2. The Easy A Trailer was released in 2010 and aims to attract a teenage
audience (14-18 years of age). The narrative follows a linear structure
that is narrated with a first person mode of address from our
protagonist, Olive. This is clear in the opening close-up shot where
Olive is holding and directly facing the camera. It acts as a webcam
and denotes that she is directly talking with the audience, instantly
placing us on her side because she narrates us through the narrative.
She also delivers the line ‘there are two sides to every story…this is
my side…the right one’. Therefore we are encouraged to take her
side, believing that she is in the right. Olive is a teenager, so she
immediately connects with the teen genre. She is filming the video in
her bedroom, suggesting that Olive still lives at home because she
has a school-life, an instantly relatable place for teenagers. The fact
that Olive is filming this scene on her webcam, tells the audience
that she is a part of the digital-revolution (the idea that all data is
becoming communicated through the mass production of
computers, smartphones and the internet). The digital world is a big
part of teenage life, so Olive is instantly appropriate for the teen
genre.
3. Once we are shown the indent for the ‘Screen Gems’ company, the editor
chooses to cut to an establishing shot of a high school. The shot introduces
the main setting of the trailer, a high school, which is a stereotypical location
for teen films. The non-diegetic soundtrack of ‘The Show by Lenka’ plays in
the background. The beats of the track are pompous and the pace is slow,
which is symbolically referencing the clumsy nature of Olive. This is
demonstrated in a two shot where Olive is knocked over by another student,
causing her to drop all of her books over the floor. The theme of power is
being demonstrated here because Olive is being knocked to the ground.
Furthermore, in her voiceover she says ‘I used to be anonymous…a non-
entity’, suggesting that she used to have less power than everyone else in
school because of her unpopular reputation. However, towards the climax of
the trailer we see Olive and a man walk into a loosely framed wide shot. The
soundtrack is now a faster pace from the previously slower counterpart. This
connotes that there has been a change in our protagonist’s personality traits.
Olive is more important than the other characters in the scene and this is
shown when they separate as if she is an immortal goddess. She is lit primarily
through soft backlight and her arm is locked with the other boy. This further
emphasises her power but shows that as a woman she still relies on having a
man to accompany her. The little black dress and the secluded body language
as she bites her lip, indicates to the audience a sexual tension between the
two characters and means that she adheres to the promiscuous stereotype of
a woman. This has the effect of weakening her power because of the sexual
sub-text for the scene.
4. This trailer also touches on themes concerning sexual
identity, which is a common theme in teenage life.
We are introduced to Olive’s sidekick, Brandon, who
tells her ‘you said I should pretend to be straight’.
This suggests that people in school will be to young
to understand how Brandon sexually identifies
himself. He also claims that he is ‘tormented
everyday at school’. The camera then cuts during a
sound bridge in his dialogue to a scene with him
holding a tissue up against his nose, emphasising the
fact that he is bullied because of his sexuality. There
is no attempt by Olive to encourage Brandon in open
about his sexuality, instead resorting to a plan where
he pretends to loose his virginity to her in the hope of
boosting his popularity. This demonstrates the
stereotypical stupidity of teenagers while
emphasising her girl power because he seeks her
advice. During the plan, Olive punches Brandon in the
stomach as a joke. A cutaway to a close-up shot of
her fist clashing against his chest emphasises the fact
that she is a strong and independent woman. The
diegetic, synchronous sound effect of a punching
noise is amplified to exaggerate the power of the
punch.
5. Olive attempts to combat the theme of anger after some embarrassing news
breaks out. She delivers the line, in direct address with the audience, ‘On
Monday, things took a turn for the scandalous’. The trailer has previously
shown a wide shot with a gang of protestors holding up signs that
antagonise Olive. They call her ‘trash’ and a ‘tramp’, suggesting that she
does not suit that body beautiful ideology that is treasured by high school
students due to it’s emphasis in mass-media. This is an issue directly relatable
for the teenage audience and allows them to be shown a wider perspective
on the problem. Olive combats the anger by wearing a red ‘A’ on her dress,
this stands out on her black dress while the colour red emphasises a
romantic connotation. She walks through a crowd of students in slow
motion to emphasise the power she is attempting to gain from their anger at
her. She does this successfully because she wears sunglasses, a symbolic
connotation for a powerful person, whilst other students create a circle
around her. The editor then cuts to a close-up of her kissing the air; this is a
directly comparable action that is not associated with anger and shows that
she is better than being aggressive. The scene is tinted with a red colour
matte to show the hostile tension in the scene but also the compassionate
personality of Olive.
6. Throughout the trailer, Olive is represented as a
stereotypical teenager that denotes direct
similarities with teenagers in the modern world.
This is essential when selling a film to the
teenage target audience as they wish to relate to
the characters and their circumstances.
