G325 Sec A: Theorectical Evaluation of Production

At A2, I made a trailer for the film Imminent Threat as a part of a promo pack consisting of a trailer, film poster and film magazine cover. 

Narrative

My film genre is Action and Adventure. As such, there are genre codes and conventions that shape the narrative such as; fast and hard cuts in the edit as well as the action narrative code, which is a domino effect where one outcome in the move leads to another situation. For Todorov all narrative consists of a progression from equilibrium, to disequilibrium and once again to equilibrium. This means that at the start of the movie everything is normal, in the middle part of the movie the main plot emerges as well as the unbalance which grips the audience. This is where the twist of the plot happens and is usually when something goes wrong. However within this narrative the balance happens once again at the end of a movie due to the problem being resolved. In a movie with this narrative structure after upheaval or disaster, a different equilibrium is restored.

Narrative is handled significantly differently in a trailer from the way that it is done in a movie because in the trailer you mainly see scenes from the start of the movie and some from the midpoint of the movie, however you hardly ever see scenes from the end part of the movie because that might give away the plot and this is why you don't see spoilers from the movie because then people won't go and see it in the cinema. 

All trailers use elliptical narrative, they present the broad brush strokes of the action (in order to hook the audience) whilst deliberately withholding the detailed mechanics (which would constitute a spoiler). In my trailer, we will show some defining moments of the movie, however parts of the film will not be shown in the trailer because that is where the audience can try and fill in the gaps to try and figure out the broad narrative.

A trailer must convey to its target audience who the central characters are very rapidly and efficiently, in particular, major narrative frameworks such as the heroes and villains, the central protagonist and his/her concerns, the central thrust of the plot. For Bordwell and Thompson, narrative is caused through a chain of events that lead to a certain point. So for this theory, in a trailer there has to be a set of events/clips that link together to give the audience an idea for the overall plot of the movie through the trailer that they are watching.

This theoretical framework fits with the way that I have handled my narrative because by using different scenes and clips in my trailer it will give the audience who is watching the trailer an idea of what happens in the movie. However this chain of events cannot reveal the main plot of the story otherwise people wouldn't go and watch the cinema exhibition of the final movie. For instance, my trailer uses quick clips and cuts off of different news reports and warnings from government outlets. It also engages the audience with pivotal moments from the movie without spoiling what is actually happening.

It reflects what Roland Barthes called the action code of narrative/the enigma code of narrative because in our movie the narrative is based upon the action code, using this theory, in our trailer audience members will see fast paced cuts in between shots as well as quick edits to speed up the trailer in order to convey the action code of narrative.

A trailer must establish rapidly the values and beliefs of the central characters, to draw in the audience. For Levi-Strauss, this means establishing a set of binary oppositions that are clear, such as, in my film trailer, the tension between the teenagers and the conflict between the mysterious man in their bunker expands the narrative in order for the story to be extended as well as make a twist in the story to keep the audience gripped to the storyline.

Character 'types' are often used as part of the narrative framework as a short cut to help  audiences grasp complex narrative. In a film, this often means stereotypes (such as in other trailers, the role of the detective / villain / bent cop / innocent girl / vindictive older woman / foreigner who presents a national threat to security). For Propp, all narrative had  a set of recurring character types. In my trailer, the determined teenagers are there to show what lengths everyday people will go to make sure they are safe, however another recurring character you see in a lot of movies and trailers is the worried mother. In out trailer you see a mother who is stuck at work and gives a call to her children to make sure they are alright.

Sound and vision editing are important in shaping the narrative structure of a trailer: the audience has only a couple of minutes to identify who the central characters are and what their aims and plans are. I achieved this in my narrative by using devices such as privileging my central character (name him /her) in the frame and through the use of close up. For instance, in my trailer there are reaction shots when the teenagers are faced with the national emergency notice on the television as well as the call from the mother warning them about the emergency as well as telling them to get to some place safe. I also used sound carefully - there is precious little room for diegetic sound in terms of  dialogue in a trailer, so one my central characters is heard to say: 'We need to go now!' The voice over we use speaks for my central character to reveal his innermost thought when he is thinking about all of his loved ones when the end is near. 

The intertitles clearly position what is going to happen in the movie through words like: 'unreal adventure' and other intertitles that state who made other well known movies in order to entice the audience into watching this new film. If an audience member knows that Steven Spielberg is a well known director, in his trailers for his films he will have an intertitle that mentions that he is the director, or this could also be done with the studios that created a movie, there could be an intertitle that says: 'from the studios that brought you ____'. These sort of intertitles will be used in our trailer in order to entice the audience as well as broaden the audience. This is because if someone is a fan of a certain producer or director, they will most likely go and see the movie they are involved with. Another one of our intertitles includes: 'This Summer' which builds up hype for the audience as they know that it is coming soon, this hype generated creates a lot of publicity for movies. Each of the intertitles are short and form a sentence spaced over the whole trailer. the overall sentence reads: 'This Summer, 3 Brothers, Set Themselves, On an Unreal Adventure' 

Trailer editing is very specific to the genre as it must build a sense of compelling urgency and invite audiences into the world of the film by hooking them through the narrative. I used sound codes to support my narrative as throughout the trailer will be a fast paced, orchestral symphony in order to convey rapid movement and action in the trailer.

Representation

I will analyse my A2 production in relation to audience. At A2, I made a promo pack for a film to promote Imminent Threat by making a trailer, magazine cover and a poster. My trailer is a disaster movie where 3 close-knit brothers find out about a global disaster of Nuclear Missile attacks. They need to find refuge at all costs by going on a dangerous journey.

Mise-en-scene is important in our trailer, especially in the scene where we used the location of a hospital. Here you can see different implements that are found within a real hospital like the yellow hazardous waste bucket and the stethoscope around the doctor's neck. All these visual codes construct the location in which the scene is shot.