This document provides an analysis of the creative choices made in constructing a movie trailer. The trailer uses a nonlinear narrative to show the main character aging through three stages as she attempts to return home from a space voyage. It builds suspense and mystery through ambiguous shots, close-ups, identical shot sequences, and breaking of cinematic conventions. Text is used to provide context and build tension, while action sequences and dialogue scenes portray the character's struggle. The trailer concludes by revealing the aged protagonist and displaying the movie title and release date.

1. First Draft
Deconstruction

2. All professional trailers begin with this- to give my trailer a professional sealing I
decided to do likewise.

3. Many trailers open with the production and distribution companies in order to
give my trailer I quality sealing I did the same thing.

5. This next shot is the first display to the audience of
the main characters. The darkness was put in place to
maintain an aura of mystery and fear. This an extreme
close up revealing little of the set and focussed on the
actor.

6. This next shot slowly pulls backwards revealing more of the set.
As Deborah Knight asserts: “Genre guarantees satisfaction”. A
stable of the science fiction genre is spacecraft and in
displaying it immediately means I pull fans of the genre.

7. This shot was crucial to establishing suspense, the serious
expression on such a young girls face drawing the audience in. I
also purposely broke the fourth wall with this shot allowing my
actor to look directly at the camera lense. A convention of
movie making is to never look directly down the lense making it
unsettling for the watcher.

8. Text is used to establish context here. I was at first going to use the
dialogue of my actor however due to her age it didn’t seem convincing
enough. So I followed the convention of many other movie trailers and
used text.

9. This shot is purposefully identical to the one previous- incorporating
only a new actor not yet visible. This was essential to link with the text
as the theory established there will be realised in this next sequence. A
still mid shot is used stabilised by a tripod.

10. This close up shot was purposefully similar to the first shots
of the younger girl. In this way I hoped to establish the idea
of her ageing without just telling the audience.

11. The sequence of shots is purposefully identical to previously, meaning
that a sense of ‘dejavu’ is created. This is again meant to present the
process of aging- the same wakeup but with a different actor. In this
way the watcher is able to realise the concept of the movie without it
being fully explained to them.

12. Again I purposefully broke the fourth wall here- focussing of
the blue eyes identical to the previous shot. By doing this the
process of aging is reflected- close focus on physical features
used to do so.

13. To confirm the probable suspicions of my watcher I use text again to
build context. The concept of aging is definitely apparent now- as
we perhaps begin to realise that the girl is waking up each time
older in the space pod. Certainly conveying this is essential as it is
the basis of intrigue in the movie trailer- meaning audiences will
come to see it.

14. This shot builds more of the story line through dialogue rather
than text. It also gives a personal feel to the battle- as if we are
taking the journey with this girl. This also helps to establish the
story- meaning that further text slides can be used simply to
build tension rather than storyline.

15. Cross media collaboration was used here- this is due to the fact
that I used a famous poem as part of the building of suspense. This
increases the tension of the trailer moving away from slowly
building fear/anticipation and towards the action sequence of
trailer. Action being a large pull of many major blockbusters.

16. This building of pressure and excitement by the text is supported
by the dialogue “I will get home”. In this way the action builds
slowly as supported by the audio action track. This raises
anticipation and excitement around the movie- along with
storyline.

17. A short text of rage, rage against the dying of the light is then shown- this
acts as the transition into the action sequence of the trailer- moving away
from the suspence that has been building.

18. Quick cuts are then used at the action builds to a climax. I used ambiguous shots
as to not give too much away about the storyline while maintaining excitement.
This is punctuated again by the action sound track and breathing of Rebekah. I
believe the building gives it a sense of costraphobia and fear. These two shots are
close ups meaning that the watcher too feels a sense of this.

19. This shot highlights a small moment of deep space
travel. This was created by projecting onto the wall in
front of it and shaking the camera- a long shot of this as
I tried before did not have the desired action feeling I
wanted. For this reason it was cut down- hyperspace is a
stable of the science fiction spaceship genre and for this
reason I felt it an important addition to my trailer.

20. This shot portrays the panic sadness and hopeless nature of my main
characters shot- her head in her hands the common body language sign of
this. The smoke around her worked well as a visual effect to show the
damage not only to the ship but to her spirits also.

21. Over this shot we hear the words “Whoever finds this whether I’m dead or alive
just know that I fought and I fought hard”. It is this message of hope I hoped to
convey to my audience, this is a very personal story of one girls wish to live. In
this way I hoped to pull in a larger audience as survival is a much larger concept
than science fiction. It also leaves the watcher with a glimpse of hope and the
desire to know whether or not she does survive her ordeal.

22. I choose to purposefully lose a long gap until this shot was
revealed to the audience. Additionally the return of the original
ominous soundtrack signifies a return to the very basic concept
and a move away from action. I wanted the last section of the
trailer to stick in the audiences minds and showing the third
stage of the aging process- on a girl just seen to be young does
so. Again the close up breaks the fourth wall for this reason even
more likely to stick in their minds.

23. Conventions of a media trailer are used here as we see the date and title of the movie. These
due to the fact that they follow the shocking reveal of the third stage of aging for the
protagonist are more likely to stick in the mind of the watcher. Meaning they are more likely to
come and see the movie when it is finally released. I also mirrored the font of the text shown
throughout the create continuity.