Film Trailer Analysis

Analysis

The Hobbit; An Unexpected Journey 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/?ref_=sr_2

The purpose of this film trailer is to excite the audience and to make the audience reminisce about the Lord Of The Rings franchise. The genre of the film trailer is fantasy with a sub-genre of adventure.There are two target audiences for The Hobbit; one being people age 25+ and the other being 18 years and younger. The older audiences would have read the book and watched the Lord of the Rings and therefore would be interested in the movie. The other audience of under 18 could have possibly watched the LOTR franchise and read the books but they would also be aware of the different toys that are out and that would appeal to the audience under 10. The certificate of the film is 12a meaning that children under the age of 12 have to be accompanied by an adult. This would also meant that the film would appeal to parents as they are who is taking the children to see it. The Hobbit gender target audience would be male as the film has a lot of action and therefore this is likely to appeal to men more.

From the first camera shot it is clear it is going to be a fantasy adventure as the first shot is an establishing shot of a secret land. A feature of fantasy film trailers is the opening shot as an establishing shot.. The opening scene sets out where the film will be set and how it will be shot, it is quite clear that the film will be in a fantasy world. This links with the escapism feature of the genre-fantasy. There are close up shots and extreme close up shots of each of the important characters, this also highlights the famous actors that are featured to ensure that the audience know who is in the film before seeing the names.

The non digetic sound in the trailer builds up tension and creates a sense of mystery in the audience as they don't know what is going to happen. The non digetic sound is a  feature, music sets the tone of the film. The dramatic music of the trailer builds the audience up and provokes excitement and anticipation
The colour palette of a film trailer helps set the mood and tone of the film, different colours connote different things. In the film trailer there is use of both light and dark colouring this is to express to the audience the dramatic change in mood the movie can have. When the trailer is presenting something good the lighting is bright and colourful with greens, yellows and oranges and then as the mood changes the lighting gets darker with purple, grey and black. 

This film trailer backs up the theory of Vladimir Propps because from the film trailer you can see that each character has a designed role in the film. Also there are examples in the film trailer of the different character roles such as 'the hero' as this is the character that is seemingly unwilling to embark on the adventure, he is seen as innocent. 'The helper' is the voice over at the start and the character that is telling the 'hero' what he is about to do. Narratives are important in the trailer as they are essentially giving an insight in to the film to the audience and without the narrative the audience will have no idea whats going on.

There is at least one extreme close up of each of the main characters to ensure that the audience know who is appearing. 

The text at the end of the film is to promote the actors, directs and producers. Also by doing that it attracts the audiences attention because they see that there is a major star and know that it is going to be good becuase of who is in it. This also applies to the director and producer, if they know that a certain person has made the film then they will want to see it and know that it will be good. In order to make the film successful the use of popular actors such as Ian Mckellen who has been in other successful movies such as Lord of the Rings and X-Men. 

There is a use of continuety editing which all film trailers use to ensure that there is a good storyline and to make the trailer make sense. There is also the use of jump cuts to jump from one dramatic scene to a suttle scene this is used to build up tension in the actions scenes. There are a few examples of a parralel cut where the shot varies through 2/3 scenes.

The target audience for The Hobbit is young adults (not gender specific) between 15 and 24.

http://www.dcm.co.uk/film/film-schedule/the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417741/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

The Harry Potter film trailer is part of a franchise and will appeal to the audience that have watched and loved the previous films. The target audience for the film is for 15-24 year old as it has some themes that will not be suitable for a younger audience explaining the 12a certificate on the film. With the film having a 12a certificate it means that adults can accompany younger children to go and watch the film which means that another secondary target audience would be parents. The parents must see as appropriate to go and take their children to go and watch the film so the trailer must attract both primary and secondary target audiences. The gender of the target audience is fairly gender neutral however it is primarily male they are targeting. The target audience being mainly males means that there will be more action and violence included as that is what is stereo typically men are interested in. 

The opening scene is an establishing shot of a train and then of the castle. These things are relevant to the audience as they will no what they both represent and how they fit in to the story line of the trailer. 

The non-digetic sound is dramatic and builds up tension for the audience this is a good way of creating the tone and mood of the film. From the music the audience knows when something bad or action filled is going to happen as it gets faster and louder when something is going to happen. The music changes through the trailer it is dramatic at the start and then turns to an eerie creepy music again attracting the audiences attention. The digetic sound of the characters talking is essential as it gives the audience an idea in to what is happening and of the script is there to leave them hanging so they will have to go and see the film to find out what is next.

The whole trailer is quite dark creating a dark mood and tone to the film. This is an important feature of a film trailer as it does set the tone and mood, if the colours were a lot brighter you would expect the film to be a lot happier and for it to have less drama and action. The colour palette of the film trailer is blues, greys and black as the colours are dark this connotes that the film has dark themes. The colours blue, grey and black all connote depression, death and moodiness. 

There is a lot of different shots throughout the trailer ranging from long shots to extreme close ups. The extreme close ups and the close ups are of the important characters in the film. This is essential to ensure that the audience know of the main characters and this also shows the stars of the movies which is important to the audience as it may be one of their favourite actors/actresses which will make them more inclined to go and see it. It is important in film trailers to feature the big stars as this is what could possibly attract new audiences to go and watch the film itself. For example Helena Bonham Carter is an award winning actress who has previously been in very big, popular productions so as an actress she will attract a specific audience. 

There are various methods of editing used in the film trailer. The main one is continuity editing this is to make the story make sense and so the audience understand what is going on. Another form of editing is used to show a conversation between two characters.