glade listen to them and respect them. The girl is represented as weak by the boys in the glade as they protect her. This links to Propp’s theory of the Damsel in distress/ princess. The girl is also seen as a significant as she is the only girl that has ever been to the glade and also knows Tomas’ name when she arrives whereas when Tomas arrived he could remember nothing. The maze could represent how teenagers are threatened by society. The maze also shows how separated from the world these boys are and it adds another obstacle to them finding their way out.

Narrative: The white lighting gives the impression of coldness and harshness. This could imply that no one cares about these boys and they have been sent there as a punishment. It also gives it quite a clinical clean feel, as if the could be an experiment. The establishing shot of the “glade” shows them to be surrounded by a huge concrete wall, this supports the idea they are in prison. The use of the spinning camera work and the overlapping of the picture implies to the audience that the character doesn’t know where he is. It shows confusion that both the audience and the character are experiencing this for the first time. A character then says “welcome to the glade” this shows that the people there are ‘local’ and native to this setting as they say it with ease and it sound like they use the word all the time. The Glade is introduced to the audience and the new character like it is well known. This could be a link to the book as fans of the book will most probably know what The Glade is. There is also the word “greenie” used. This adds the amounting questions that the audience and the new character have, you hope that in the film these will be answered, making you want to see it. The audience are then introduced to the Maze. This again assuming that the audience knows what the maze is, creating more questions When the audience first sees the Tomas he is confused and in a lift. The audience then find out that he has lost his memory. The rest of the film is him finding where he is and the dangers of this, but then a girl arrives the same way Tomas did. This starts a change in the glade. The girl and Tomas then become friends. Tomas meanwhile is trying to find a way out. He tries to help people escape. There is no voice over, it is purely narrated by the characters meaning that the audience get a better idea of who the characters are and how they are interpreting the situation. The questions they ask are probably the same as the ones that the audience are asking as both are experiencing this situation for the first time.

Links to Theorists: When analysing this trailer, elements of Propp’s theory comes into play. First off; Propp suggests that there will be a damsel in distress, this is suggested in the trailer when the girl looks vulnerable as she is being protected when the boys surround her when danger is about. When the girl arrives in the glade she creates moral panic as she threatens the social order of the glade.

Theories

Film Institutions and Distribution

Focus Group

Short Trailer Analysis of a Previous Media Studies Students Trailer

From this trailer I realised that i have to think about every little detail for my trailer.