Film trailer comparison

I am going to compare two starwars trailer, Empire strikes back - 1980 and Revenge of the sith - 2005. I will compare the codes and conventions of the two trailers and how they have changed over a period of years.

Starwars - empire strikes back
The trailer begings with the recognised starwars opening them with the blue colour starwars logo panning slowly closer to the screen with a galaxy/universe background. The trailer then flicks through two second shots from the film in a random order. The Trailer consistently refers back to the oncoming starwars logo each time it is closer to the screen. There is consistant digetic sound in time with the actions in the scene. The music is orchestral, traditional david williams music. The shots consist of medium to close up to extreme long shots showing all the key characters and identifyable props such as lightsabres. The mise en scene is the most noticeable in the trailer as it identify the genre clarly being sci-fi.

Starwars - Revenge of the sith
The trailer begins with Advertisements such as luasfilm and 20th century which is a change in years passing as it shows a more modernised media instituion. The music is orchestral however more slow and quiet at the beginning, the main sound is the non digetic sound from the characters however only certain scenes show the lipsink to be in time. The mise en scene is also clearly shown through the trailer as there is clar view of lightsablres and spaceships. The storyline is more identifyable as it is narated through the sound and relevent images. The trailer then flicks through two second shots from the movie. alot more is revealed in thia trailer than the first and the scenes contain alot more action and cgi showing their is an improvmenet in film investment and the companys can afford to include these formats and also the twenty five year gap shows how cinema entertainment has dramatically improved.

History of trailers

Besides in front of theatrical releases, movie trailers have now become extremely popular on the internet. Of some 10-billion videos online annually, movie trailers rank #3, after news and user created videos

The first trailer shown in a U.S movie theater was in November 1913, when Nils Granlund, the advertising manager for the Marcus loew theater chain, produced a short promotional film for the musical the pleasure seekers, opening at the winter Garden theater on Broadway.

Up until the late 1960s, the face of motion picture trailers changed. Text less, montage trailers and quick editing became popular, largely due to arrival of the 'new Hollywood' and techniques that were becoming increasingly popular in television. Among the trend setters were Stanley Kubrick with his montage trailers for Lolita Dr. Strange love or how i learned to stop worrying and Love the Bomb, in 2001 A space odyssey.

In 1964 , Andrew J Kuehn distributed his independently produced trailer for Night of the iguana, using stark, high contrast photography, fast paced editing and a provocative narration by a young James Earl Jones. His format was so successful, he began producing this new form of trailer with partner Dan Davis.

Kuehn opened the west coast office of Kaleidoscope films in 1968 and Kuehn and his company became a major player in the trailer industry for the next three decades

Top trailer companies have all been run by former Kaleidoscope creatives, like the Cimarron Group (Chris Arnold) , Ant Farm, Aspect Ratio(Mark Trugman), Trailer Park (Benedict Coulter) and Motor Entertainment run by Greg McClatchy, who previously headed up the film marketing division at 20th century Fox.

Codes and conventions of Trailers

Trailers consist of a series of selected shots from the film being advertised. Since the purpose of the trailer is to attract an audience to he film, these excerpts are usually drawn from the most exciting, funny, or otherwise noteworthy parts of the film but in abbreviated form and usually without producing spoilers. For this purpose the scenes are not necessarily in the order in which they appear in the film. A trailer has to achieve that in less than two and a half minutes, the maximum length allowed by theaters. Each studio or distributor s allowed to exceed this time limit once a year, if they feel it is necessary for a particular film.

Some trailers use 'special shoot' footage, one of the most famous 'special shoot' trailers is that used for the 1960s psycho, which featured director Alfred Hitchcock giving viewers a guided tour of the bates Motel. Eventually arriving at the infamous shower. At this point, the soft-spoken Hitchcock suddenly throws the shower curtain back to reveal Vera Miles with a blood-curdling scream.

The People who create trailers often begin their work while the movie is still being shot. Since the edited movie does not exist at this point, the trailer editors work from rushes or dailies. The trailer may be created at agencies such as;
The Cimarron Group
MOJO
The Ant Farm
Aspect ratio
Trailer Park

Conventions
Reflective genre
Graphic captions - director's name, date of release, text related to the film
Non-diegetic music - this can help reflect the genre
Production company logo i.e. 2oth Century Fox or Paramount
Narrative enigma - this can help set the film up
Editing - Quick or slow depending on the genre to create tension, excitement or mood
Close ups - this will show off the stars in the movie

Trailer Terminology

Plot summary
Most trailers have a three-act structure similar to a feature-length film. They start with a beginning (act1) that lays out the premise of the story. The middle (act 2) drives the story further and usually ends with a dramatic climax. Act 3 usually features strong piece of 'signature music' (either a recognizable song or a powerful, sweeping orchestral piece). The last act often consists of a visual montage of powerful and emotional moments of the film and may also contain a cast run if there are noteworthy stars that could help promote the movie.

Voice over
Voice-over narration is used to briefly set up the premise of the movie and provide explanation when necessary ('in a world...'). since the trailer is a highly condensed format, voice over is a useful tool to enhance the audience's understanding of the plot.

Music
Music helps set the tone and mood of the trailer. Usually the music in the trailer is not from the film itself ( the film score may not have been composed yet). the music used in the trailer may be:
Music from the score of other movies
Popular or well known music, often chosen for its tone, appropriateness of a lyric or lack-there-of, or recognizably.
'Library' music previously composed specifically to be used in advertising by an independent composer.
Specially composed music.
Songs, which may include knock offs of recognizable (but expensive to license) songs.

Cast, crew, and studio information
A cast run is a list of the stars that appear in the movie. If the director or producer is well-known or has made other popular movies, they often warrant a mention as well. Most trailers conclude with a Billing Block, which is a list of the principal cast and crew. It is the same list that appears on posters and print publicity materials, and also usually appears on screen at the beginning(or end) of the movie.

Studio production logos are usually featured near the beginning of the trailer. Until the late 70s, they were put only at the end of the trailer. Often there will be logos for both the production company and distributor of the film.

Technical elements
Sound mix: many movie trailers are presented in Dolby digital or any other multichannel sound mix. Scenes including sound effects and music that are enhanced by stereophonic sound are therefore the focus point of many modern trailers.
Video resolution: Movie trailers preceding feature films are generally presented in the same format as the feature, being in general terms 35mm film or a digital format. High Bandwidth internet connections allows for trailers to be distributed at any resolution up to 1080p.

A2 Coursework brief

For My A2 Coursework i will be creating a promotional package for a new film. The promotional package will include a teaser trailer, a website homepage for the film, a film magazine front cover for the film and a poster advertising the film.

Poster campaign

This poster was the first poster released for the market campaign. It shows a picture of harry potter which is instantly recognized by the fans of the genre. The poster is very dark which contrasts with the trailer as it is also rather dark. The Warner brothers logo is displayed which is also is also shown in the trailer. The poster con notates magic and evil which also reflects in the trailer. Very little is relieved in the poster which makes the audience want to no more which they get from watching the trailer.The font style is the same which is easily recognized by the target audience. The Poster interprets the suspense created from the trailer which can also encourage the audience to want to go and visit the website link at the bottom of the poster, this builds synergy. Further production companies are shown at the bottom as well as in the trailer which is also a use of synergy. And there are also several other posters of the same layout however with different characters which may persuade the audience to look into it further by watch t.v spots or even more trailers.

This poster also contained the same use of synergy to promote the film and website supportive s. However this poster is more easily recognized as the image shows all three characters running through a forest which is also shown in the trailer. This can create synergy as the audience may visit the website links or re watch the trailer so that they can see the clip out of interest.

 The Harry Potter  Poster campaign is consistent throughout each poster as it initially highlights too the audience that it is Harry potter and that it is the final film by its caption 'it all ends here'. This indicates that the previous films have all been a build up to this finale and the emotional concept of harry the main character featured on each page shows that the story ends with a dramatic emotional twist.  For people who have read the book and know how the story ends, the action pact theme of Harry and Voldemort heightens the excitement of fans who have no read the book and await the final conclusion to the trilogy. The background consists of the dark blueish greens, which in this case connotates the 'killing curse spell'. The overall aim of this poster is to create suspense and excitement as it is the final build up through the trilogy and it will all end in a vicious battle. The film is split up into two parts, that is why i have chosen the third poster from part 2. The theme of it is completely different from part 1 as the idea of the battle is clearly shown. If you focus on Harry you can see he is bruised and scared from the battle indicating that in order for him to triumph over evil, it will be a challenging and hard task. Overall the posters main effect is that it does not even need to display the films complete title. It simply show, 'hp7pt2' and then the heading  'It all ends 7.15' The simple phrase of it all ends is a powerful statement as it is a world wide phenominum and it will be an emotional end for it's fans.

Codes and Conventions of Harry potter trailer and one other trailer in thw same genre as my film

I am going to analyse the codes and conventions of the harry potter trailer. I will start with the technical aspect by identifying the trailers use of camera angles. The trailer begins with a short clip feature from the actual film which lasts 56 seconds. this scene consists of medium, long and close up shots portraying to the audience that this scene is an important aspect, however is flicked through briefly so nothing is ruined however leaving it with a cliff hanger so the audience are eager but yet confused as it shows the main character harry potter about to be killed. this is an extremely clever way to utilize the audience as confusion is the minds worst enemy and the audience are keen to find out what happens. The trailer then follows a path of single camera shots from different scenes of the film. the camera shots shown last o more than 6 seconds not relieving too much of the movie content. They Consist of closeups and medium shots then followed by more extremely long shots towards the end for the more dramatic and action related scenes. The scenes are in a mixed order which is an important aspect as the audience do not want to watch the film in 6 seconds sections. In terms of music used the trailer begins with very light but eerie music which enforces the chilling scene the audience are seeing for the first 56 seconds. The trailer then explodes into separate clips with a very dramatic choir-sh tempo in time with the trailer content. The trailer has a heavy use of non diegetic sound as the voices and noise source is not viable but edited into the trailer. The mise en scene of magic is of heavy use as the character clothing mainly consists of wizard robes. The Props are mainly magic wands and broomsticks and also the trailer is very dark which signify s to the audience that the film has a semantic field of death and evil as plenty of violence is present in the trailer. The edits in the trailer add to the suspending effect on the audience as some of the clips are sown down to give a more dramatic affect. Another edit used is the titles included as text is displayed on a black background zooming into the audience to narrate the trailers plot. The genre is initially reviled as fantasy as the use of magic spells and dragons are shown. And finally the trailer is very cleverly narrated as the trailer contains clips from two films as the deathly hallows is split into two. However their is know initial order for each movies clips to go into so nothing is spoiled. For example the beginning clip is from part 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWCAf-xLV2k

I am now going to give a detailed analysis of a trailer which fits into the same genre as the film i am going to create. The link above is for the Silence of the lambs trailer, a suspensive thriller film which replicates certain similarities of the chilling Hansel and Gretle movie i am going to be making. The Most important comparison of this trailer is the similar codes and conventions used to create a suspensive effect. The Cameria shots used are the backbone of this fierce trailer. The use of point of view and over the shoulder shots gives the impression to the audiance that Hanible lecter is always one step a head and keeps a watchful eye on his victims. I am relating this character with the Witch/creature in my movie as i will be making notes on the clever camera shots. The trailer uses a variety of close up and extreme close up snap shots to flicker through important scenes giving the audiance a clear rendition of wjhat the film consists of but does not spoil or give away too much of the plot. The use of grapic matches and pan shots allows the trailer to give a tense feeling about the film which is improtant for a thrilling effect. The trailers sound is a cornerstone to this thrilling effect as the fast ffective camera shots are matched with a gripping  digetic dialogue keeping the audiance informed with the storyline. Behind this is a constant frightening soundtrack consisting of very quiet but yet intense music. A clever use of non digetic sound is then used to inteisfy the scenes as constant sound effect are used to combine with the fast camera changes to create a malicious feeling about the character. This use of edits is important to this trailer as the camera and sound effects proved to be a useful tool in this suspensive trailer. The mise en scene of the trailer dioes not follow and traiditional boarderline of many genres. The genre is a thriller therefore the mise en scene can consist of a large variety of settings. The obvious genre setting for this realtes with the storyline which is shown mainly in the location of the shots. The shots are filmed in mental wards which lads the audiance to beleive that it is something to do with the criminally insane pateints. The clthing used mainly consist sof the main character "hanble lectrer's" white mental instituion overals and police/mental instituion staff unforms. The date and time is not clearly reiterateds however it does not realy make and important point, the initial backgrund information is all informed through the use of mise en scene.

Marketing a film

The purpose of trailers to market a film are to gain a sense of excitement and prosperity as it gives the audience a sneak peak of the films content. The film trailer can in some cases be the main determiner to the cinema attendance for a film. The aspect of film trailers is to leak short clips from the actual movie to make the audience want to see more and gain a higher cinema attendance and more attraction to the film. It is important to make sure that a happy medium is selected for a trailer as enough needs to be relieved to fill the audiences cinema appetite, but also not ruining the film by including all of the films best bits. The average running time for a film trailer is two minutes which allows the plot of the film to be reviled so the audience can gain a relative understanding. Opinions are normally decided by watching a film trailer, as different techniques can be used to create a successful tease. Some Producers specify in keeping the trailers short and simple as hey do not want the movies content to be reveled at such an early stage, however unless there is well know actors or directors the movie may not gain as much attention. Other producers make the trailers explosive and intense to drag the audiences mind into the motion picture, aiming to etch the films name into the core of their mind.
Another way in which film industries market their films is by using successful film magazines such as Empire and Premier. Using these highly rated magazines attracts an immense amount of attention as the audience are easily influenced by this as they rely on these magazines for the information on the successful new films soon to be released. Movie magazines are placed in a range of places such as shop shelves all across the world which makes the audiences attention hard to miss as the movie is practically forced down their throat after the amount of times they have seen it.
Posters are another way in which are marketed across the world as months before the premier, bus stops, cinemas, restaurants, shops, malls mainly everywhere, movie posters are displayed. It is impossible for the audience to miss them as they cant even take a drive in the car without a twenty foot tall film advertisement swallow their vision. Posters work towards the promotion of films through trailers as the characters or images seen in the trailer are remembered and related to when the posters are seen. The posters re market the film as the audience remember the trailer and experience the excitement and suspense for the film.