Trailer Analysis - Up in the Air

This trailer is very different from the previous two trailers that I have analysed, and most of the reasons are simply a result of the film being a very different genre. It is more of a teaser trailer, as opposed to the previous two theatrical trailers, and the entire trailer is crafted around the continuous voice over. The voice over guides the trailer and the shots are matched to the voice over, making the voice over the central feature of the trailer. It is spoken by the lead protagonist, which is established in the opening shot, so that the audience knows who they are listening to. The whole voice over is very philosophical; it's not the conventional trailer voice over, where the speaker explains the storyline or their life, but instead it presents the audience with something to think about. The speech from the film that the voice over was taken from is speaking to an audience from a stage, but the audience of this trailer don't know that, so it is as if the character is speaking directly to them. Near the start it says 'Imagine for a second that you are wearing a backpack' and through these words immediately the audience is drawn in, as they are being asked to get involved. As he goes on to explain everything that goes into the backpack the audience continue to be involved as they follow his instructions. This makes the trailer stand out, as in most other trailers the audience would sit back and watch a trailer that would cram as many exciting moments in as possible. However in this case, the entire trailer is kept fairly low key and the pace isn't pulled around with much.  Again this makes the trailer stand out much more, and would interest more intelligent, thoughtful audiences.

The questions that are posed in this voice over appeal to the 'need for fulfilment' described in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Maslow suggests that adverts should appeal to one or more of the needs in his 'hierarchy of needs', and the need for fulfilment is the idea that audience's are constantly seeking fulfilment and meaning in life. Travel adverts often appeal to this need. This trailer does it by suggesting  an ideology, and the audience, eager to explore all avenues of life, would watch the film to discover how this method of fulfilment works out for the character. In a way they are using the protagonist as a test case for his own theory and seeing if it is a way that they could chose to live their life. Although it appeals to this one of Maslow's needs, it directly contradicts another - the need for affiliation and friendship. This need plays on people's desire to be popular and well-liked - a technique commonly used by cosmetic and shampoo companies. In this trailer it suggests that relationships are not worth it, and that you should restrain from getting involved in a relationship because they weigh you down. That is the complete opposite of what Maslow suggested, however it is twisted to the film's advantage. By changing the convention, audience's are drawn in by the originality of it and are interested to see how it works out. It works in a similar way to establishing an enigma.

Another reason why I believe that this is a successful trailer is because of the credits that it shows over the course of the trailer. There are two main credits that come up, that would both independently get a very large audience. The first of these is 'Academy Award Winner George Clooney. Even if the audience didn't know who George Clooney was, they'd still be drawn in by the fact that he has won an academy award. The award makes the film seems much more 'high brow' as it has had the support of a well respected actor. It also draws in the audience as they assume that the acting throughout the film will be very strong, as it contains an award winning actor. Before the film even comes out, assumptions are made that the acting is very good, and as there isn't much else for audience's to go by, the film establishes a good reputation before it even hits cinemas. But the other half of the credit holds just as much weight in this case, as George Clooney is one of the most famous actors in the world. Again, hearing the name George Clooney, people make assumptions that the acting is going to be very strong and not amateur. He also has a very large fan base, so the film is guaranteed an audience through his fans. The second major credit that comes up is 'From the Director of Thank you for smoking and Juno'. This holds a lot of power as well, as Juno is a very famous film and was very critically acclaimed, being nominated for Best Picture. By mentioning that the two films share a director, the film makers are transferring the audience of Juno onto Up in the Air and gaining a significant audience that way. Also, if audience's haven't seen or even heard of either of the films, they would still make assumptions that the Director is very experienced and has made films which obviously some people have heard of and are most likely prestigious otherwise they would not be mentioned. This connects the audience to the director with a bond of trust, which makes them want to go and see the film.

The real strength of this trailer, for me, lies in the slick style to it. Everything in the film looks very clean and modern, so it is very nice to look at. Shots like the ones at 0:43 and 0:54 look very well lit and clean. It makes the whole film look like it has a high production value and it looks very professional. Every shot looks artistic and well thought through. So in this case I don't think that it is necessarily the strength of the advertising that is needed, but the pure strength of filmmaking is what drives this trailer forward. The voice over is supported heavily by the visuals, and without the strong visuals, it would most likely fall apart and be boring. I have learnt from the way that the shots are presented in this trailer that when making my trailer I need to think very carefully about every shot, rather than just throwing in some shots to fill time. In this trailer everything seems very well put together and well planned, and so it is obvious that in my trailer, just as much thought and planning needs to go into it.

Magazine Front Cover Analysis - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

This is the Empire front cover for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which I both like and dislike in equal measure. To start positively I think that the photo is very powerful and has a really strong effect on the viewer. Firstly the choice of the characters for the front cover is important, as it hasn't chosen the main characters, but instead shows the supporting characters who didn't appear in the first Hobbit movie. Most importantly it shows the character Legolas, who was one of the leading characters in the Lord of the Ring's Trilogy. This makes fans of the original Lord of the Rings more excited for the film as he was one of the best-loved characters. Also having him centre of the poster, more prominent than the other two characters makes him stand out more, and the viewers' attention is immediately drawn to him. Also to help the viewer to remember everything they loved about him, he is aiming his bow at the viewer. The bow and arrow was Legolas' trademark weapon, which in the Lord of the Ring's trilogy he could use with incredible skill. Another effect that aiming the arrow towards the viewer is that they feel drawn into the picture because he is directly connecting with them. It gives the front cover a 3D element and makes the character jump off the page and drag the audience into the action. At the same time the pose is quite intimidating as he is aiming a weapon at the viewer and his face is hardly friendly. In a way, he seems to be challenging the viewer and daring them to buy the magazine. This pose appeals to a male audience, who stereotypically impressed by shows of masculinity and athleticism. Legolas's pose is very masculine, so a man would feel manly in buying the magazine. The other two characters to either side of Legolas also have very powerful poses. Tauriel, the elf on the left seems to be turned slightly away from the camera but with her head turned to look at the viewer. This gives the impression that she can do what she wants and she is more powerful than the viewer. She seems to demonstrate the epitome of a powerful woman, something that is becoming very fashionable in today's society. Tauriel seems to have complete control of her actions and almost not care that she is on a magazine front cover. In her hand she is holding a sword, which further solidifies this interpretation of her as a powerful and dominant woman. She appeals to a female audience and in particular to a feminist audience. In the first Hobbit film there was only one female character, against at least twenty male characters, so in this front cover the film shows that there are more female roles, even if it is just the one. On the right of the front cover is Thranduil, who also has a very powerful stance. The crown he is wearing makes it obvious that he is a highly important figure - most probably a king - and this makes it seem like he is demanding to be noticed. It's hard for a viewer to ignore a man wearing a crown. By wearing a crown but not holding a raised weapon he seems to be saying that he doesn't need a weapon to hold power over the viewer. These three characters together seem to be very confident of their power over the viewer, and this makes the viewer believe it themselves and submit to them by buying the magazine.

However this front cover isn't as strong as it could be because of the bright red colour scheme that is completely out of place in front of the image. The image is very darkened and foreboding, with lots of dark greys, whereas the banner at the bottom and the title of the magazine are a bright, fun red. It really doesn't work and ruins the effect of the whole poster as it takes away from the seriousness of the picture and makes it look ridiculous. At least the colours should have been slightly darkened just to match up the colours. Admittedly this could have resulted in the whole front cover looking very dark and miserable, but I think that this would have looked far better than the bright red colouring. In other Empire and Total Film magazines I have seen that the title is edited to match the mood of the film, such as in Clash of the Titans the title was on fire, and on the Inception one the title had a metallic effect. Here, the colour of the title is completely out of place with the film, as I very much doubt that there'll be a red colour that bright in the film. It may work for something like Django Unchained, but for The Hobbit it is a very bad choice. Not only this, but the magazine has failed to edit the title for the film itself, and has written 'The Hobbit' in both a colour and font that are inappropriate for the film. This is incredibly bad design and is one of the worst mistakes I've seen in a magazine front cover. There is no consistency across the cover at all. On a brighter note, I like how the bar code at the bottom lines up with the banner.

Overall there is much to learn from this poster. The main lesson that can be learnt is that the picture and the extras on a front cover have to match up and look good together. The colours have to complement each other, or the whole thing will be a mess. However, on the positive side, I can see the effects that different poses can have on the audience. Each one of the characters on this front cover has a different pose, and they all have a different effect on the audience. As a group they work together to attract as wide an audience as possible.

Trailer Analysis - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The trailer for 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' is another very strong trailer that immediately caught the eyes of many people across the cinematic community. One of the main reasons for the success of this trailer was, of course, that it already had a very large fan base. The film is a sequel to a very successful film, the prequel to one of the most successful trilogies of all time and an adaptation of one of the most famous books of all time. This means that it has an enormous fan base. Not only this, but it has many countries laying claim to it, who all feel a sense of national pride about it; it was filmed in New Zealand and made by a majority New Zealand cast, it is based off an English book with mostly English actors and it is funded by an American company. Each one of those countries has a very strong claim to the nationality of it meaning that the film has large audience's from all three countries.

However the trailer has also been successful because of what it chose to reveal in the trailer and how it managed to be appealing to the fans. The most intriguing part of the trailer comes right at the end, when the dragon, Smaug, appears on screen. There has been much talk in the cinematic community about what Smaug was going to look like, and in the first film there was only a small tease, therefore this shot at the end, that revealed much more was a clever choice. However it did not show the whole of the dragon, but only its head; otherwise it would have been given away. They just revealed enough of it so that the audience feel that following the film's campaign is rewarding, yet there are still more secrets to be revealed so they stay tuned in, in order to get more of these snippets. Even when showing the head of the dragon, it did not show everything about the dragon's head, for instance it did not show what colour the dragon was - a question that has been asked several times in the build up to the film. From this I can learn that for my own trailer it is not good to give the whole story away, or everything about certain characters, but it is good to release some previews to keep the audience excited.

The opening of the trailer is equally strong. From the outset, the trailer starts to hint at the tone of the film, which is clearly a fantasy adventure film. It does this by starting with four establishing shots in a row. This is highly irregular for many trailers, for although most trailers start with some sort of establishing shot, very few start with more than one, and far fewer start with four. But this is done in order to help the audience grasp the sense of adventure and journeying that is a vital part to the film. By having four in a row the audience feels like they are catching glimpses of the magnificent landscapes that they will travel across with the protagonists of the adventure. This is supported by the character voice over, whose first words are 'where does your journey end?', which immediately gets the audience in the mindset of an adventure film. In addition to this, the landscape shots give the film a very high production value and from the start the audience know that they are not watching an amateur film, but are watching something that a lot of money has been put into. Audience's are more likely to put their money towards something that has had a lot of money put into as they think that it will mean they get value for money. The opening few shots are very slow, and they are supported by slow, melancholy music and a soft yet slightly sinister voice over. It reminds me of the trailer for 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2', which uses a similar technique.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NYt1qirBWg
In both trailers they have the sinister voice narrating establishing shots to a backdrop of melancholy music, before reaching a crescendo and picking up the pace. By following the convention of other successful trailers, the trailer for 'The Hobbit' shows that it has researched very well and is giving the audience the sort of conventions that they like to see in trailers. Modern audience's can be very particular about the way that trailers are; they expect them to follow certain formulas, which 'The Hobbit' manages to do admirably. If it did not adhere to the usual conventions of what a trailer should be like then audiences might think that the whole film was unconventional and strange, which would only appeal to a very small minority.

Fairly early on in the trailer, it shows the familiar face of Legolas, who was a leading character in the 'Lord of the Ring's' Trilogy, of which 'The Hobbit' is a prequel. Legolas did not appear in the first instalment of 'The Hobbit' but he was a fan favourite in 'Lord of the Rings', so his return was highly anticipated in the fan community. By including Legolas, the trailer gives the audience another good reason to go and see the film; to reconnect with the old character of Legolas. Even if fans of 'Lord of the Rings' did not like the first Hobbit film, they may want to watch the second one purely for Legolas, in order to complete his story arc. In addition, the trailer very cleverly gives the audience the new character of Smaug whilst bringing back the old character of Legolas, both of which would excite any fan of the old trilogy. Legolas is introduced first so that the fan community trust the film maker more as he is already a well loved character, and then once that trust is gained, they introduce Smaug, which is likely to be seen in a much better light, simply because the fans are happy with the film makers that they have given them back Legolas and they are in a trusting mood.

Towards the end of the trailer there is a part that I do not think was very good editing. This begins at about 1:25, and the reason I don't like it is because there are about four shots almost consecutively of people doing some sort of jump attack or falling. The reason I don't like that is because it doesn't show good variety and it makes the fight choreography look very sophisticated or original. It is a complete overuse of the attack, which can be used to enhance a fight sequence, however here it is just too much. I think that if they particularly wanted to use those shots in the trailer then they should have at least spread them out across the length of the trailer so that the overuse of it isn't so obvious. Another problem with it is that it makes it look as if they don't have any more decent exciting footage to use so they are just filling it in with the same thing. It shows bad organisation in the trailer, trying to cram in all the shots at the last minute.

Overall I think that it is a very strong trailer, that takes advantage of its fanbase and its assets. However I'm not sure as of yet how we will be able to apply some of the techniques that they have used for our trailer, as we don't currently have a fanbase. Also it could be difficult getting a high budget looking establishing shot of our own, but this is something that we will have to consider when planning our trailer, as it seems to be a very common convention of a successful trailer. Most successfully I have learnt what not to do when editing a trailer, and that is to put a series of similar shots directly next to each other, because this does not look very good or impressive.

Trailer Analysis - Sherlock Holmes

This trailer for the 2009 adaptation of Sherlock Holmes ticks many of the boxes in regards to what makes a successful trailer through it's mixture of fast paced editing and a careful balance of comedy and action. The film already had a fan base from when it was first conceived, as there were already many fans of the Sherlock Holmes books, and Sherlock Holmes is a household name. Immediately the audience would know the lead characters and the genre of the film. This is established in the first few seconds with the voice over of the antagonist asking to see Sherlock Holmes. Whilst the audio presents the lead character, the opening shot begins to offer the audience the new interpretation of the Sherlock Holmes stories. It seems to evoke a darker, more gritty interpretation, focusing on the dark areas of London, as opposed to the conventional, fun murder mystery that is often associated with the stories. It does first of all by fading into the opening shot from black, which makes the shot seem much darker and makes the shadows more prominent. The arch in the foreground is particularly dark, so it seems like the audience is looking into a particularly dark and threatening place. This establishes the setting of the whole film - through the threatening arch. Even the angels above the arch look threatening as they are wreathed in shadow and almost seem like angels of death. Meanwhile the voice over sounds very threatening and his voice is immediately associated with a deadly antagonist. The result of this combination is that the trailer opens with a very dark feel and the rest of the trailer plays out with this in mind.

At 0:12 seconds in the trailer starts to pick up the pace from the long, slow moving shots. There are two incredibly fast shots in a row, followed by a third longer shot, which are all in time with a distinct drumming sound. Although the shots don't add much to the plot or show much of the film, they are key in conveying the mood of the film and speeding up the action. The film at this point seems to be moving further away from the traditional idea of Sherlock Holmes and now seems more action-packed. This would appeal to a very wide audience; the older generations may watch it because it's a new Sherlock Holmes film whereas the younger generations may watch it for the action sequences. Appealing to both of these demographics is the comedy element. At the end of the trailer there is a punchline after the title has appeared which ends the trailer on a lighter mood and leaves the audience feeling excited. This is a common technique in many trailers and I think that it is a very effective technique. It also makes sure that audiences watch the trailer until the end, so they don't miss the title of the film.

Much of the editing in this trailer is timed to the epic music in the background. On more than one occasion there are punches and hits in time with the soundtrack, which adds to the dynamism of the trailer and makes it seem ever more intense. This is a technique which we will probably try and include in our trailer as it makes the trailer seem much more exciting. It would also seem very strange without this technique, as the music and the visuals would not match up, leaving it looking thoroughly unprofessional. I particularly like at the end when the letters spelling out 'Sherlock' appear one at a time with short, snappy clips in between. This both makes the title more memorable and also makes the ending much more fast paced than just having a simple title at the end, reflecting the tone of the film. At the end of this short sequence the letters come together in the main title 'Sherlock Holmes' which again makes the title more memorable. The audience would have been following each letter in turn to try and work out what the film's title was, so when it is revealed at the end they don't forget it.

The trailer as a whole appeals mainly to a male dominated audience through the violence and male protagonists. It exploits the need for escapism, as the story offers the chance for people to watch someone else's problems so they can escape from their own. This, however is generic for all films, but what appeals to people are the ways in which the person manages to overcome their problems. The way in which the protagonist in this film escapes their problems is through adventure and fighting, which makes overcoming problems seem exhilarating. People would go and watch this film in order to escape their problems and watch someone overcome their problems in an exciting way.