Katy Jackson 1

The Lovely Bones Trailer Analysis

The Narrative Structures

The start of the trailer begins 'happy', this is reinforced by calm music and fade transitions giving the idea that time is going by perfectly fine. Following Todorov's theory, you could say that the trailer begins very much in the equilibrium stage as the characters are introduced and everything seems to be normal. A voice-over from one of the main characters (Suzie Salmon) tells the audience about herself accompanied with shots of her at home and then at school.

The time of day suddenly appears to be slightly later (as the sky is darker) and from Suzie's voice over the audience hears news which disrupts the equilibrium (a disequilibrium). This news is how Suzie was murdered. Suddenly the audience may realise how the voice over seems more appropriate since Suzie is dead and it's as if she's telling the story after she's dead.

From here on the trailer seems to be split up by the use of inter-titles. The first one being the director, Peter Jackson. It is possible that this was put first as he is a well-known director and people may be more willing to keep watching the trailer knowing that the film was directed by him. Following this is shots from the film soon after Suzie's death, showing her family looking sad.

Another inter-title leads the audience into the next section, showing Suzie in a fantasy location and proposing the idea that Suzie is not gone. As more shots of Suzie in the 'in-between' is shown the voice-over of her comes back in, explaining how she felt about the 'in-between'. This almost feels as though it is a new equilibrium as the shots of the 'in-between' are very idyllic and Suzie seems happy, however darker shots are soon cut to and the audience finds out that her murderer still haunts her.

An inter-title and new, more dramatic incidental music leads us into the next section of the trailer where determination to find the murderer kicks in for the Dad of Suzie. The drama of the trailer increases through the shots getting quicker, the incidental music increasing, the voice over being present and the storyline telling us more but not revealing everything.

A man wearing glasses is then shown and the trailer indicates that he is likely to be the murderer, although they do not have solid evidence. This is a classic event to occur in a trailer as it mirrors the frustration of the characters in not being able to find out who murdered Suzie. One of the characters are shown going into this man's house and the trailer becomes the most dramatic when the man comes home and realises someone has broken in. Conventionally, a mixture of shots is then shown for a very short amount of time over the dramatic incidental music. This mixture is not always in chronological

Katy Jackson 2

order as the aim of it tends to show various interesting parts of the film but as they are shown in some cases for less than a second it leaves the audience wanting more.

The ending is also quite conventional, in my opinion, as a voice over is heard whilst a black screen is shown, this is then cut to a creepy shot of the supposed murderer and finally shows the title of the film followed by other relevant information (e.g. who the screenplay was by).Overall, I can see that this narrative structure appears to be quite conventional (from my experience of watching other trailers) as it starts with everything being good but then the main chunk of the trailer shows the characters struggling to solve a disequilibrium that has occurred. The pattern of having inter-titles as a trigger to change the mood of the trailer was seen throughout. This is something worth considering as I believe it was effective in this trailer.

How is the genre of the film established?

Iconography clearly establishes the genre of the film. Just from the couple of shots to the left you can see how dramatic the compositions are. All of the shots are framed very well making them visually pleasing to the audience. The quality of the camera being incredibly high helps brings out the beauty in the shots, in addition to the clear grading used post-production (I will talk more about this later). For my target audience to be captivated I will need to think about iconography, ensuring it is to high standard. Like in 'The Lovely Bones' I will ensure I use a variety of shots (extreme close ups, long shots, etc) to enhance the drama of the scenes and make sure the audience focus on the props, characters or events I want them to at certain times.

Below is an attention-grabbing example of a shot type is seen which isn't always so common in trailers. This is a self tightening shot (almost) as Suzie runs towards the right hand side of the camera and before she disappears out of shot she gives the effect of the camera tightening on her. Although, as she is running this all happens in a short amount of time.

The main feature of sound which I believe tells the audience the genre of the film is 'drama' is the non-diegetic incidental music simply because it has changes throughout which could be considered quite dramatic. Starting off with a calm piano piece, followed by instruments in an orchestra (e.g. violins) joining to make the trailer more atmospheric. During the 'perfect world' part of the trailer an odd piece is played with a high, fantasy-like vocal line. By 'fantasy-like' I mean that it suits the 'perfect world' where locations are shown that couldn't possibly exist in the real world. A heavy string ensemble (with other instruments) emphasises the drama building up near the end of the trailer. At 2:05 the non-diegetic incidental music seems to come to a natural end, although a few seconds later it bursts back into the audience's ears even more dramatic than before.

Katy Jackson 3

The typography used in this trailer is incredibly simple with a black background and white text. These two colours work well with each other and are known for being a very dramatic mixture. By not having any background image it makes the audience focus only on the words, so it gets them to engage with what the trailer is telling them through the inter-titles. To engage my target audience I may also want to think along these lines as a busy background isn't necessary and will only distract from the important information that I want to be read by the on the inter-titles.

Audience Pleasure

Assuming the target audience for this trailer will be people who enjoy the genre drama, I can say with confidence that every element of it will be pleasing to the audience. The sound, iconography and text follows conventions allowing the audience to feel comfortable with what they're seeing it however the narrative of the film itself is an unusual one. This is really the selling point for the trailer as the idea of someone who's been reported dead being stuck in the 'in-between' is an intriguing idea for anyone, including the target audience. As well as this there are moments in the trailer which drama fans will enjoy viewing. For example this close up of a woman (to the right) shows her as a tear rolls down her face. The shot type here is significant as when anyone is crying in film it is highly likely the camera will be focused on their face so that the audience can easily see what is happening and maybe feel sorry for the character (if appropriate).

Production

When thinking in terms of production I thought it was best to first watch the trailer with no sound and see how the camera moves in various shots. This indicated to me that there were moments where the camera stayed still however most of the time it either panned, tracked or slightly jerked (creating the 'hand-held camera' effect). This is very effective for a trailer with the genre drama as it keeps the audience looking at different things as they appear in shot. Another interesting technique is when the camera moves forward slightly making the main focus of the shot slightly bigger, therefore making the audience give all their attention to the focus.

I then looked at transitions, which conventionally involves mainly cuts. From all of the analyses I've done so far it is clear to see that the 'cut' is the most popular transition used and in my opinion this is simply because it doesn't draw attention to the transition. It just gets on with the transition and shows another part of the film (which, ultimately, is all the audience wants to see). At various moments in the trailer the 'dissolve'

transition is used mostly as a bridge between two scenes (as shown in the shot to the left). It helps give the effect of an unspecified amount of time going by instead of the cut which is very effective when following continuity editing. In addition to this at points shots in the trailer fade out to black and then fade into another shot. This is a nice effect, giving the audience a 'breather' from the constant drama they are seeing in the trailer.

Katy Jackson 4

The lengths of the shots vary, but follow the clear and simple rule that if something is visually pleasing (good iconography) then it will be shown for longer, unless it is important to be kept unknown or mysterious for purposes of the trailer. For example, near the end a long shot from a low perspective is shown as the creepy man opens the door. This shot is visually pleasing especially as the only source of light is from where the man is. However, throughout the trailer it is a highly possible that this man is a murderer so to keep him seeming scary shots of him will only be shown for a short amount of time.

The lighting used throughout would have been high-key lighting (a 3 point lighting system) as this flatters the characters and gives a natural effect. Exceptions of this are when a dramatic effect is shown through the lighting.

Post-Production

Surprisingly, this trailer has quite a few post-production techniques. I say surprisingly simply because from my earlier research I found that effective drama films will have relatable characters in normal settings, therefore disregarding the need for special effects. The main example being when Suzie is in the 'in-between', the following shots are ones in which I believe some special effects were used to make them look as they do.

Grading is used throughout to enhance the beauty of the shots. For example when it gets later in the day a blue filter has been added to make it seem colder, and possibly later than it actually is.

Target Audience

The sheer drama throughout this trailer is enough to take the target audience on a roller coaster of emotions, from content to sad to terrified. A wider audience may have been reached though the shots of the 'in-between' which hint to possibly a 'fantasy' element of the film (this could entice fans of fantasy films to watch the whole trailer).

One of the representations evident is a young, shy but beautiful girl (Suzie Salmon) who is murdered. This girl looks very innocent throughout the trailer making the target audience feel more sorry for the

Katy Jackson 5

situation and empathise with the family. Although, I believe the main representation is the man suspected for murdering Suzie. His costume, props and hair gives the preferred reading of him being a typical creepy old man interested in young girls. This is a concern for many parents with daughters, another reason for the target audience to connect and empathise with the trailer. In the medium close up to the left we can see that his hair is a side parting slicked across his head. He also has a moustache and glasses. These are features that make someone more distinguishable from other people meaning that when the target audience see his face in the trailer they may find it hard to forget it (so feel the need to watch the whole film and find out what happens).

Overall, I believe this was a good tragedy trailer to analyse and from watching it the target audience can definitely see a tragedy develop (the death of Suzie and the investigation to find the murderer). Unfortunately, at this point I do not believe I will be following this kind of storyline and instead going for the idea of a character seeing a flaw in themselves and it possibly driving them to destruction. Although, it is early days and those ideas could change. Nevertheless I learnt a lot analysing this trailer as I can see the conventions of drama trailers coming into it which is something I will be sure to do so that my target audience can recognise the genre as drama.