After watching 'Step Up', 'Step Up', 'Save The Last Dance' and 'You Got Served', I noticed that all the films appealed to young adults and teenagers. I decided that as my film will be the same genre and similar story-line, I will share the same target audience. I will appeal to my target audience by having the characters in the film similar age range to my target audience. This way the target audience will be able to relate to the characters more as they are similar age and image themselves in the characters situation. Also, I will appeal to my target audience through the clothes the characters will be wearing, the things the characters will be doing and the music that will be playing. This will force the audience to recognise well known clothing, activities and music, therefore making them relate to the characters and be more interested in the film.
This shows a screen grab from the British Film Classifications site. I chose to base my trailer around PG because I think that this classification describes the style of film I am creating. Also, the 4 trailers I analysed share this classification as well. The language allowance is described as 'Bad mild language only', i think this is the right allowance for my trailer because for the age group of the characters and the background of the characters, it would be natural for them to use mild language. Also, for horror, 'Frightening sequences should not be prolonged or intense', I think this fit my trailer perfectly because the genre is musical drama, therefore I will be avoiding using any horror as I don't think it fits in with the genre I have chosen.
Also, i chose PG because it is less limiting for the age groups of people who can see the film, for example, even though my target audience will be teenagers and young adults, i still want it to appeal to the younger age groups as well.
After deciding that I am going to create a trailer, I next needed to think of a genre for the film that the trailer would be from. I decided to step away from comedy and horror because I found these two genres are quite common and I wanted to focus on something more original. I came up with the idea of a movie based around dancing, with a hidden romance. Some popular films came to mind that shared the same genre, for example, 'Step Up', 'Save The Last Dance' and 'You Got Served'.
As I am creating my trailer, I needed to decide on a target audience. As the trailer is simply an advertisement for a film, i needed to decide what age group my film will target and interest. After watching 'Step Up', 'You Got Served' and 'Save The Last Dance', I found they all shared the same target audience, Teenagers and Young Adults. I decided that as all these movies share the same genre that I will be creating, I will use the same target audience. This meant that I needed to watch the trailers for these movies, and possibly some more of the same type, and figure out what attracts this audience so that i can create that same attraction.
A trailer is a short film clip that acts as an advertisement for the movie being sold or being shown in cinemas. As the purpose of the trailer is to attract an audience, the trailer will consist of the most exciting, emotional, funny and important clips from the film, not necessarily in the right order, to draw the viewer in. As trailers are very short, the clips from the movie that are shown must intrigue the viewer without showing too much and spoiling the film.
At the end of most trailers, there is usually a recognisable piece of music to finish the trailer. Also, most trailers put emotional and moving moments of the film at the end of the trailer to finish, as it is the final chance to convince the audience to see the film. In some trailers, they also show famous stars that are in the movie once again at the end to convince the viewer and help sell the movie.
As the trailer starts, straight away there is a close up of the animated characters and there is diegetic sound as dialogue straight away and the pace of the shots is very fast and the title is used in the dialogue for emphasis. The next shot is of the production company, Walt Disney, this shows the audience the type of movie it is going to be right from the beginning. Another shot that it near the beginning of the trailer that I liked was when the dog 'Bolt' is in the distance and the camera zooms into his face and a very fast pace. This gives the audience the indication that it will be an adventure film as it sets the pace for the rest of the trailer. After many different shots of 'Bolt' and of him in the film, there is a slow motion shot of him jumping over a helicopter, I liked this shot because it contrasts with the pace that has already been set in the trailer and makes the audience focus on what is happening.
Throughout the first quarter of the trailer gives the impression that 'Bolt' is a super dog with super powers but then a narrative voice is used and explains the truth. the narrative voice then pauses and a character in the trailer says 'Don't let him out, he's never been off the set before', this gives the audience the impression of what the movie is really about and intrigues them to see what will happen as it is obvious that nothing will be easy.
After the first half of the trailer, non diegetic music begins, creating a more dramatic atmosphere. Also, there is a shot of a black screen and 'John Travolta' appears. This lets the audience know that there are famous people in it, making them wanting to see it more. Throughout the second half of the trailer, there is a constant switch between diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound depending on what is happening, which makes the audience notice what is happening more.
Near the end of the trailer there is a shot of 'Bolt' and a hamster talking about the adventure they are going on and i liked this because it creates humour within the audience and as there is uplifting non-diegetic background music it emphasises it and intrigues the audience even more. Another thing I liked in this trailer was near the end as the narrative voice ends there are quick transitions between characters shouting 'Bolt' and i think this worked really well because it emphasises the title and reminds the audience.
Transporter 3 (2008) Genre - Action/Adventure
(YOUTUBE TRAILER)
The first shot in the trailer is an establishing shot and straight away non-degetic background music begins. The fact that the music is quite quiet but has a strong pace, lets the audience know that something is about to happen and puts them on edge as they wait for it. one of the next shots is as if someone has punched the camera and the screen goes black, then leading onto the production company. the fact that they show the production company so early on shows to the audience the standard of the movie and the type of movie it is.
A narrative voice is brought in during the trailer along with non-diegetic sound of conversation, which implies to the audience the story line and what will happen. Also, as the background music starts to speed up, there is an extreme close up to the characters faces and then an extreme close up to the metal bands on their wrists. By using extreme close up, it makes the audience focus on the metal band and the expression on the characters faces, creating a strong atmosphere.
After roughly half way through the trailer, the transitions speed up and flash a screen of black in between each shot. This forces the audience to concentrate on what is happening in the trailer even more. Also, text begins to appear on black screens with the date of which the film is out and text such as 'Do Not', 'Step Away' and 'From The Vehicle'. I think the fact that the sentence is split between 3 different shots with other film clips in between works really well because it leaves the audience on edge, making them want to carry on reading. Also, the way the narrative voice reads out the text puts extra emphasis on it. In addition, there is a shot of a black screen with text 'Jason Statham' appears. This name dropping, lets the audience know that who is in it, making them wanting to see it more. Not only is the emphasis on the text, but in the background of the black screen, there are horizontal flashes going across the screen at a fast pace, this also adds the pace of the music making the pace of the trailer appear faster.
Throughout the trailer the non-diegetic sound constantly pauses, creating emphasis on what the characters are saying. This makes the audience concentrate and what is happening and puts them more on edge. Throughout the whole trailer, the pace of shot transitions gets faster and faster, intriguing the viewer making them want to see it more.
Step up (2006) Genre - Teen Drama
One of the first shots in the trailer for Step Up is a extreme close up and pan of the sign with the schools name on it. This is a red flag to indicate what the movie is about. I think this worked well to let the audience know rather than having someone talking about it as it let the audience assume it. This follows the same convention as the first clip of You Got Served trailer as they both use shots of text to do with the film to form the audiences impression of what will happen.
The shot of the main female roll dancing on her own in an empty dance studio is the first indication that the movie is to do with dancing, rather than just ‘Arts’ as the sign on the school says. The fact that she is dancing on her own in a empty place gives the feel of loneliness, yet shows that she is serious about it which is later shown in the movie. The way this gives the impression of how serious the character is about dancing, is the same convention that is used in Save The Last Dance. This shot then pauses for a second and the music changes. I think the way the shot pauses forces the reader to notice the serious emotion in her face and the force that she puts into the movement she is doing.
The next shot that stood out to me is a shot of the main male character doing his own dancing on a street outside the school with his friends. The way they are all laughing shows he isn't as serious about dancing and as he is wearing his caretaker clothes creates a contrast between the female roll and the male roll.
Near the end of the trailer, at some points of the dancing, the camera pauses on one shot and changes to black and white. This again follows a similar convention to You Got Served trailer by pausing the camera at a point when there is lots of movement. I think that this works well as it makes the viewer focus on what is in the shot more as they notice the change of colour and look closer into the shot.
during the trailer, there is a shot of the two main characters dancing and there is an extreme close up on their faces when they are very close to each other. This shot is the first indication in the trailer that they are going to "fall in love". By showing this in the trailer it gives a hint to the audience as to what could happen, making them want to see how it ends up.
Towards the end of the trailer, the credits begin to appear and by changing the colour of the image behind them brings more warmth as the pace of the music also speeds up. This lets the audience know that there is a happy ending and makes them want to see the movie.
one of the last shots in the trailer is of a the main male character dancing, yet the shot is paused, with a tinted background colour faded red and with white text. I really like this shot because of the way the image is frozen, the colour is tinted a warmer colour and the writing stands out with just simple text. I think this works well because by using the words ‘one chance’ makes the audience know there is pressure and makes the audience intrigued to find out what happens.
