Save The Last Dance (2001)
As the trailer starts, one of the first shots is of a sign with 'Juilard Auditions' stated on it, this is an indication to the audience what the story is about. I think this works well because it allows the audience to see the sign and assume what will happen themselves, rather than just have a narractor tell the audience.
Throughout the whole trailer, certain images are paused and turned to black and white. i think this works well because it forces the viewer to focus on what the image is of and as they change with the beat of the music, it leaves the audience waiting to see if it happens again, intriguing them.
Also throughout the whole trailer, black screens are shown with white text on such as 'A Stranger An Outsider' and 'Trying Hard To Fit In'. i think this works well because by having no image in the background, forces the viewer to read the text and question why it is relevant, making them want to watch the movie and relate the text to it.
Towards the middle of the trailer, a male character is brought in and there are many shots of the two main characters together. following this, there is a shot of the two characters dancing close together. this indicates that they will become a couple, creating the romance in the story. By doing this, gives the audience more reason to watch the movie and it appears that the movie has more than just dancing and the viewer is intriged to see what happens.
Another shot that stood out to me was a shot of the female main character dancing on her own in an empty room. this gives the impression that she is serious about wanting to dance and is set on being perfect. this shows her determination and makes the viewer intrigued to see if she will make it or not.
The clip of the main character and her mum, who we already know is dead, are shown in black and white. i think this works really well because it gives the impression of a photograph, almost as if its just a memory, which infact it is.
At the end of the trailer, the clips change faster and flick between clips of ballet dancing and the fighting on the streets. i think this works really well because it creates a contrast between her ballet dancing, which is abnormal in the place she is, and the city she is in which is portrayed as rough and violent.
The Save The Last Dance trailer uses purely sound clips from the movie of the charactors to indicate what will happen and to tell the story, rather than using an narrator.
You Got Served (2004)
Half way through the trailer for You Got Served, there is an extreme close up to the poster of the finale event. By showing this it clearly lets the audience know what will happen in movie. I like this because it allows the audience to see the event and the prize money rather than just hear the characters talk about it. It also attracts their target audience because it is the type of event that teenagers would like to see themselves, making them intrigued to watch the film. This is a similar convention to the auditions sign that is shown in the trailer for Save The Last Dance.
During the trailer for You Got Served, there is a shot of the dancers in the mirror where the audience can see they’re reflections in the mirror and see the backs of the dancers. I really like this because it allows the viewer to see the symmetry of their dancing and it allows the viewer to connect to the pressure on the dancers.
At the end of the trailer, there are shots of the dancers practising in the rain. I think these shots worked well as there was little lighting and therefore the light was highlighted in the reflection on the rain. Also, the rain on the dancers emphased their movements and speed.
During the shots of the finale dance, the camera pauses the shots of the dancers and then text appears. I thought the way the action freezes works really well as it allows the viewer to read the text shown and therefore have all of their attention on the writing. I liked the way the colour of the background changed too because it highlights the dancer and their movement.
The Trailer for You Got Served uses both a unknown narrative voice and sound clips from the film to give an indication to the audience of what the film is about. i think this works well because it allows the audience to meet the characters, without judging them yet.
Step Up 2 (2008)
The trailer begins with a whistle being blown and then a dancer doing a flip. I think this works well as the beginning of the trailer because typically when a whistle is blown it is used to get someone’s attention so by the use of the whistle at the beginning of the trailer it grabs the viewers attention and indicates that something is about to happen; the flip by the dancer.
One of the next clips in the trailer is of someone walking into the main female character and her saying ‘Watch yourself!’. This indicates to the viewer that she isn’t as little girl and that she isn’t afraid and will speak up. It also implies that she has a rough background as the way she says it, makes her seem to be threatening and mischievous.
The trailer is split up to introduce each character as their name appears on the screen. I don’t think this looks as effective because I feel it gives too much away about the movie but I think the way they portray the main character ‘Andie’ works well, but I think the other characters aren’t necessary to introduce in this way in the trailer.
Whilst the trailer focuses on ‘Andie’, the shot to her feet showing what she is wearing with other people clothing in the background creates a contrast and shows the audience that she is not the usual person to be in this type of school and that she is different.
During the trailer there is a shot of a boy doing a dance in the mirror. The camera is angled at a point where the audience can see the boy facing him and the mirror to his left showing him as well. I think this works really well as it creates emphasis on the dance move he is doing and makes it look better, therefore impressing the target audience.
As the music begins to speed up, the shots change faster and a shot of the two main characters dancing appears on the screen. The extreme close up of their faces shows them very close together, indicating that they will be together by the end of the film. This is similar to the first Step Up movie trailer, as that trailer also has an extreme close up of the two characters close together. By showing this in the trailer, I think this creates a romantic feel to the movie and by only showing it for a very short space of time, it makes the audience want to go back and look again to see what is happening, also making them to watch the film so that they can see what is going to happen and see how it ends up.
Towards the end of the trailer, shots of a black screen with blue writing of words appear on the screen. I think this works really well as the words such as ‘Love’, ‘Believe’ and ‘Risk’ are quite strong and meaningful words and build tension up to the audience, consequently making them want to see it.
The whole way through the trailer, there is no narrative voice, only the voices of the characters. The story is told by sound clips from the movie of the characters being used as the narrative voice. This works well because it is a different way of telling the story and it also allows the viewer to connect with the characters. For example Tyler says at the beginning of the trailer ‘Looks who’s all grown up now.’ This indicates that the movie will be about the person he is talking to and it also indicates that she independent, or at least trying to be. Also, after the first mention of ‘the streets’, Andies voice is used as a narrative voice when saying ‘the streets is about the best dance crew showing off what they got’.
Also, the words ‘Step Up’ are used throughout the whole trailer, implying that the dancers need to improve and ‘Step up to the next level’. I think this works well because by using the title, it keeps reminding the viewer what the movie is called and what it is about.
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