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.