1. Charlie Barwick
Analysing a relevant media text from the film genre – A ‘Romantic
Comedy’ film trailer – Bridesmaids Trailer
I will be analysing a relevant film trailer to help me with ensuring that my production work of
my film trailer will be conventional and I have made good use of the technical elements.
Key conventions of filmtrailers
- Of genre
The main key convention of Romantic Comedies are their audience being mainly
women; women tend to be the stereotypical audience to watch a Romantic Comedy.
The filmgenre notice their audience are mainly female and base the plotline around the
types of stories women like to see in films. Romantic Comedies usually have their
soundtrack based on songs that women like. For example they are usually romantic
songs or songs based on the theme of a party or fast paced as if there is a lot going on.
In Bridesmaids the soundtrack in the background of the trailer is a rock sounding song
that is very fast paced showing there is several important events happening that all
happen quickly, it could also convey tension between the characters and how tense the
film will be. Another key convention, that I briefly earlier mentioned, in Romantic
Comedies is the contrast between the female characters. There is usually at least two
female characters that don’t tend to like each other causing a problem between other
characters because it is normally a character’s two friends that clash making it difficult
for the female character in the middle. They generally also contain a ‘girl group’ that
either stick together or have frequent arguments.
- Of form
A convention for Romantic Comedies relating to form is the production logo at the
beginning of the trailer, them including a production logo can help benefit the production
company because it may improve their reputation and want to see other films created by
the same company. All trailers have this to show the company that have produced the film
trailer and the film. They also include, at the beginning of all film trailers, a
‘Viewer’sDiscretion’.
2. Charlie Barwick
Another main convention of form is the film title, it will usually be half way or just over half
way through the trailer, if not at the beginning or the end and a release date for the actual
film. The font and colour would suggest a good clue to the genre of film, for example the
colour of the film title and release date are written in pink suggesting a filmfor the female
audience and most likely a romantic film.
An additional convention is a bit of text saying ‘From the producers of’ and then usually one
or two examples of other films that the company have made that may relate to the same
type of story line, for example the Bridesmaids trailer was produced by Universal so they
included two films, ‘Knocked Up’ and ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’.During the trailer the scenes
generally tend to be long takes at the beginning of the trailer lasting about a few seconds
but by the end they change to several fast paced, short takes that commonly split up long
take shots and have a number of takes that cut between a few scenes.
Use of technical elements
- Camerawork
The first shot in the trailer of Bridesmaids is an
aerial, establishing shot, this shot helps to set the
scene and show the audience where the filmis set,
for example New York.This then cuts straight to a
two shot of the two main characters with one
showing the other character her engagement ring
which then sets the plot.Throughout the trailer
when there is a conversation going on the camera is typically at a mid-shot of the
characters, for example when the three female characters are in conversation at the
wedding the camera is either at a mid-shot showing all of them or a mid-shot focused on
just one character while speaking and then a mid-shot of the other characters reaction to
her speech. In the trailer there is an over-the-shoulder shot showing what the character is
looking at on her laptop, the over-the-shoulder shot helps to tell us what character is on
their laptop before we even see her face due to past information the trailer has given us.
3. Charlie Barwick
Sound
Throughout the trailer there is a consistent song by AC/DC called - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt
Cheap, the title of this song may relate to the female character being asked to be the maid
of honour and how it’s a huge job responsibility and she has to do it for free, for a friend.
There is also dialogue all the way through the trailer instead of there being a voiceover; the
dialogue from the characters give the audience an overview of the story and show us where
both the romantic and comedy genre come into the trailer. There is also a sound effect
when the end filmrelease date appears on the screen a swiping sound effect is added to
when the title screen transitions onto the screen.
Editing
All the way through the trailer there is crosscutting between different scenes from the film,
by the producing company using several scenes instead of one constant scene during the
whole of the trailer makes it more effective for the audience and helps the audience to
properly decided whether they want to see it or not because the trailers show a time lined
story by the several scenes instead of just one side of the story; using the crosscutting
technique is very conventional for any type of trailer. Another editing technique used in this
is a jump-cut, they use a jump-cut when they are walking towards the camera and each
different cut shows them getting closer, going from a long-shot to a mid-shot of all of the
characters.Alsorelatingbackto soundeverydifferentshotinthisjump-cuthappenseverytime the
musishasa beat.
4. Charlie Barwick
Mise-en-scene
The beginning of the trailer shows the setting of the New York skyline. Throughout the
trailer the characters are constantly changing between casual costumes and smart
costumes, apart from when the characters are at the engagement party and the wedding
they are all wearing pretty casual costumes that women would typically wear (not for a
special occasion). At the engagement party they are wearing more party like costumes, for
example dresses and blazers. There is one character in particular character that likes to
‘dress up’ all the time, as I said in the conventions of genre, this is the character that causes
problems between the group. At the engagement party, most of the camerawork on the
characters shows a mid-shot of them whereas when the film trailer introduces this
character we see a long-shot to show what she is wearing. Also the costume worn by this
character when we see them getting off the plan can portray her as being a perfectionist
and being the higher class of the group.
On the other hand, there is a very contrasting character compared to the ‘perfectionist’,
they have attempted to show the contrast through putting the two characters side by side
during the shot on the left above. This character is conveyed as being very masculine
through not only her costumes but her posture and her actions, for example when they visit
the wedding dress shop the entire characters walk in wearing smart dresses, except from
her. Her posture and actions also
indicates her masculinity, she is leaning
against the wall with all of the other
characters looking at her because she
had just burped, again showing
manliness. Her dialogue added to this is
her saying “I wanna apologise, I’m not
even confident which end that came out
of”, the composition of the characters
having them all looking down on her together suggest the contrast between them.
5. Charlie Barwick
Qualities of an effectivefilmtrailer
The filmtrailer is the most important part for the production company to get right, if they
make their trailers look effective the film will be watched by many but in the situation of
them making an ineffective trailer they may not get many their audience going to the
cinemas to watch it or buying the film. One main quality of a filmtrailer is that they need to
create a brief storyline of the actual story so the audience know more of the plotline than
just reading up about it. Another quality of an effective film trailer is a brief introduction to
the main characters and the role they play in the film. A final quality of an effective film
trailer is that they use the best scenes from the filmthat not just represent the genre, but
also make the film look as good as it can with several snip-it’s from the filmitself because
the company want their trailer to appeal to their audience as much as they can.
Findings
Through my research I have found numerous effective materials that will help me in the
production of my film trailer; they will not just help with my production but also help with
making it as effective as possible. I found that in the production of my trailer there needs to
be several shots which show a brief storyline, there needs to be lots of camerawork and
editing used and used effectively and there needs to be an introduction to the characters
which can also suggest their personalities by the use of mise-en-scene. I have also received
information about the codes and conventions of the genre my filmtrailer is based on, the
Romantic Comedy trailer and the conventions of a film trailer.
