GCSE
Media Studies
Unit
2, Assignment 2: Film Promotion and Marketing
Controlled
Assessment Task - Analysing Trailers and Website
1.
Examine your general emotional
response to the trailer and website (or at least the response they’re intended
to evoke). It can tell you a great deal about what kind of film it is. If it
leaves you smiling, it's likely intended to be a comedy. Horror films work for
a sense of foreboding and dread. Summer blockbusters aim at getting the adrenal
glands pumping; romances work to evoke a sense of yearning and passion. With
those basic emotions as a guide, you can analyze the specific means the trailer
uses to create them.
2.
Watch for a sense of story within
the trailer and the details it provides you about the plot. Though very short,
trailers still deliver a basic dramatic arc: who the characters are, the
obstacles they face and their development between the start of the film and the
end. After seeing a trailer, you should be able to briefly describe what the film
is about and the overall tone it will set.
What does the website tell you about the film? What kinds of experiences
does it offer?
3.
Look at the methods both texts
use to lure you into the cinema. Trailers ask unanswered questions, prompting
you to buy a ticket on opening day in order to find out how it all comes
out. Websites try to get you to engage
with the world of the film so that you feel part of it. Like you have contributed to it somehow. Trailers do this in many different ways: set
up the storyline and then decline to discuss the finale; stress the spectacle
on display through shots of the visual effects; emphasize the threat or danger
the characters will face. Ask yourself what the trailer is selling you and
whether that's an effective means of persuading you to buy a ticket. Websites will offer you hours of interaction
through a host of other products and services.
4.
Check for the presence of certain
actors present. Big-time movie stars are often selling points alone, and will
often be prominently featured throughout a given trailer. (Trailers sometimes
make it appear as if an actor is the center of the movie, when he just has a
cameo or supporting part.) Actors can further clue you in on the nature of the
film itself: ensemble pieces will feature numerous different actors spread
across the whole trailer; more intimate movies will center on just one or two
in theirs. The website may use pictures,
posters or even galleries. There may be
videos and special features.
5.
Pay careful attention to the use
of montage editing in a trailer. Montage is an editorial technique whereby
multiple shots are strung together to create a unified meaning. Trailers often
use them because they can achieve a given emotional effect very quickly. Watch
the way the shots are assembled, the pacing of the cuts (more cuts imply a
faster and more exciting film), and whether the assembly illuminates the film's
subject matter or simply obscures it behind empty images. Look at the combination of images used on the
website. Think about where they are
positioned, the use of background images and colours as well as text colour,
size shape and vocabulary.
6.
Listen to the sound and music in
a trailer. It's often used to indicate the mood: Like montage, music can cue
specific emotions very easily. Most trailers don't actually use music from the
film itself. (The score is the last thing to be inserted into a film.) Whatever
you're listening to likely comes from another film or a piece of classical music,
so you may not hear it in the film. Does
the website offer any audio clips or sound effects?
7.
Check taglines and catchphrases
used in a trailer. Like the other elements, the taglines are intended to give you
information about the film in a brief encapsulation. If done right, they're
exciting and intriguing. But the worst are more desperate or clichéd, relying
on stock phrases and an enforced sense of excitement rather than genuine
inspiration.
8.
Look at all of the different
links available on the website. How do
these help to promote the film? Do any
of them go beyond the immediate world of the film? If so, how do they and why do they?
USE
THIS AS A GUIDE TO WRITING YOUR ESSAY
Point 1
Write about your emotional
response to both the trailer and website and link this to the genre of the film
and the expectations that the two texts have set up in your mind about the
film.
Point 2
What do the two products
tell you about the plot of the film? Who
are the characters, what obstacles will they face and what is the film’s
overall tone? Write about how both
products create a sense of narrative – through use of characters, mise-en-scene,
colour, visuals, music, key moments of dialogue, special effects, special
features and other links available.
Point 3
What questions have been
set up in your mind which the film should answer? Which particular elements makes you want to
go and see the film? Choose at least two
examples from each product.
Point 4
Who is involved in this
movie – any big name actors? What
expectations do they set up in your head (eg. Which previous films did they
do?) What about the director and the
company that made the film? Are they
well known to you and what do you expect from their type of movie?
Point 5
How is the trailer
edited? Is the montage fast paced or
more dreamy? Describe how the editing
sets up the film’s tone. Compare this to
how the website is constructed. How is
the website set out? How does it use colour,
image and text? Is there a sense of
unity with the film/trailer? Are they
clearly recognizable as belonging to the same film’s marketing campaign?
Point 6
Write about the use of
music, dialogue and sound effects and how the film’s atmosphere is evoked
through sound from both products.
Point 7
Finally, what else is
there that is similar or different between the two? is there a tagline
used? What does it say about the film’s
genre and how effectively does it sell the movie. What other services does the website offer
that the trailer cannot?
Which one do you prefer
and why?
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