Below I have chosen to deconstruct two film trailers. I have chosen to deconstruct 'Insidious' and 'The last exorsism' due to the fact that the genre of these films are horror/ thriller. Deconstructing these existing trailers will allow us to outline what techniques have been used in order to successfully portray this genre to the audience through the film trailer.
Insidious film trailer
Below is the the insidious film trailer that i have copied onto my blog from YouTube, if you have any problems when playing this trailer i have inserted a link below from the original site that can also be watched.
The trailer begins with displaying a logo of whom distributed the move. In this case Film District has distributed Insidious and the logo appears for approximately 2 seconds.
This is then followed by the title of the film Insidious appearing in a thin white jagged type on a black background the type appears slowly from the corners of the text to an high pitched sound, the letters then then mix around and disappear with the sound of scrolling just leaving IS in its place it mixes around twice saying: INSIDIOUS.. IS.. INSIDIOUS .....IS .... this last approximately 5 seconds.
After this process a dull thud, quickly changes the camera shot to the close up shot of a man sitting in a chair directly in front of the camera, he then becomes the main focus. Another characters voice out of shot then says ' Are you ready?' the character in the chair then reply by saying 'Yeah'. This then makes the audience question what is about to happen.
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| Metronome |
The shot then moves down and focuses on a metronome which is a musical time keeper that has a loud tick like a clock. A mans arm then comes into shot and flicks the time keeper on. When the time keeper is on the ticking sound stays on for the duration of the trailer to add suspense, this is up until we see some clips of the film, where sound effects are used. After the metronome is on, the screen then goes black, this is when the producers announce other successful films of the same genre they have created. In this case ' from the makers of Paranormal Activity and Saw' the text appears to the rhythm of the ticking each work appearing with a tick.
After this is shown a series of 7 shots of the family involved are shown quickly with not much continuity, these first seven shots show the family acting like a typical happy family. The last shot then shows one of the children fallen off of a ladder, when he falls to the floor a large thud then flips the shot into the text 'Insidious....Is' the same as the beginning sequence. After this a further 2 shots are are shown from the film and the plot begins to be reveled by the mother of the boy. She says two sentences that explain the situation in an emotional state. The text then appears for a third time: 'Insidious.....is'. The audience is then shown a longer section of the film lasting around 8 seconds. The shot is of the mum discovering paranormal activity , a rocking horse moving by itself. The text 'Insidious...is' is then shown for a fourth time. Still with the scrolling, spooky sound effects.
The short clips of film then speed up, changing quickly creating a build up in emotions e.g. anticipation, fear and excitement. More of the plot is revealed from another characters voice, the audience does not see her, but her calm, elderly voice gives the impression that she is knowledgeable and in control of the situation. The text then appears another several times and the shadows of inhuman figures are seen in the short clips. As the clips become faster more sound effects from the movie are heard by the audience, this is trying to make them jump and be frightened, giving the impression that the film is going to be very scary.
Towards the end of the trailer the sound effects and short, sharp, shots come to an abrupt end leaving total silence until the elderly woman speaks calmly revealing more about the situation in the film. Whilst the woman is speaking a the camera moves slowly down a dark corridor. Then suddenly a high pitched rewinding sound effect id heard and a number of very fast moving shots from the film are shown, until finally the text Insidious..is appears for a final time with a thud. The shot then faids to a black background revealing the date of the movies realise in small white writing that appears for around 4 seconds. The writing is small so that the audience has to really focus on the text to read it, this then sets the audience up for a scare when a loud screaming, woman's face jumps out at the screen. The ticking sound then re-appears whilst the credits are shown for around 2 seconds.
The last Exorcism
Below is the The last Exorcism film trailer that i have copied onto my blog from YouTube, if you have any problems when playing this trailer i have inserted a link below from the original site that can also be watched.
The trailer begins with the name of
several of its the distributers that are commonly known, they appearing conjunction with a scratching, high pitched sound effect. One of the well know distributers is below.
text then appears with the same sound effect as the beginning, the text is on black background in small white text. This text reveals more about the character the audience presume was the man speaking. We learn the reason why he is so calm and what profession he is in. The noise then becomes louder as the text disappears and a short clip of a young girl closing a door is shown, this is then cut off by another piece of text this time with finger prints on the screen. it is a short clarifying sentence that says ' This will be the last'. A series of short clips from the film are shown quickly building up the plot as the characters speak. this is then interrupted by the name of the producer in large, gold text.
this in then followed by another short clip of a later point in the film. The character that isn't in the shot is asking a question the his big bold voice. The audience is then presented with the name of another well known, successfully film that these producers have also produced.
Other clips from the film accompanied by sound effects appear consecutively to text. The text asks the audience questions making them relate to the situation in some way. The questions are about god and the belief in the devil.
We discover the relationship between the characters at this point.
We discover the relationship between the characters at this point.
this is then followed by several fast pace action shots of the film. this in the stopped sharply by silence and then the main character saying shockingly, 'oh my god. That is not human'. This is then followed by a final shot of the girl in a frightening Poisson. the screen then flickers into darkens and the title of the film, the producers and the realise date are then announced by the narrator.
I have also selected a film trailer from a different genre that I'm going to deconstruct: The title of the film is Paul, this film is in the cross genre of science fiction comedy. This film did well at the box office and had a great reception from the viewers, it was very successful. Because of this i feel that by deconstructing this film trailer, it will give added inspiration on how to make our trailer a success.
Below is the trailer i have downloaded fom youtube if you have any problems trying to view the trailer, i have also added the link from the page that can be followed.
Paul
This film trailer begin with showing to short clips of the producers and distributers company names, the first one being the recognisable 'Universal', this is follwed by 'working title'.
Whilst these titles are being shown the music from a popular song is played, it begins with a banjo, when the artist starts to sing the titles flip straight into the action. The music reflects what is happening. The 'hillbilly' western type music id matched with the scene of a large camper van speeding down a highway. The shot then moves to a close up of a road sign 'extorestrial highway', as the camper van zooms past. As the audience is shown the sign the music simmers out and the voice of a character begin to reveal the plot. This voice of the character is still saying this when the shot changes. The audience finds out who is staying this, she is asking the main characters a question that if answered will reveal what is happening. the characters have a conversation and the audience finds out where, what and why. Whilst the conversation is happening short clips of the film are shown that are relevant to what they are talking about.
The shot then flips with the click of the characters camera, the same music starts to play and text appears in bright yellow capital letters that contrast with the blue background. The texts says;' THERE WHERE MANY SIGHTS THEY PLANNED TO SEE. This then jumps right into the action of a car crashing, still with the music playing accompanied by the screams of the characters in a humerus way. when the car stops flipping over another set of text appears in the same style; ' THIS WAS NOT FOR THEM' this answers the question raised from the first text.
After the text is removed, the sound of slight drums keep a stead up beat rhythm, so that the audience stays interested 'its a feel good' its a feel good action trailer. The drumming is consistent whist the the audience is shown the most important clips of the film, containing major plot points an comedy banter. amongst the clips some slides of text are slotted in revealing for example other successful comedy films the producer has made. Another classic, upbeat song is played towards the end of the trailer as several fast shots are shown of the film, where the characters are having a good time. The title of the trailer than appears followed by another short clip of the action that contains comedy. the song then plays for a second time and the date of the film release is shown. This is the end of the trailer and the audience has been through several emotions including allot of laughter, the trailer ended on a feel good high. This trailer i think is very successful in intising the audience to watch the film, it made me feel good and i felt the need to go see the film.
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