Influences

Genre

Picture This (2008)



This was a made for TV original movie premiered on ABC.

It's a chick flick aimed at High School/Secondary School students which is capitalised on by having 'High School Musical's Ashley Tisdale as the star. The genre is communicated effectively in the trailer, which I hope to do. The upbeat music suggests it is a comedy or feel good film. The character stereotypes presented in just the first 10 seconds - the hot boy, juxtaposed with the 'geeky girl' being bullied by the 'mean blonde' are all regular occurrences and chick flicks so this is following the recipe. The voice over reveals the whole plot, which is in keeping with chick flick style, the 'geeky' girl will, by the end of the film overcome the bully and somehow end up with the hot guy. completely unrealistic, and thus perfect ingredients for a chick flick.


True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet (2008)



Another made for TV chick flick. It's basically the Hannah Montana Movie on a lower budget. The plot is the same and so is the outcome - it all comes out in the end. Again the genre and target audience are similar to what I intend mine to be and the trailer does a good job of depicting what the movie is about.

Like the two trailers above, I want to clearly show the audience the genre of the film. I don't want to dress it up to be something that it's not because there's nothing more disappointing than being mislead by a trailer and thus disappointed with the film. I want the viewers to know everything they need to know to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to watch the film. However, unlike these trailers I don't want to give away the whole story. In the case of both the trailers, the are hardly teasers as they reveal the whole plot. Kernan acknowledges in her thorough study of American Film trailers that they must achieve two specific aims to be successful trailers: '"withhold the fullness of the cinema event" while achieving a "sense of heightened presence." as to combat the 'repeated accusation that film trailers give away all the funny bits or give away the story. Having watched both movies there is not much more too them than what is presented in their respective trailers. As such I want to keep an element of mystery about the actual happenings of the film whilst still clearly presenting the genre.

Structure

In an attempt to do what I described above the trailer below inspired me.

The Divide (2011)


This teaser for upcoming apocalyptic movie is a lot similar to Inception's, with practically identical score, titles and editing. It gives the concept of the film - Surviving the end of the world with a bunch of strangers - but it doesn't give away the whole film. In general terms you know what things are bound to happen as from watching over similar 'end of the world films' but this trailer doesn't disclose anything specific.

What I really like about the structure of the trailer is that all of the footage from the film is really just one scene, separated by titles - depicting all crowd trying to get out of a building, realising they can't and then trying to find the next best option. This I found really interesting as it was almost like having a little sneak peek of the film, as opposed it being sold to you, by showing you all the best bits. This is why I'd like to structure my teaser around this approach. Introducing the viewer to the protagonist, presenting the concept and showing a bit of what she can do, instead of amalgamating all the best parts of the film together.

Buried (2010)

Upcoming thriller starring Ryan Reynolds is a perfect example of what I would like my teaser to be like.

The teaser, in my opinion, is extremely original in the sense that it sets up the situation for the audience. Presenting them with a protagonist and his dilemma. The simple voice over reinforces 'Paul Conroy's problems. 'Buried' alive several feet underground, he only has three things to aid his escape before impending death in 90 minutes.

'Paul Conroy has a lighter'
'Paul Conroy has a mobile phone'

'Paul Conroy has a torch'

This I found really effective and chilling. Being introduced to the character, Paul Conroy instantly you emphasise with him and want to know how he's going to get out of this coffin, since even though the feat seems impossible, it seems unbelievable somebody would create this film just to make the protagonist die in the box.

Anyway this is basically what I want to do in my teaser, set up the film the for the audience. Introduce them to them to to the protagonist - Myles Brown - and show them what she can do. I intend to devise a voice over that is simple like this one to aid to set up the dimensions of the film.

Micro Aspects

Ramona and Beezus (2011)



This is a cinematic trailer, but I included it as this film has been a huge inspiration for me in terms of my own project.

I like this trailer because of the tone and fun atmosphere that is created in it from the shots, mise-en-scene and soundtrack. I would like to achieve this essence in my trailer. In practically every shot of the trailer the sun is shining, which creates this lovely feeling of a happy perfect world where the sun always shines, hopefully the sun will be shining on the day I film so I'll already be half way there to creating that bright happy atmosphere.

Dressing my protagonist brightly should also contribute to the atmosphere and tone of the trailer, like in this. Everything will seem more 'chick flick' ish and happy if she was wearing pink as opposed to if she was wearing black.

The music choice for the trailer will be very important to creating this atmosphere as there won't be much dialogue in the teaser. I've found most chick flick trailers feature several different songs, rather than a specifically composed score as in Inception's case.

Mean Girls



This teaser for the film is similar to that of 'Cemetery Junction'. My main interests in this teaser is the girls' costume, their clothing reveals a lot about the characters. Their figure hugging brightly coloured clothing, makeup and perfectly coiffed hair stereotypically suggests that they are all very obsessed with their appearance, boys and not much else. Although I want to dress my character in bright clothing and make her appear feminine I don't want to portray this kind of character as that's is not who she is. She's girly, and likes to look nice but she's not obsessed with how she looks or vain - so I'll have to think carefully about costume to accurately depict her personality.

So far, these are my influences for my teaser. They've given me a lot to think about, as far as styling my protagonist goes, that I hadn't thought about before. I had a few ideas about how I wanted to set out my teaser, but after seeing the teaser for 'The Divide' and looking at all the others I am definate about how I want to do it.