Research - Film Trailers (Crime/Thriller)

The key characteristics of crime/thriller film trailers are that crosscutting and jump-cuts are used throughout. The purpose of this is to make the audience feel both intimidated and excited enough to be convinced to go see the film. The music usually starts off very slow, quiet and eerie at the beginning, resembling the way a criminal/murderer stalks its victim. Gradually the tempo and pitch build up until by the climax of the trailer the soundtrack is very fast-paced, loud and intense. This could be a representation of how a killer begins chasing their victim, the loudness and the speed portraying how the victim may be feeling in that particular situation. In the majority of crime/thriller film trailers there is also a voiceover (either dialogue from one of the characters or a narrator) to provide key information about the film's plot, so that the audience can make their decision to watch it or not.

Popular Crime/Thriller films that use these tropes for their trailers are:

Research - Film Trailers

The role of a film trailer is to provide the audience with a brief premise of the upcoming film, establishing its genre, plot and cast. They contain clips from the film (though sometimes clips are exclusive to the trailer only) of key parts of the film’s story, non-diegetic music and a voiceover (either a narrator or dialogue from a character) to explain what is happening. Due to the fact that most trailers only last 2-3 minutes, they are very fast-paced (with a large amount of cuts) and will slowly build in intensity towards the end in order to get the audience excited.

For example for the Captain America: Civil War trailer it began with showing a snowy landscape whilst playing slow, quiet music. There is a voiceover, which the audience will recognise as Chris Evans in his role as Steve Rogers/Captain America. He appears to be lamenting how in his job as a superhero, it is difficult to save everyone.

And as he says this, the trailer proceeds to show clips of various cities being destroyed while a different voice states the name of each location. While this is happening the clips cut to each of the character's solemn and guilty expressions with the music growing in volume.

Later on in the trailer we see and hear a conversation between two of the main characters (Captain America and Iron Man) about how the Captain states that no matter the circumstances he cannot ignore a conflict, this serves as juxtaposition since the following clips during his speech are of buildings being destroyed and other characters fighting. This continues until 1:20 where a clip of one of the characters falling from the sky is shown with someone yelling "Rhodes!", which triggers the music to stop and the trailer to fade to black.

However as another voiceover states "I was wrong about you, the whole world was wrong about you"  in a venomous tone, the music starts up again with more intensity and a montage of characters fighting one another is shown. Crosscutting is used for this and each cut is timed perfectly in order to synch with the music (which now has drums whereas previously it was only strings).

Towards the end of the trailer we're shown an establishing shot (much like the beginning of the trailer) of the entire cast (separated into two teams) running towards each other in order to attack and after we see the title of the film we are shown an extra scene in which we are introduced to a new character; Spiderman.

Since the film's creators were aware of how excited the fan's were when they teased the fact that this character may appear in the newest Captain America film, to see this humorous yet highly anticipated scene after such an intense trailer serves as extra incentive for the audience to go watch the film. 

Too Late Film Poster

For my film poster I used an eye as the main image because it is a stereotypical trope for horror film posters. They are used because they are an effective method of portraying fear and/or suspense, the reaction horror films expect to receive from the audience.

Examples of horror film posters that use this tactic are:

I used red and white for the colour scheme of my text (along with a ‘creepy’ font) similarly to why I previously did so in my magazine cover, these colours clearly suggest that the genre is a horror where in reality it is a teen comedy. By false advertising my film, I am more likely to gain a larger audience.

Jaws Poster (recreated)

Research - Film Posters

In most film posters it has been shown that the main subject is the primary characters (E.g. the protagonist or antagonist). This is to show the audience who is a part of the cast, therefore helping them to decide whether or not they should watch the film. If the poster reveals that a famous actor/actress is in the film, the audience would feel more inclined to see it.

Maleficent (2015)

Taken 3 (2014)

The main colours used in film posters appear to be blue, black and white regardless of the film’s genre. This could be because that these colours seem to connote an element of mystery, which then proceeds to encourage the audience to find out said mystery by watching the film.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Star Trek (2009)

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Too Late Magazine Cover

Total Film Magazine Cover (recreated)

Film Magazine Cover Analysis

http://mediablog.longsands-academy.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Winter-Soldier-magazine-cover-analysis.pdf (for larger view)

Research - Film Magazine Covers

For the majority of film magazines covers, they consist of a large image (which is usually of an actor/character from the film), the film title, reviews and advertisements for other blockbuster films. The target audience appears to be general (for all ages/genders) however due to the fact that the actors used in the covers are almost always male leads; this would suggest that the magazine is trying to appeal to men. Though this could also appeal to women since it is using popular and attractive male actors, this technique is otherwise known as celebrity endorsement.

 - The image of Leonardo DiCaprio is in the centre of the magazine cover to draw the audience’s attention to it. The film title is large and in bright red to make it easily seen and recognised.