The Purpose of Film Trailers

Film trailers promote and advertise upcoming films, through a short video, using snippets from the full movie to fill up 2 and a half minutes max, making sure to include the critical components to create a representative trailer of the movie which appears worthwhile to watch. They're very important as they're used to engage, entice and attract the target demographic audience, furthermore, try and attract new demographics to get a wider audience appeal and therefore hit more sales. The time of day the trailer is played and where its advertised will be specific to the audience they're trying to attract.

What are typical features of a trailer?

Music- Sets the tone of the film, usually very telling as to what genre the film is by what music is playing. For instance horror movies will typically have spooky,eerie music. The music may be a known song or a specifically composed instrumental, it depdends on what atmosphere is trying to be created.

Quick cuts-These are used to excite the audience my jumping between snippets of the film, it also means the audience have to pay close attention because they might miss something.

Soundtrack/commentry/language - Overlaying the soundtrack is usually a combination of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. Many trailers use a voiceover to narrate the trailer, if this isnt used, they might use a graphic commentry. The most famous voiceover, also known by 'the voice of god', is by Don Lafontaine, its recognised by many.

History of Movie Trailers...

Intertextuality in music videos

The Beasty Boys- Sabotage 

The Beasty boys presented us with a very 90's cop-like impression in their music video. This was through camera movements and editing as well as the mise en scene. This is done through a parody, 'a humorously exaggerated imitation', which creates a rebellious vibe and creates a purposeful image of the Beasty Boys as they daringly take the mick out of well-respected, authoritative figures within society. 

Red Hot Chili Peppers- Californication 

The Red Hot Chili Peppers takes an unusual approach by taking on a visual and narrative style as a video game.This immediately attracts the youthful, pop-rock audience as they feel familiarization of the use of media. 

Madonna- Vouge

Despite the title being 'Vouge', the name of the popular fashion magazine, Madonna has made references to Marilyn Monroe through visual appearance and art history. She wears a low cut white dress, an iconic white dress of Monroes, curly blonde hair, bold lips and flawless skin.

Madonna

Marilyn

Taylor Swift- Love Story Intertextuality

(In the 'Flipsnack' presenation, the quality is unreliable. Transcript for the introduction is here: The very popular play; Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare is about a tragic romance.  Two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. I feel Taylor Swift has not only used intertextuality of this in the visuals of her video by copying famous scenes such as the balcony scene, but also strongly through the use of lyrics. In red I have highlighted all the lyrics which merge in with the narrative of Romeo and Juliet, there are many undeniable connections throughout the song, beginning with the major fact that Romeo and Juliet’s names are used in the songs narrative. The love is described as difficult but real, it’s well-known that Romeo and Juliet had true love which was made difficult because their families didn’t see eye to eye and this suits the tragic love appeal which Romeo and Juliet hold. It says how Romeo was warned to stay away from Juliet by her father and this links to the real story. It also mentions more than once, how it’s young love, this is first mentioned at the beginning at the song and last mentioned at the end, this shows it’s a significant part of the narrative as it’s the first thing we’re told and the last thing we hear- it’s a well-known fact Romeo and Juliet were young lovers. It has the same sense of mystery and secrecy of Romeo and Juliet’s story as the lovers have to sneak out to the garden to meet one another. This is further reinforced by the chorus ‘Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone’. As well as these lyrical connection there are also visuals which we will go on to look at.)

Intertextuality used in the film ‘Psycho’

What is Intertextuality...

Why is there intertextuality in music videos?

Many artists include intertextuality in their music videos to make precise and specific references to significant events, people or places. Some artists may do this to give their text a certain meaning or others might do it for popularity and through this give there own brand more recognition and credibility. Intertextuality in music videos is more obvious because the media they are merging with is more often than not well known to the audience and therefore easily recognizable. This means with the right circumstances and relevance it can be easy to incorporate intertextuality in a music video.

How the film 'Psycho' fits conventions of a thriller...

How does the trailer of ‘Psycho’ fulfill the codes and conventions of the genre of Thriller?

The filmstroke of the psycho trailer is black and white, which keeps the tone of the narrative old and traditional, giving a sense of realism, as if looking into past events.The antagonist becomes obvious as silhouettes and shadows are used to enhance the characters mystery over his hidden identity,this leads us to believe he is the bad guy. The non-diegetic sound introducing the hotel as 'quiet little motel' is creepy, it fits to the typically secluded, isolated location of a thriller film and gives the viewer chills as it suggests whats really going on, contrasts to the sense of tranquility set by the word 'quiet'. It almost acts as dramatic irony to suggest the mishappenings which are happening in this motel are far from quiet and little, overall this helps build suspense, which is a typical convention of a thriller. Furthermore, the establishing shot of the motel and the rain pouring at the same time, creates an atmosphere of dread and doom, causing the weather to foreshadow something bad is going to take place. 

Lots of close ups are used to guide us to pay more attention to certain objects or things e.g the extreme close up of the eye looking through the peep hole creeps out but also engages the audience as it allows them to question who the character is, and as to why and what they're doing. It may also draw the viewers to other things such as the knife, to create tension and suspense. These are both common conventions of thriller films. Throughout the trailer they also show mid/close up shots of facial expressions, showing some characters looking rather distressed or anxious which again causes the viewer to take a further interest in the narrative of the film.

Non-diegetic music is used and the screeching high-pitch of it makes the viewer feel uncomfortable and on the edge of there seat, preparing them for something to happen and holding there attention so they catch the finest details. As pace quickens and slows in pace it either lets the viewer relax (if slows) or build up more apprehension and insecurity (if it fastens). Jump cuts are used to show fast forwarding in time, this is common among thrillers and helps add the realistic effect of passing time. 

Codes and Conventions of the Thriller Genre

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)

Examples of thriller films:

Brief history of the thriller genre:

"Thriller is a genre of literature, film, video game stories and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as its main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods, giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and terror. Films of this genre tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced.^"

As the genre thriller has progressed, sub-genres have been created, including psychological thrillers, crime thrillers, erotic thrillers and mystery thrillers. 

Alfred Hitchcock was an influential English film director, nicknamed 'The Master of Suspense' who produced one of the first thriller films (1920's-1930's). Hitchcock's first thriller film was made in 1926, it was a silent film, called 'The Lodger', it loosely followed a Jack the Ripper narrative and was filled with suspense. 3 years later, in 1929, Hitchcock produced the film 'Blackmail', it got extra credibility for being Britain's first film with sound. 

The 1950's were the highest point of Alfred Hitchcock's career, as his thriller films lead him to his success. These films included:

  

Codes and Conventions of the thriller genre:

Typically...

- Low key lighting

- Quick cuts

- Shadows

- Tension music 

- Changes in the angle of shots

- Diegetic sound of breathing

- Black and white shots

- Montage of shots

- Protagonist is in mercy of the Antagonist 

Characters:

The protagonist is often the good guy, looking to seek an equilibrium. Often brave and determined.

The antagonist will usually have a hidden identity, which is revealed as the film progresses. His act of evil is often based on revenge.

Cinematography of a thriller:

-Lots of close ups& extreme close ups in order to show the viewer the emotion of the character or

 guide them to looking at clues within scenes, this will help aid the narrative. 

- Their is likely to be quick cuts to build tension or hide identities of characters, this helps keep mystery and suspense. 

Editing:

Jump cuts will be very popular, in order to ensure the audience are keeping up with everything which is essential to make sense of the film. Cross cutting should be used as its vital to build the atmosphere of suspense. Continuous editing will also be used, to help show order and narrative to the film. 

Sound in a Thriller:

Non-diegetic music will massively influence moods and set scenes which can help hint something foreboding will happen. It helps build up drama before the big event is going to happen and prepares and excites the audience. Diegetic music such as heavy breathing or heart beats helps add realism to the narrative and can often make the audience feel on edge.

Mise-en-scene:

-Location is important to help the audience establish the theme

-Low key lighting is more common to add to the thriller atmosphere that stuff could be lurking in the dark/shadows.

-Costumes, antagonist typically wears dark clothes and uses props such as masks to hide identity, protagonist is more likely to wear every-day clothes which are considered familiar and typical to the audience. 

-Composition

-Make up and hairstyles

-Filmstroke; B&W, grainy, fine grain or colour

Whats the difference between the thriller and Horror genre?

A thriller film is often more psychological than a horror, which means it requires more of a narrative than a horror so it has more thought and explanation. A horror on the other hand tends to set out to scare the viewer in the moment, so includes gore, blood and violence. 

An example of a thriller movie, 'sixth sense' demonstrates a series of plot twists that engages the audience to question why certain things happen within the film.
A horror film, such as, 'Nightmare on Elm street', is purely about violence, which leads to the blood and gore we expect to see. This scares us and creeps out the viewer.
Despite the popularity of this movie, it has little logic or psychological connection. 

Both movies ultimately intend to scare you, but through different ways. A thriller will make you mentally question certain things were as a horror will make you jump and often scare you and give you nightmares.