2. Chosen Movie:
‘TheGirl on
theTrain’
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l50y0
(link to the teaser trailer)
This movie is classed as a crime thriller.This is the same genre our
film/teaser trailer will be.
3. 9 frames from the teaser trailer that
illustrate the storyline.
4. TEASERTRAILER
GENERALISATIONS.
The teaser trailer is 2:30 which is very long for a teaser trailer. Overall I think the genre
is perfectly displayed through the use of the common conventions –
• An exciting and intense plot which grips the audience and leaves the audiences questioning
who did what…
• Generally involve alcohol, weapons, police and detectives
• A crime has to have been committed and the general question is who did it?
There are the typical settings of:
• Banks
• Bars
• Police offices
• Interrogation rooms
• Shops
• Bookies
• Abandoned areas such as forests and tunnels/alley ways.
Generally low-key lighting crating shadows and silhouettes. There is the use of angle changes
such as high angles to make a certain character look weak and vulnerable and low angles to
achieve the opposite. There is a lot of different shot types including shot-reverse-shots
and over the shoulder shots. A lot of the time they will use close-up shots to emphasise a
characters expressions, thoughts and feelings.
Background sounds and music are generally playing throughout the whole movie and stopped to
build tension. There will be a lot of Foley sound added and sound effects to add emphasis on
certain things such as gun shots and footsteps.
5. FRAME 1
The first shot I found to be important in the teaser trailer for the
girl on the train was this one. It’s the opening shot of the whole
trailer after the company idents. By having the camera solely
focused on her when she’s clearly telling someone something (w
tell this from her dialogue) tells me that she is a main character.
There is low-key lighting adding shadows and creating a eeriness
to the shot and straight off we are getting the thriller theme
being shown.There is also a sense of mystery as we, as the
audience, wonder who she is talking to.
The dialogue in this opening gives us a lot of information adding
to the narrative. And the way she's looking adds to the effect
that she's talking to someone.
This shot transitions well into the next shot and the dialogue acts
as a sound bridge. It goes from dialogue to a voice over linking
the shots.
6. FRAME 2
This is the next shot shown after the last frame. It think its an important
frame because it defiantly adds context to the storyline, that she's
sleeping with a man. Paired with the dialogue you learn that this is not
someone she's in a relationship with.The dialogue is a voice over
making it non-diegetic sound. By using this voice over and having shots
of her in a type of montage editing shows this part is from her point of
view.This adds to the mystery of the narrative as this affair is in secret.
The lighting is again low-key and this type of lighting is a convention of
crime thrillers.
Having this scene set in a house adds to a persons privacy and mystery as
not everyone knows what happens behind peoples closed doors.
By having all of this opening with this blonde character in for long shot
periods emphasizes she is one of the main characters.
By having this as a medium shot and having the man come up from the
bottom to appear creates the idea that he is a secret and not always in
public eye with her and it almost created a reveal.
7. FRAME 3
In-between every couple of shots there is text like this appearing
adding context to the narrative/storyline.This text appears long
enough for people to read and only has a few words on each.The
first one tells what day and that’s it.This adds to the suspense
and the mystery adding to the genre conventions. It mimics the
idea of the investigation process that information isn't found out
all at once and is developed over time. this small amounts of
information over 3 frames makes the audience question firstly
'what happened' and then 'who's the women'.
The style of the frame is extremely conventional of a crime thriller.
Firstly its got that faded, foggy idea with black bold text central.
Its simple and quite moody.
The music throughout the whole opening creating a flow with the
editing, is very suspenseful and almost has a heart beat effect
that slightly speeds up.
8. FRAME 4
This is where we start to understand why the title of the film is
what it is.Through advertisements we see a lot of this character
but throughout there is another women shown and seems to be
the main character.
The dialogue/ voice over then switches to a new women's voice
when this character is shown showing that this is now from this
characters point of view and her being another main character.
In the editing process they made this section in the teaser trailer
slow motion.This adds effect into the movements she's making
in a moment of panic. It again creates suspense making the
audience question what she's seen and what's causing her to
jump up in shock.
The camera angles are always on the witness' not the victims of
the crimes adding mystery.
9. FRAME 5
This is the first of the police.This is a massive confirmation to the
audience that something illegal has occurred.The police are
major parts of the iconography of crime thrillers.
Throughout this shot and the montage editing that is occurring
there is a song playing.The song has a slow beat and a low sad
tone to it. It adds effect to the genre.
The use of a long shot makes the audience understand all the
chaos that’s happening after this girls disapperance.
10. FRAME 6
This shot again adds context to the storyline.The crime scene tape
shows the audience that there has been a murder.This is again
iconography of a crime thriller.
The music is still playing throughout this shot creating the same
effect as said before and again it is low – key lighting making this
area seem abandoned, scary and dangerous.
There is almost a blue tinge to the shot which is a convention of
crime thrillers.
11. FRAME 7
This shot is a silhouette of a person. Silhouettes are extremely
conventional of crime thrillers as they add mystery to the teaser
and grips the audience making them want to watch the film and
find out who this is.
The fact they are a silhouette creates the idea that this isn't a part
of self defense, they are creeping up on someone and are using
this golf club violently and we do not sympathies with them.
The fact that the lighting focuses only around this figure to create
the silhouette shows that the setting is not that important in this
scene.
The music and all sounds really are cut out for this frame as they
really wanted to build tension and suspense. In this scenario that
character would be creeping up on the victim and wouldn’t want
to make any noise and this was shown in this shot.The next shot
is almost and jump scare of someone grabbing the blonde
character and this is heightened by the silence of this shot.
12. FRAME 8
This is a close –up shot of one of the main characters. Her facial
expression is extremely negative and paired with the tears we
can see how much this situation has affected this character.We
as an audience aren't fully clear why and that makes the
audience want to go what the movie which is the sole purpose of
a teaser trailer showing how effective these shots are. Close up
shots are hugely conventional of a crime thriller as they show
the way a character is feeling perfectly adding a lot of context
without text and dialogue.
Before this shot the music has built up and then fades out to a stop
on this frame.This is tp highlight her dialogue and the pain in her
voice and breathing which is extremely heavy.
The lighting once again is low-key and the background seems to
be un-focused highlighting that she is the sole focus of this
shot. .
13. FRAME 9
Finally the titles came up for the movie and again they are really
simplistic. The text is bold and has almost a blur to it which links
to the storyline and how the main characters testimony is
blurred in her head.
The title appear one word at a time and have a piano playing
music as background. And it is very calm after all the action
shown in the montage editing throughout the teaser trailer.
14. ‘THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN’ MOVIE
POSTERS AND ANALYSIS:
The poster has the main
character on it, the girl on
the train.
Use of a shot in the teaser.
Clear link between
different marketing
techniques. Easily
recognizable creating a
strong brand identity.
Facial expression is
shocked. Makes the
audience want to watch
the film and see what she's
seeing and why she's so
shocked....
Same text front and style
as the titles used in the
trailer = strong brand
identity.
Top line = actors name.
Use of her name as
advertisement.
Grey/ blue colouring to
them and a low –key
lighting shot. Conventional
of a crime thriller.
15. What have I learnt?
From looking at this teaser trailer and the movie poster in depth and analyzing them
I've learnt that there has to be a strong brad identity running through both so
audiences can see they are linked to the same movie. I've learn you can do this by
things like the font choices, titles colouring, main characters being the center point of
both etc.
I've also learnt that montage editing is a great option when it comes to crime thriller
teaser trailers as it shows audiences exciting parts without giving them to much
information and makes them want to know more and want to watch the film.
I've also learnt how important sound is! If you watch a teaser trailer without sound the
suspense and tension is lost. Music needs to build to the right point and be louder in
some parts compared to quieter in others. Also sound effects may not always be
notices but are a important factor and they make everything much more dramatic.
