Codes and Conventions Of Film Trailers

Most products put their logo in a trailer it’s because they have funded the company and produced the movie trailer this is because they want their company to be recognized. They also do this to get their company promoted and while they do this they are advertising themselves. For example The Great Gatsby Trailer Official 2012 show their production logo within the first few seconds when the audience watch this they automatically know Warner Bros produced this. Also movies like The Man With The Iron Fists Trailer Official 2012 also have their production company logo at the start of the trailer. These are both very big distribution companies. this is scary movie four the company production logo is shown in the middle of the trailer they have done this because they have already have the viewer interested into the movie so it is most likely that they won’t turn over the channel in other cases when people see movie trailers they change over the channel.

The plot summary of Killing Them Softly is about Jackie Cogan who is an specialized enforcer who researches about an robbery that went down during a poker game. The plot summary of scary movie four is about the unemployed character who is hired to look after a haunted house and she does not know it is haunted. Also "Tr-iPods" are invading the world and the main character has to try to stop them. During this movie trailer they are making fun of Saw and The Grudge.
There is narration in the Scary Movie Four trailer this is when there is subtext written saying “ when the world is at war” this shows to the audience what the movie is about and it also tell them the themes and ideas behind it. There is narration in The Man With The Iron Fists for example there is a written narration during the trailer saying “A Fortune In Gold” this shows to the audience there is something that is very valuable that is worth fighting over because they used the term “gold”. Also the narrator in this movie is the main character because the narrator is speaking first person view.

There is music in The Man with the Iron Fist this is when there is an action scene and they show that this is fast paced and keeps the audience attracted to the screen. Also when they show first scenes of the women they show very powerful music to show she is a powerful women and very manly. In Killing them Softly there is parallel sound to the action this goes with the action.

In both of the movie trailers they have all the credits and cast information this is because they want their team to get known for this movie and they want the audience to know who produced the movie and what characters are in the movie. When they show characters name in the trailer the audience get attracted for example it says “Richard Jenkins” everyone knows he is a big Hollywood star so this would keep the audience interested.

Filmography:

Scary Movie 4 (2006)
Director: David Zucker

Killing Them Softly (2012)

Director: Andrew Dominik

The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)

Director: RZA

Trailer 3

This movie is an Action Crime Fiction Mystery Thriller and Action/Adventure. In the opening scenes they show a shot of two guys sitting inside a car they look very suspicious. They put down a sawn off shotgun on the seat this might suggest to the audience that they are going to kill somebody or they are going to shoot something. Then they show them going into a back alley. They walk inside a building after and they have weapons and they are ready for a gun fight. They have got tights on their heads because this shows to the audience that they can’t show their face because they can’t show there real identity because it will come back to them and it will make their life a risk. It shows that TWC productions made the movie because they show this in the opening scenes of the movie but first they have showed action because it catches the audience’s attention.

Before the production company logos they have already have the audience lots of questions to think about for example why are they fighting? Why is the man loading a gun? Doing this it has drawn the audience’s attention they want to watch the trailer more.

After the robbing scene the camera work goes light because this might suggest to the audience that he is a good character instead of a bad character it will show dark lighting when there is bad characters around. You can tell who the main character is because they show lots of shots of him and try to show his emotions. Also everyone is wearing black clothing to show that they are all the bad people. The main character looks like he is not really a villain because when he saw the sawn off shot gun he was scared. You can tell he is frustrated because he is keep on smoking a cigarette this shows to the audience that the main character smokes because he’s stressing all the time.

All the shots during the movie are close ups because this has all the camera shots up close and you can tell the characters emotion and you can see the whole action is the background.

There is lots of technical codes in this movie trailer for example in the trailer the characters do speak that much this is to show the audience that there is lots of action and less mystery and this might suggest to the audience there is more action then storyline. Also I believe when the characters talk they give out lots of information. they have added  explosions and diegetic sound to let the audience work it out themselves and to go parallel for the scenes  for example like the end scene the music goes calm.

Trailer 2

This movie is an Action Crime Fiction Mystery Thriller and Action/Adventure. In the opening scenes they show a shot of a guy loading up a gun this suggests to the audience that there will be action and there will be action. Then the audience see a man from behind this shows mystery then there is a cut shot and he walks into the toilet and he hacks some kind of information after he has done that it looks like he put a disguise on because it looked like a mid aged white male when they had a shot of a mid aged black African guy putting in a jacket on this connotes to the audience that he has out on a disguise and he is going to do something very dangerous and he’s real identify cannot be shown. After that seen it shows that the movie is made universal Pictures because they show this in the opening scenes of the movie but first they have showed action because it catches the audience’s attention.

After the production company logos they have already have the audience lots of questions to think about for example why are they fighting? Why is the man loading a gun? Doing this it has drawn the audience’s attention they want to watch the trailer more.

After the fighting scene the camera work goes light because this might suggest to the audience that he is a good character instead of a bad character it will show dark lighting when there is bad characters around. You can tell who the main character is because they show lots of shots of him and try to show his emotions. The main character looks like a very busy person and he relies on the other people to help him this is because he phoned someone in a suit to help him giving the main character vital information. You can tell he is frustrated because he is keep on bouncing the ball of the wall and when the phone rang he went to it really fast and it was an urgent call this suggests to the audience this phone call is very important and he waited for it for a long time.

There is lots of technical codes in this movie trailer for example in the trailer the characters do not speak that much this is to show the audience that there is lots of mystery and this might suggest to the audience there is more action then storyline. Also I believe when the characters talk they give out lots of information for example the voice on top of the trailer says he was a CIA agent and that already gives away a lot of information. they have added  explosions and diegetic sound to let the audience work it out themselves and to go parallel for the scenes  for example like the end scene the music goes calm.

When the trailer finishes this makes the audience think what will happen next and it will leave it on a cliff-hanger because the audience will think why he didn’t not shoot him.

Trailer 1

It shows that the movie is made Warner Bros because they show this in the opening scenes of the movie. This movie is in the ThrillerWrong? Wrong?Action/ Adventure Wrong?Superhero movie Wrong?Drama Wrong?Crime Fiction. You can find this out in the opening scenes of the trailer because you see a mysterious man in black with a cloak you can tell he is a superhero because he is wearing a cloak on and maybe this can help him fly.

At first the audience will think the mysterious man is a villain because he is wearing black clothes on and he hits a police officer and police officers are normally the good guys. While watching the trailer further you release who the villain is because you see the “joker” robbing the bank. They have done a counter stereotype because normally the villain has dark clothes but this time the villain has bright coloured clothing and the hero is in black and looked very mysterious.

The camera work is showing long shots in the opening 20-30 seconds this is because they are trying to bring mystery with the man wearing the black cloak before they show the mysterious man all the scenes are dark and very suspicious after they have revealed him with a close up shot then the shots have gone bright and you could see all the characters faces and body language this maybe link further on with the story. There are fast paced cuts to show the movie is going to be fast paced and there will be lots of fireworks and explosions because during the trailer there are continua’s amounts of explosions and fights. There is a flash during one of the fights this might show to the audience that something major happens in that fight.
 
When you see the batman hitting a police man it might be because the police officer is corrupt because all the way through the trailer he is saving people and making sure all civilians are safe. Before he hits the police man he hits the bad guy this connotes to the audience that both characters are as bad as each other and they need a vigilante because the batman does not look like he has powers because he is using tools to fly up buildings.

During the trailer you see a vehicle going through and it looks like it is very fast this might suggest to the audience that it is a fast paced movie and he can’t fly so he travels around in his vehicle. You see lots of homeless people at the start this shows that the city where they are living is corrupt and they are not doing anything to help them so they are not helping the community and it is not a pleasant place to be.

During this trailer there is not that much blood and gore so it looks like a crime stopper movie and it suggests to the audience that someone will always come and save the day. Make up is used a lot in this movie trailer because the joker has a fake smile this goes against the stereotype it is a countertype because a joker is someone who makes jokes and brightens people days up but this joker makes everything go bad because he is robbing banks and he maybe the reason why everything is corrupt.

They try to say this man is a batman because they show logos of a bat flying and a bat is a very unique animal that only comes out in the dark and not seen very often this might suggest to the audience batman only comes out when he is needed.

Subvert The Genre

We are thinking about choosing the thriller and adventure genre. We are going to subvert it by making one of our actors drown and wake up in a fantasy world. The character will not know where he is or how did he get there. So it is all a mystery. The character will try to come back into the real world. We have used the movie Narnia as a theme because that movie is more like our trailer but we are going to subvert by doing something unrealistic.

Our second idea related to first one is after he has drowned the main character has woken up as someone else and the mystery is to try to get back to his usual self. This gives the audience a movie which is very different and it is very unique. This gives the audience a mystery movie and it will leave the audience thinking and when the audience thinks about it then they are most likely to watch the movie.  

We are thinking to putting both of these ideas together because they are both very subvert and the audience has never seen a movie trailer like ours.    

About Me

My name is Farhan Mohammed I am 17 years of age. I am studying Media at A levels and Btec Business Level 3. I have completed the AS part of the course and now I am doing the A2 section. Hopefully I get my target grade and I will go university. I am studying this at King Edward Sheldon Heath Academy which is also known as Sheldon Heath Community Art College. I am currently searching for the course I want to study in university and I am not sure what I want to become in the future. I have choose this course because it can opens my doors in the media industry also it will give me a taste of what it feels like to work in the media industry.

In my free time I like to go fishing this helps me to keep calm at all times and if you are patient you would get a good result. I like to socialise with my friends in my free time and enjoy life as every teenage does. Also I am a very hardworking person who sets out a goal for himself and tries his best to get that goal. I was not motivated in the past to succeed but now I am very motivated and dedicated to my work and I will try my best to archive the most I can get.