Research and Planning: Analysis of 'The Vow' Trailer

Genre

For The Vow, we can clearly see that the genre for this film is Romance, there are many key features that help us to notice this. As we start the trailer, the first thing that we see is the couple having a wedding in which the first words we hear are 'I Vow', this sets the genre of the film right away and the audience knows that it is going to be a Romance. The film conventionally follows Steve Neal's hypothesis of 'Genre is a repetition with an underlying pattern of variation' as we see the film follow the typical aspects and conventions of a Romance film, in which we see a couple in love and then there is some sort of conflict (in which they are involved in a car crash and Paige loses her memories of Leo) and the audience can relax at the knowing that the conflict will be resolved in some sort of way by the end of the film, however the trailer leaves the audience in suspense asking questions like 'Will she love him again?' 'Will she remember?' which is what the film makers will have wanted, and succeeded in doing with this trailer.

Representation

Gender seems to play a heavy role in this trailer, as it is solely about the love between a man and a woman. We can see Laura Mulvey's theory of the 'Male Gaze' where she says that representations of gender are done in stereotypical ways, in which she means the men are seen as 'strong' and 'independent' whereas the women are 'weak' and 'dependent'. We see this straight away when there is a montage (the Kuleshov theory) of the couple spending time together and we see Leo swinging Paige around, stereo-typically playing on the fact that he is the strong male. However we can also say that the trailer goes against this theory as we know that Paige is the one that loses her memory of Leo and doesn't remember him, making her the more important of the two as he must desperately try to help her regain her memories, we see scenes of Leo being vulnerable in which he sits on the floor with his head in his hands. But we can also say that this still plays on the conventions of gender as Paige is the one who is weak and needs to be looked after, which follow Mulvey's theory.

Narrative

The trailer seems to fall under a very stereotypical Romance genre trailer, in which we can see a couple in love, with the love being destroyed, and then them trying to work out some sort of resolution. This follows Todorov's theory of 'equilibrium, disruption, equilibrium restored'. We see the beginning of the equilibrium when Paige and Leo vow to love each other and get married, in which the lighting is high key and happy and the mise-en-scene is Romantic as they are dressed in wedding attire  we see a montage of them being in love with upbeat happy music in the background. However we then see the disruption when they are in a car crash, in which Paige is not wearing her seatbelt, and she wakes up in hospital unable to remember who her Husband is. Thus creating a rift in the perfection of their love in which we once saw, creating the tension and the mood setter for the film. However we begin to see bits of the equilibrium restored when we hear the happy music come back, and the narrator Channing Tatum says 'we will always find a way back to each other' which suggests to the audience that this indeed, will happen, leaving the film on a more positive note.

Audience

The Vow offers a certificate of 12A, which practically means that anyone can watch it, although children under 12 will need a parent present with them. This suggests to us that the film has no heavy sexual nature and no heavy violence etc which means that it is an easily watchable Romance film in which the problems are resolved. I think that The Vow's trailer conveys the 'Uses and Gratifications' theory, which means that the audience can get what they want from the trailer. As the trailer strongly follows the love between two people, with the disruption and resolution, it tells the audience that this is an easily watchable film and that the audience will get what they want, if Romance and relaxation is what they want. We can see the reception theory present here, in which we take different meanings from a text, as although the certificate is 12A I think the audience is more based around the 20s, as I don't think a small child would enjoy the film, or even understand it for that matter as it relays to the audience an important matter of marriage and love. We can also see Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum present who are actors in many mature Romance films, which the audience will notice and know that the Romance is going to be portrayed correctly.

Media Language

(Cinematography, Sound, Mise-en-Scene, Editing) 

The trailer starts off with a close up of Channing Tatum, who plays Leo, which first off shows to the audience just who is going to be in this film, which will also appeal to the women audience as Channing Tatum is seen as an attractive male in a suit. We hear an over-head voice from Rachel McAdam's saying 'I Vow' which if the audience has seen her other films, they will recognize her voice straight away. We then see a close up of Paige smiling, with high key lighting to portray to the audience that this is a positive moment, in which she is reciting her vows to Leo. As the first words the audience hears are 'I Vow', this shows us that the film is staying true to it's Title which is a clever effect, and it portrays to the audience that the film is going to be about marriage and the love between these two characters. The Mise-en-Scene shows us straight away that this is going to be a romance film, however we can see that Paige is wearing a short pink dress which is unconventional of a wedding, which could be suggesting to the audience that this is an unconventional quirky film. At the beginning of the trailer there is no music, however we hear a lot of diegetic sound which includes the footsteps of the characters as they run from the security and we can see that they're in an enormous Art Gallery hall, where their voices are echoing from the largeness of the room. There are a lot of jump cuts near the beginning of the film which can also be seen as a montage, which plays of Kuleshov's theory, as we see Paige and Leo's love evident. There is a voice over from Channing Tatum, Leo, talking about how important moments are and how they change our lives, however he then says 'what if one day you could no longer remember any of them' in which the music changes drastically as we see the car crash and the disruption of the happiness. In the middle of the trailer we see a short bit of text saying 'This Valentines Day' (in which the film is being released) which also can convey to the audience that it is a Romance film as it is being specifically released at this time so that couples can go and see it together on Valentines Day. There is a lot of jump cuts throughout the trailer to show the different stages of the film however they use a fade transition which is easier on the audience's eyes and shows that the trailer is showing us different scenes from the film and not the same scene. Throughout the trailer the costumes and Mise-En-Scene is very simple, showing that this is an everyday love film and there is nothing special, however we see Paige in a hospital gown, which shows the audience that the film is believable and serious at some parts. On top of the scenes we see text introducing the actors, however with not just their names, it says 'From The Notebook, Rachel McAdams' and 'From Dear John, Channing Tatum' in which both are very popular Romance films and the trailer is telling us that it aims to suit the same audience as those films, and/or thinks that people who will want to watch the Vow will have already seen these two films as well.

Research and Planning: Analysis of 'The Notebook' Trailer

Genre

This movie trailer is set for the Romance Genre and there are many key features that help the viewer notice that. The trailer focuses on Steve Neal's hypothesis that 'Genre is a repetition with an underlying pattern of variation', as we can see the typical Romance features of a developing love between Noah and Allie, which then gets destroyed in some way (which in this case being that Allie's parents don't agree with her being with him as they are from a higher class background than he) and then becoming a happy ending, which is conventional of the Romance genre. The Genre is also presented in many ways through the use of Mise-En-Scene, the woman, Allie and her older self are always seen to be wearing bright coloured clothing, mostly red, which is a colour that is strongly associated with the Romance genre.

Representation

Laura Mulvey talked about her theory of 'The Male Gaze', in which she explains her ideas on how the representation of gender is done in a very stereotypical way, where women are 'objectified' and men are 'heroes' and the strong ones. However I think that this theory does not convey much in this trailer as we see that Allie is the one that moves away from Noah, becoming the stronger one of the couple, and she finds new love in another man, whereas in the Trailer we see Noah struggling to cope without her and writing to her every day for a year. This strays away from the stereotypes of gender as women are conventionally seen as the weaker sex. However, there are some parts to the trailer which stay true to Mulvey's theory, as we see the elderly Noah trying to bring Allie back and help her regain her memories, so we see him trying to be the hero of the two, conventionally a strong male character.

Narrative

The trailer strongly follows the couple as they develop love for one another. It follows Todorov's theory of 'equilibrium, disruption, equilibrium restored'. We can see the equilibrium, confirmed by the narrator, when Allie and Noah meet and begin to fall in love, the Trailer follows as he asks her out on a date and they dance together on the road. However we can see the disruption when Allie's parents tell her that she and Noah are 'not right for eachother' this causes the tension between the couple and forces them apart, in the trailer we see lots of low key lighting used and the characters are now wearing dull clothing, telling the audience that there is a developing tension. Later in the trailer we can see Allie moving on from Noah, but then she sees his picture in the paper and goes to see him. This develops the trailer into the equilibrium restored stage as we see them evolve their love for eachother once again. 

Audience

When talking about audience I think that The Notebook's trailer conveys the 'Uses and Gratifications' theory, which means that the audience can get what they want from the trailer. As the Trailer is so specific to Allie and Noah's love and follows conventions of a Romance trailer, the audience is able to watch it easily knowing if they would want to see the film or not. The Notebook is certified to be a 15 film, meaning that only that age and up are able to watch it, this might also appeal to a lot of people as not many Romance films are certified that highly. This means that there might be something never done before in a Romance in this film which would make the audience more likely to want to watch it. It might also appeal to the ages of under 15 as it has this higher certificate, this might make them want to watch it as they would normally not be allowed, making the film appeal to a different range of ages. This presents the reception theory, which suggests how we take different meanings from a text. However as Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling appear in the movie, I think that the audience is based around the 20s as these actors are seen mostly in more mature films, and as they also appear in a lot of Romance genre films, this will appeal to that audience as they know that the characters will be portrayed in the right way.

Media Language 

(Cinematography, Sound, Editing, Mise-En-Scene)

The Trailer begins by automatically telling us the genre of the film by the use of sound, the soft piano music is primarily associated with Romance genres which suggests to the audience what genre the film is going to be. There is also a voice over throughout the trailer, his first words being 'It was a magical summer' which conveys the stereotypical 'Summer love' to the audience. There is also a lot of diegetic sounds at the beginning of the trailer including the ring of a bell on a bike, in which we see a medium shot of four teenagers riding. The connotations of this sound are happy and everyday which relaxes the audience into knowing that the film is not going to stray from the ordinary. The first shot we see is an establishing shot of a lake with thousands of swans in it, this also tells the audience the genre of the film as swans are seen to be very romantic and elegant creatures. Throughout the trailer we can see that a lot of jump cuts are used with no real knowledge of passing time, as there are shots used from all different times of the film, this strays from the slow and moving editing of a normal Romance film. The first shots we see of the characters, is a long shot of Noah sat outside and we can tell from his clothing that he is from a poorer background, whereas when we see Allie there is a medium close up of her laughing, showing that she is happy. And a medium close up is used so that we can see her accessories and gather that she is from a richer background, she is also wearing conventional women clothing, very elegant and pink, with red lipstick, showing that even though she looks young she is very mature for her age. As Kuleshov suggested in his theory, we can see that his idea of 'montage' is evident throughout the trailer, as we follow the voice over's narrative of the two characters, it shows us the correct images to correspond with the voiceover, meaning that when he introduces the characters they are on the screen. This makes it easier and more understandable for the audience and helps them get to know the characters before even watching the film. The lighting throughout the film is very high key, suggesting to the audience that the trailer is happy and uplifting, with the soft music in the background helping the audience along with the narrative. However at the time of the disruption, the lighting is dark and it is night time, but the piano music still plays in the background but on a much quieter scale. There is a lot of close ups on the character's faces which shows their expressions which allows the audience to gather an understanding of what the character is feeling and how the audience should react to this.

Research and Planning: Identifying our Roles

Emma and I have been discussing which roles we want to take on to make our trailer. We discussed which areas we feel most comfortable in and have decided that I will be doing Sound and Editing and Emma will do Mise-En-Scene and Cinematography. I think that these roles are most suited to use, although we will be helping each other out with all of the jobs as we are a team and are doing this trailer together.

Research and Planning: IMDB Research

After using IMDB to find some research for Romance films, I found that there are quite a lot of old films which are the most popular, with the top Romance rated film being made in 1998. A lot of the top Romance are conventional romance films, being love between a man and a woman, which I think would be the easiest thing to portray in our Trailer. However I really liked our proposal idea about the two homosexual men, which could stray away from the convention and maybe be a fresh outlook on the Romance genre, which people might enjoy more than the normal man and woman love.

Research and Planning: Audience Theories Research

The 'Hypodermic' Model:
This theory suggests that the media injects ideas into the audience, giving them 'ideas' just like a drug. Which is why this theory is also sometimes referred to as the Hypodermic Needle Model.

The Cultivation Theory:
This theory suggests that the more time people spend in the Television world, the more likely they are to believe the social reality that is being portrayed, which draws the focus on the fact that the audience members develop large quantities of information about the world on the media they use.

The Desensitisation Theory:
The process of reducing sensitivity - taking things out and cutting them, i.e. violence no longer effects people, which sometimes draws the evidence from the influencing volume of violence.

The Modelling or Copycat Theory:
Media influences and effects the audience's behaviour and how they think, links to the Herman and Chomsky theory.

The Uses and Gratification Theory:
Understanding why and how people actively seek at specific medias to satisfy specific needs, the audience has control over consumption and takes in what they want.

Research and Planning: Good Trailers vs. Bad Trailers - Bad Examples

The first trailer we see here is for film Valentine's Day, in which if the title isn't cheesy enough, the film itself is just as bad. The trailer is very erratic with no real storyline, playing off that the only thing that will make you want to go and see it is the cast (and there's a lot of them) the trailer gives away nothing of what the film is going to be or what its about, instead giving you quick jumpcuts showing random actors and people from the film, with a strange song playing over the top and no dialogue from the characters. At the beginning the music starts and they have used a very upbeat song, which sounds more like a rave song, and gives nothing away of the genre of the film, but instead we already guessed by the awful title of the film. However that song dies out in about five seconds and instead we get a strange beat over the top of the dialogue, which makes it difficult to even hear what they are saying, as well as using a pointless 6 seconds of music. Considering that the budget of the film was $52 million, you'd think that they would take more time in carefully creating a good trailer, instead of just throwing a load of actor's names around like a self obsessed name dropper. 



The next trailer we see here is for film 'Fool's Gold' which sounds like an awful pirate spin off movie, in which it starts out with conventional music, check, but with confusing dialogue which makes no sense to the audience as to what is going on other than the woman and man in the film are getting a divorce. The trailer itself is messy, and the audience does not know whats going on, and then the trailer goes on to show the audience too much of the film and basically tells the audience what the film is about and whats going to happen. Very cliche, and obvious, that the two couple should get back together, in which the trailer shows us this as it shows us a scene of them kissing. I think that a trailer should hint at ideas of whats going to happen without giving too much away or really what is the point of going to see a film anyway? But then the trailer moves on to actually become a strange pirate spoof, in which the audience finds out that there is buried treasure somewhere, leaving the audience feeling dizzy with the amount of stuff going on in the trailer and how stupid it is becoming, also leaving it very difficult to sit through the whole trailer without wanting to turn it off.

Research and Planning: Treatment of Proposal 1

After having a talk with our peers and tutor, we have decided to make these changes to our Proposal One:

There is a young male who is popular at school, well liked, captain of the football team and seems untouchable. he has a close relationship with his younger sister. The male falls in love with a girl whom he goes to school with, and his sister finds herself being put second best. She constantly asks her brother to go out with her and do things the two usually do, however, he ignores her completely. This begins to create tension between the siblings, as their once strong relationship begins to break down. His sister begins to get extremely depressed, and as he realises he may have caused this, it puts a strain on the couples relationship- the story mainly follows the couple as they try to work together on rebuilding their relationship as well as the male and his sisters, although the two girls do not get on.

We have decided to make these changes as we feel like the first proposal was too heavy, including the subjects of suicide and self harm, so by making these changes we have made the film more suitable for all ages. However we have still kept in that the sister is upset by her brother, which can be an every day situation that can be seen between families, therefore making the film relate-able to many people. This also makes the film and trailer less heavy and harrowing, as the ideas and aspects of suicide might be very upsetting to some viewers and we want to be able to reach as much audience as we can.

Research and Planning: Sharing our Proposal with our Tutor

After Emma and I sharing both of our proposals with our Tutor Angela, we have discussed each one in detail and discussed whether the trailers will be possible to create from the ideas that we have generated. We have talked a lot of about Proposal number 2 as it is quite dramatic and in the end we have decided to cut out Jake being homeless, and instead we are going to follow a bit more of a the Notebook structure, as in Jake and Chase having a Summer Romance, and then drifting apart at the end. However we are going to have it as Jake becoming open in his sexuality and not being afraid, whereas Chase decides to cover his true sexuality and gets married to a woman. We are going to have a scenario where they meet again in later years, however it is not going to be Jake being homeless. I think that this is the best progress for our Proposal as it makes the film more realistic and will be easier to portray on a trailer.

Research and Planning: Proposal 2

Idea 2: A guy named Jake who is from a very strict background, his Dad is retired from the army and has a very old fashioned outlook, and expects Jake to follow in his footsteps by marrying early to a high class woman and joining the army. However Jake develops feelings for his childhood best friend Chase, who feels the same way. Jake knows that his Dad would disapprove and is terrified at the thought of him finding out. Chase is cuddling Jake on the Sofa when Jake's Dad comes home early from the war, he throws Chase out, banishing Jake from seeing him ever again, proceeding to beat Jake up and says he will be thrown out if he continues with his homosexual feelings as it is "not right". Unable to forget Chase, Jake is thrown out of his home, with no where to go Chase and Jake's relationship is strained and Jake becomes homeless and jobless. A few years later Chase is walking down the street with his wife and sees Jake on the corner, Chase being a successful man, throws a penny at Jake without realising it is him, when Jake looks up and says thank you their eyes lock and all their feelings come rushing back. The film concentrates with Chase realising he made a mistake with his wife and them trying to rebuild their relationship.

Cinematography and Sound:

• High key lighting of the couple at the start, with the beginning of their relationship.
• Low key lighting with Jake's dad being violent and Jake becoming homeless.
• Diegetic sounds when Jake is homeless, ie. Dogs barking and noise of the traffic on the street
• High angles on Jake
• Fast paced music when the two meet again, with fast editing to show how quickly their love comes back to them

In the trailer we will not show much violence from Jake's dad as it is a 12A trailer and quite a disturbing and uncomfortable topic, however we will show some as it is one of the main plots of the film and a very serious homophobic topic which needs to be addressed.

Research and Planning: Proposal 1

Proposals:
Idea 1: There is a guy named Zac, 18, who is popular at school, well liked, captain of the football team, and seems untouchable, but he has a special relationship with his younger sister, Alana, 14, who is outcasted and quirky. When Zac falls in love with girl at school, Ramona, 18, Alana suddenly finds herself second best, without her brother constantly by her side. This begins to create tension between the siblings, as their once strong relationship begins to break down. As Alana's confidence and popularity spirals, she finds herself secluded and alone, which brings her so low down that she ends up committing suicide. The film resolves around Zac's emotions of this and Ramona's help in getting over Alana's death, with the film ending on the couple having a child called Alana.

Cinematography and Sound:

• A lot of low key lighting, with high key lighting in places of love, ending with the film being bright and high key lighting at the end.
• Narration from Alana
• Slow piano music, to show dramatic parts of the film
• High angles on Alana to show vulnerability and depression.

In the trailer, we will not show many scenes of the suicide as the trailer is a 12A and may disturb younger viewers, the music will stop and it will be a shot of Zac crying and a note saying "Sorry Zac" with a bottle of empty pills.

Research and Planning: Film Certificates

At our group discussion today, Emma and I had to discuss what we thought our Romantic film's certificate would be. We decided as it was a Romance film, a 15 certificate would be appropriate as this will give us the freedom to add more mature content, which our target audience would enjoy more than just a PG.

However, for our trailer we decided that it should be a 12A as this will allow us to direct the trailer at a wider audience, meaning that more people will want to watch the film, therefore creating a bigger synergy.

Research and Planning: Audience Interviews

Here are my audience interviews, in which we asked our audience the questions we came up with and they answered honestly. The last video you can see is in two parts as another person came into the interview without realising we were filming and we didn't want the interview to go off track so we waited until he had talked to our interviewee and left to continue with the interview. I think all in all we got some good feedback on what to do when creating our trailer, with our audience saying basically the same answers, using films such as the Notebook and Pretty Woman.

Research and Planning: Audience Feedback Questions

Here are the questions that I am planning on asking my audience in relation to the Romantic film genre.

1 What was the last Romance film that you watched? Did you enjoy it? Can you elaborate why?
2 What is your favourite Romance film? Any reason why?
3 Where do you think Romance films should be set?
4 What do you like to see in a Romance film? (e.g. characters, plot etc)
5 Do you like dramatic plot twists in Romance films or straight to the point plots?

Research and Planning: Group Meeting

For this project my partner through out will be Emma Hibbert, Emma and I are very close inside and out of college which will make the working relationship easier as we will be able to see eachother outside of college, make plans together and make sure that each other knows what we are doing as we are in constant contact with eachother.

Research and Planning: Questionnaire Results

Research and Planning: About Time

The other day I went to see new romance film 'About Time' in the cinema, the film itself was amazing, heartbreaking and lovely all at the same time and I think that the posters and trailers suit the film perfectly using the right colours and moods. The film follows a young man who discovers on his 21st birthday that he has the power to time travel, but even though the idea of this 'un natural' thing might put people off watching the film, it makes the time travel believable by him only being able to time travel to the past, and only to his own memories. This way he is not able to go into the future and if he goes to the past he loses memories from the future if he changes something in the past. The film was quite long, however I enjoyed every minute of it, even breaking me into tears at one point. I think the poster for the film makes it more appealing as Rachel McAdams is mostly associated with Romance films including The Notebook and The Vow so people will automatically know that this is a Romance film, whereas the main actor of the story Domhnall Gleeson is a new actor and therefore not as known, therefore making him not the centre of the advertisement. I also think that the image used looks natural and not forced, adding to the natural romantic appeal of the film.

Research and Planning: Questionnaire

Here is the Questionnaire which I will be asking my target audience.

Research and Planning: The Pitch

Research and Planning: Social Media Link

I put a link to the Audience research poll that I created onto my Twitter account as to get some feedback from my followers, which would help out with my Social Media research and feedback and help my poll reach out to a wider audience and therefore make my research more relevant.

I also put the link onto my Tumblr page for the same reason, to get more people to take the poll and gain us more research into making our trailer.

Research and Planning: Audience Poll

Research and Planning: Some Social Feedback

Research and Planning: Film Poster

Since being out of college for the summer holidays, we had not been using Photoshop as much as we had before the holidays so to make sure that we still had the skills that we learned and we knew what we were doing we were set a Photoshop Challenge to make a movie poster for a genre of our choice, I chose a Romantic film, using warm colours and a word inclined to sound romantic, I think that I accomplished what I set out to do and am quite proud of the outcome.

Research and Planning: The Chase - a Trailer

One of the first tasks we were assigned was to make a one minute trailer portraying our view of the title "The Chase, this was my groups representation, using dramatic music and realistic trailer aspects such as the quotes from viewers and the "Audience Choice Award 2013" short, to make the trailer seem more practical.