Introduction to Film Trailers

The purpose of a film teaser trailer is to advertise the film, usually by highlighting the best bits of the film in the trailer, so more of the target audience want to see the film. The first ever trailer was shown in the U.S.A in November 1913. The trailer was produced by Nils Granlund for the short film The Pleasure Seekers.  In the early 20th century film trailers tended to be in black and white, have very little dialogue, often augmented by large, descriptive text and have non-diegetic sound an example of a very early film trailer can be seen below:

Right up until the late 1950’s trailers were mostly created by National Screen Service. However in the 1960s the face of cinema trailers changed. Slow-paced, calmer trailers were replaced with Text-less, montage trailers and quick-editing. 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:

Inception Trailer analysis

From first viewing of the Inception movie trailer above it is clear what genre it fits into. There is a mixture of slow and fast paced scenes to emphasize the thriller as the genre of the film, whereas the pictures themselves makes it clear it is also a sci-fi. The voice over at the beginning of the film with the mysterious music helps explain the very basic plot of the film. However only they very basics of the film are explained, this adds to the idea that the film is mysterious and confusing.

An indefinite soundtrack is used throughout the trailer to link the film with this music. I realised that when watching this teaser trailer that the soundtrack of Inception is somewhat similar in parts to that of the Dark Knights. This may be to subconsciously allow the audience to link the two movies together as they have the same director (Christopher Nolan). The voiceover in the trailer is actually taken from the film itself and is the voice of the main star, Leonardo DiCaprio. The director has not used an actual voice over because they do not want the film to be fully explained, the idea of inception itself is confusing and the trailer being confusing links to this idea.

The trailer begins with logos of Warner Brothers, Legendary Picture and Syncopy, with Warner Brothers logo taking dominance. As the picture does an aerial zoom of all three logos it becomes apparent that they are all made up of buildings from a city. This makes the three logos unique to this film but also still recognisable as their own brand and also emphasises the idea of a city-like maze. The trailer is then followed by an establishing shot of the lead character (DiCaprio) on a beach, this shot is establishing because it is inside a dream where the majority of the film takes place. The word "Security" is linked with a picture of a gun; this further distinguishes the idea of a thriller based movie with this trailer, whereas the following sentence "Subconscious Security" links the film also with the sci-fi genre.

 

The two images above show how the director is advertised in the teaser trailer. These two images are shown at the beginning of the trailer to grab the attention of those people who are a fan of Nolan's work or of the film The Dark Knight. Both images are introduced with a cut scene and paired with sharp loud music to add to the intensity of the film and the trailer and both zoom in to the letters.

Physics itself even seems to be defied in the film in a number of ways through the use of gravity:

The two pictures above show how even the idea of gravity is questioned in the film. This adds the confusion on a sci-fi action film. The picture on the right is in particular significant as the city is being lifted up as though the buildings are a wave, this links to another important scene in the film when DiCaprio is lying in the sea with waves going past, a clip of this scene can be seen at the beginning on this trailer, whereas the picture on the right gives an idea of unstable properties and world.

Architecture is further expressed through the words "YOUR MIND" and "IS THE SCENE OF THE CRIME" which are both presented on a black background in a cut shot towards the end of the teaser trailer.  As the shot zooms out the wording follows going past half-visible buildings.

The action in the trailer becomes more intense as it continues. There are quicker paced cuts used, with more action and a contrast of water and fire.  However the pace of the trailer begins to slow again and shows the real danger of Inception and the human mind as Nolan tried to express how the human mind can be the most dangerous weapon of all. 

The title "Inception" again is of an architectural nature. The first font of the trailer, as I have mentioned above, is that of Warner Brothers, Legendary Pictures and Syncopy logos which were made up of buildings. The fact that the first and last font in the trailer was linked to building construction shows the importance of architecture in the film.

The ending scene of the trailer shows mild comedy which adds an almost sinister twist to a movie which is presented as a serious sci-fi action thriller. This adds further confusion to the audience who is watching the trailer and this confusion links the Inception's story line.

Poster Analysis #1: Inception

Inception is a 2010 American thriller sci-fi action film written and produced by Christopher Nolan, starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Ken Watanabe and Michael Caine. The film characters the journey of a thief, Dom Cob (DiCaprio) who extracts information from the subconscious mind of his victims while they dream, who is offered a chance to regain his old life in exchange for one last job: performing inception, the planting of an idea into the mind of his client's competitor. With help of Nolan’s good reputation, Inception was able to secure a $100 million advertising expenditure by and Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures.

There are persistent themes in all the film marketing: Leonardo DiCaprio being the most famous actor in the film is the main face of all three of these posters; the idea of a confused agricultural world, and the logo text "inception".

All three posters are leaked of colour giving neutral and dull grey, blue and white colours, which are highly contrasted with the bold red colour of the text. The theme of confused agriculture emphasises the idea of being trapped in a world that none of the characters are familiar or comfortable with. The tall buildings add to this idea and almost seem intimidating. Although all three pictures are highly edited, it is clear that DiCaprio is a rugged male character, which is naturally associated with strength.

The Tagline of "Your mind is the scene of the crime" is in itself mysterious. This effect is used in thriller movies to give an indication of a film which will stretch the human mind as to how much you can really trust even your own thoughts.

The image on all three of the pictures has been given the back-lighting effect which casts a comforting glow around the dark glum architecture. This contrast of colours gives an idea of a "light at the end of a tunnel", as though the characters are looking for a way to escape the world they have created.

All three posters also include information about the director of the film: "From the director of the Dark Knight". This is to draw the audience’s attention to this film from fans of The Dark Knight.

From further research of Warner Brothers distributing I have discovered that there are certain conventions that are continued throughout their advertisement campaign. I found that a poster from the film "Matrix" has a striking resemblance to one of the Inception posters:

In both posters the characters are surrounded by tall buildings in a New York like city. The characters are emphasised by a vertical feature behind them. The Matrix poster uses the idea of a bright light whereas Inception uses the idea of road to add to the idea of a confused architecture.

The inception poster above shows intextuality (when something looks out of place) through water. This again adds to the idea of a confused world which cannot be explained. The above three posters come from film Dark Knight, Inception and Watchmen. The Dark Knight and Inception are both directed by Christopher Nolan and have extremely similar posters; this is mainly down to the Auteur Theory.  Auteur Theory suggests that the best films will bear their maker’s ‘signature’. This may manifest itself as the stamp of his or her individual personality or perhaps even focus on recurring themes within the body of work. Nolan clearly uses the idea of a skyscraper city and one of the main characters walking away from the picture being taken. All three posters above have been advertised by Warner Brothers Productions. The "Watchmen" poster uses very similar conventions to that of the Dark Knight and Inception posters, the tall Skyscrapers and washed out colours appear in all three posters.

Introduction to my A2 media coursework.

For the purpose of my A2 media coursework I will create a teaser trailer, a magazine front cover and movie poster. The aim of this blog is to clearly show my progress of my media coursework from beginning to end.

In order to be successful in making a professional-like film promotional package I find it necessary to carry out both primary and secondary market research, which are of similar genres to that of which I intend to create. By doing this research I can help make my media package direct to my target market.

I intend to start my A2 media coursework with primary research in form of a questionnaire which will be posted online for people to complete and also a hard copy will be handed out to those who are in my target market. The questionnaire will provide me with information which is important when creating my trailer, front cover and poster.