Chick Flick Trailer Conventions Research

'Chick Flick' Film Trailers

1. 'Clueless' (1995)

• does not use the typical voice over to create the story - shows that the film is obviously more character and relationship driven rather than focussing on the storyline. The trailer generally fits the convention of other typical 'chick flick' films because of the immense and complicated dialogue and contrasts against other genres of films such as romcoms, where it mainly consists of one liner jokes, or in some romantic films, it is only montages of images without much speech (Blue Valentine). The majority of the trailer follows each scene for a number of seconds without cutting too much between different situations - this allows the audience to know that it is more about the characters and so they can develop more of a relationship with them which will encourage them to see the film. In this trailer, music is clearly very important as it sets a light and humorous mood to the film and so advertises that the film is clearly a 'feel good' film.  Th
• graphics - colourful, swirly, and very girly font to reflect the type of film. Uses the graphics for setting or simply to show the famous names of actors (they showcase the stars) in the film rather than add to the story like in the trailer for '10 Things I Hate About You', though it also conveys the main points of the film across e.g. 'its a jungle out there.' The final credits also advertise new music played in the film and this helps appeal to a larger audience as people who are interested in those musicians may want to go and see it solely to hear their new music.  The title is not displayed until the end and so keeps the audience watching until the very end before they can know what its actually called, and it also helps piece together the whole film to give the bigger picture. 
• The audience is clearly stated and targeted as a teenage girl audience, emphasised by the only teenage cast, quite young and girly jokes and the obvious plot line of interest in boys. This is developed into the characters' personalities, such as Cher's obvious obsession with fashion and the obvious competition between girls in the film, e.g. the line 'is big hair back?' used as an insult. The graphics used also obviously point towards a girl audience because of the swirly and quite immature font. 

2. 'Mean Girls' (2004)

• Compared to Clueless, this trailer is of a faster pace and cuts between a number of scenes rather than sticking with one or two longer pieces of dialogue. However, the dialogue is still very complicated and is present throughout the whole trailer but is edited together from different scenes so the whole story becomes condensed, giving the audience more of a feel of what they may be watching. The dialogue is also a lot more punchy compared to Clueless as it contains a lot more one-liner jokes, for example it immediately starts with the 'I'm from Michegan' joke. The editing is also used to give the audience a larger taste of the actual setting of the film as well as the characters, for example the fast cuts between the different cliques at the schools. It also allows the audience to view in depth the main 3 character in the 'Plastics' clique - this is done by introducing them by name and then offering small clips from other sections to show more of the character. This way the audience is more involved with the characters and so feels more drawn to see the film.
• The trailer also helps build a relationship between the audience and the characters through the voice over of Lindsay Lohan, allowing them to feel involved with the narrators emotions and experiences. The voice over, together with the frequent interchanges of music keeps a face paced mood to the trailer and the audience feels drawn in to keep up with the storyline. The music also helps identify the film for young people and as a comedy due to the random and quick changes between songs. 
• There is very little graphics throughout the trailer apart from the very beginning where it showcases Lindsay Lohan and at the end when the title is revealed. However, the pink writing obviously highlights the audience as teenage girls. Like in Clueless, the graphics work well with the majorly female cast and high school girl issues to target a particular audience of teenage girls and the complex dialogue and fast paced editing clearly outlines it as following a typical chick flick trailer.

3. 'Wild Child' (2008)

• This genre of this trailer is immediately sold by the typical American male voice over used in chick flick trailers like St Trinians and Material Girls and so identifies the target audience as the typical teenage girl chick flick audience. This also continues in the music choice within the trailer and so extends the vibe of a young and feel-good audience. The trailer also uses a number of sound effects to give a comic feel and so appeals to a wider audience of people who are more interested in the comic side of the film than the plot, e.g. when she is cleaning her face in the lacrosse scene. The trailer also consists of a number of one liner jokes which tend to be the selling points of the trailer for example, 'first it wasn't my fault and if this was America I would sue'
• The editing in this trailer follows a similar format as in Mean Girls with fast paced editing between different scenes and situations to condense the story into the trailer, making it less character driven than films like Clueless. By condensing the plot of the film, the audience becomes fully aware of what the film actually consists of and so draws them to watch it as they know exactly what they are about to watch. 

4. '10 Things I Hate About You' (1999)

• The voice over in this trailer is very similar to that of the one in Wild Child and in other typical chick flicks and so this helps target some of the chick flick audience of teenage girls. However, this trailer makes it less clear which audience it is targeting due to the constant use of graphics that do not follow the typical pink and girly font that is shown in Wild Child, Mean Girls and Clueless. The audience is also slightly lost due to the focus of characters. It is clear that there are a number of main characters within the film and this is very different to the rest of the other chick flick trailers I have studied where a more intimate relationship has been built up due to the voiceovers and focus on the main character. For example, the shots constantly follow Cher in the Clueless trailer, meaning that the audience tends to learn about her character and only her character, and this is similar to Poppy in Wild Child. The voiceover of Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls allows the audience to build a relationship with Cady but in the 10 Things I Hate About You trailer, there seems to be too much going on to really follow a particular character, so the film becomes more plot driven. I think this causes the trailer to be weaker than the above trailers because it is hard for the audience to gain a liking to any of the characters and so they do not feel drawn to watch the film. 
• As a plot-driven film however, it means that it can appeal to more people as an audience. Although it is not publicised in the trailer, many older viewers of the trailer may notice the symmetry of the female character's names i.e. Katherine/Kat and Bianca to Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew' and so may be interested to see the film as an adaptation. Like both Mean Girls and Wild Child, the plot is condensed into the trailer which I think benefits the film as it allows people to gain more information on the film without having to go through the characters which the trailer fails to present.

Chick Flick Trailer Summary:

• establishes genre, mood and expectations generally through upbeat music, complicated characters that are thoroughly presented to the audience, uses very typical voice overs and graphics.
• I thought Wild Child or Mean Girls was the most successful as it clearly laid out the plotline for the audience but also clearly presented the role of Poppy/Cady and the love interest and so fulfilled a typical chick flick film. Wild Child also employed the American voice over, typically pink graphics and constant upbeat and changing music. 10 Things I Hate About You was the least successful as I felt there was too much going on for the audience to be drawn into it and build a relationship with the audience.
• the target audience for Wild Child and Mean Girls I think is younger, for example 13-18 girls whereas Clueless seems to be aimed more at 16-20+ as it focusses more on sex. I think 10 Things I Hate About You failed to establish a target audience as there was too much going on and too many conflicting characters in a short amount of time for the audience to understand.

W.H.

Romance Trailer Conventions Research

Romantic Film Trailers

1.&2. 'Blue Valentine' (2010) 'Like Crazy' (2011)

• These two trailers are very similar as they both seem to solely focus on the characters relationship with each other and not the plot. This is also extremely different to the chick flick genre trailers as those trailers aim to relate the characters to the audience and build a relationship whereas both of these trailers create characters that are completely isolated from the audience. This closeness shared between the couples is highlighted by the personal song and poem that is shared only between those two characters followed by the montage of videos of them together. However, although the audience is not invited to join this, it is still a clear signpost to what type of film it is and what the audience is to expect by it.
• The music is an obvious signpost to the mood of the films and what they are like. Both trailers use very slow and emotional music, telling the audience that the film is most likely to be emotional and upsetting and so this narrows the audience to people who appreciate upsetting films rather or as well as comedies. 
• Both of the graphics in the trailers follow a similar pattern of revealing the actors names and the film title at the end, however Blue Valentine obviously advertises the awards immediately which instantly catches the attention of the audience as they can certify that the film is well reviewed. However, although the tone of both trailers is very similar, the graphics in 'Like Crazy' seem to suggest a more lighthearted and obvious love story with the bright lights behind the red font of the title whereas the black and white titling of Blue Valentine seems to suggest a more hardcore relationship and so the audience can see differences in the relationships of the couples even though the trailers are basically the same.

3. 'Remember Me' (2010)

• This trailer is slightly different from the other romantic trailers I have focussed on. The first half of the trailer solely builds up and introduces the character of Tyler and his relationships with his family and friends. The first thing we hear is his voice, showing that the film is based around him and not particularly anyone else, also suggesting that it is more character based than plot based. The voice over at the beginning is the only one used, and the graphics take over the role of introducing the story and eventually introducing the romantic side of the film.
• The music is not a particular signpost to the mood or the genre of the film, instead it is simply there to dictate the different stages of the narrative within the trailer. For example, for the first 30 seconds of the trailer, they use ominous sound effects to create a dark and dismal vibe, therefore introducing the character as one who is quite depressed and unhappy in his situation in life. The music then starts as quite mellow and slow, which works well with the titles telling the story such as, 'he had lost his way', as it creates the impression that life is passing him by. This is contrasted against the happy and hopeful music which comes in as soon as Ally is introduced, therefore it becomes clear to the audience that the film targets their relationship, and so is most likely the romantic genre. This music, along with the shots of the couple spending time with each other, allows the audience to see how their relationship grows and so are drawn into wanting to know the characters more. The music is paused briefly to reveal arguments between Tyler and his father, and is then carried on in a more upbeat tone, suggesting that although the relationship between the couple is growing stronger, there are cracks underneath the surface that are beginning to cause problems, and this adds another dynamic to the film and so encourages the audience to want to learn more about the problems arising. The trailer is finished using a montage with the voice over we heard at the beginning - this is used as an interesting way to showcase the stars and also finally reveals the title of the film. 

4. 'Revolutionary Road' (2008)

• This trailer is slightly similar to both 'Like Crazy' and 'Blue Valentine' in that none of them show a strong narrative but instead show a montage of shots with music or sound bridges of conversations between the two main characters. This creates the mood that the film is solely about this relationship and judging by the choice of music, it is about its downfall. The trailer follows the same mood throughout the whole thing with dark music as well as depressing clips of conversation that suggest an unhappy relationship. However, for the first 15 seconds of the trailer, the music is slightly more hopeful with more uplifting lines between the couple, showing the audience that the film is about their relationship failing rather than growing. This fall is accentuated by the increase in pace of the montage of shots towards the end partnered with the louder music and more aggressive dialogue, creating drama and an angry and aggressive relationship between the two characters. This is extremely different to the slow-paced 'happy' montage at the beginning of the trailer where there are blackouts between each shot, creating a vibe that the couple are sailing through life and are happy together. 
• By not using a  voice over to outline the narrative, the trailer, and therefore film, becomes much more classy and serious and so targets a certain mature audience. The sound bridges of dialogue allow the audience to understand and communicate with the characters enough that they become drawn into their world without the need of someone having to introduce the situation and their roles.
• The graphics used also cause a more serious tone for the audience using monochrome colours which appear occasionally, giving them more effect rather than constantly bombarding the audience with information. These are used mainly to showcase the stars, though towards the end it is used as a kind of tagline for the film when the montage speeds up, creating more drama and drawing the audience in before revealing the name of the film. 

W.H.

Theory of Trailers

Purpose of a Trailer

• part of a marketing campaign to guarantee viewers for opening weekend which the success of the film distribution depends on 
• Trailers are designed to stir emotion and excitement instead of using posters in a marketing campaign 
• Trailers aim to give the audience information about the genre, stars, story and the type of film 

Genre is important - it targets the audience and the viewers can associate the trailer with similar films to see whether they want to see it/whether they will enjoy it. We automatically decode the trailer to establish genre e.g. shadows = horror, animated images/bright colours = children's film, and these are called recognisable sounds and image conventions of the genre. Certain stars are typecast for a certain genre, for example Jennifer Aniston generally stars in romantic comedies, so the viewers tend to associate the actor with the genre.

• the USP (unique selling point) is a way to show how this film is different from all other films of the same genre and is strongly emphasised to set the film apart from the rivals. Examples of USP are: mixes of unusual genres, innovative use of special effects, a typecast star that plays an unusual role

Distributing a Trailer

• Trailers are created at the same time as the film being cut and edited BUT, the timing of the release of the trailer is extremely important. If the trailer is released too early, people will forget about it but if it is released too close to the release of the actual film, there is not enough excitement or hype for the film. As a way to create as much excitement early enough, many films release 'teaser trailers' before the first trailer is even released. 
• Global releasing: a film that is released across many countries may have a number of different release dates. This means that the trailers individually have to hold the correct information for each country. Trailers may also be dubbed or subtitled for foreign audiences and there may also be other cuts aimed at certain audiences. Due to film piracy, early copies of American films can be found online in Europe, therefore more international releases are being released on the same day to counteract piracy - 'day and date' basis
• Online trailer websites allow more hype around the film through chat and discussion forums but also mean that its difficult to control age restriction unlike in cinemas
• Similar genres/films trailers are shown before a film at the cinema to establish a regular audience by encouraging them to return to the cinema. This also applies with certification - a 15 cert. trailer cannot show before a PG film. However, trailers are cut to seem younger as a way to attract the accompanying adults.

Features of Trailers

• sound is very important, creating a specific atmosphere for the genre and manipulating the audience's emotions
• the voiceover is used to summarise the plot and is used to promotion and advertisement 
• theatrical trailer will run for around 2 minutes

Trailer Conventions

• voiceovers tell the story and information
• stars are showcased
• titles are sometimes used to convey key points
• conversations are generally one-liners
• dramatic camera angles
• action is interspersed with titles/credits
• music - atmosphere
• film's title appears at the end - climaxed
• montage - drama etc.
• clips to attract a wider audience (romance in action for example)

Voiceover

• gives a sense of the narrative
• showcases the stars
• information about production team 
• sense of anticipation for the film's release
• sets tone
• introduces/reinforces title

W.H.

Sight & Sound Magazine Cover Annotation

This is my Prezi on annotations on the October 2009 edition of Sight&Sound. At first, I found this technology quite difficult to use especially on the 3D setting, but once I worked out how simple it is to move between each image and text and reorder so that it worked the way I wanted, it was quite fast and easy to complete. 

W.H.

Empire Magazine Front Cover Annotation

Made on Microsoft Word

W.H.