Teaser Trailer Analysis

The Hangover Part II

The Hangover Part II which was released on the 26th of May 2011 is a sequel to the comedy hit The Hangover which first came out in 2009 which was made in America. It features Zach Galigianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms.

The sound at the beginning of the trailer is slow yet uplifting as the words say “Can we get much higher” which promotes goodwill and happiness. The music is then cut when ‘Alan’ gives out information on what had happened in the first film, this straight away shows fans of the first film that they are carrying on from where they left off. The music then goes to an alternative rock sound with the lyrics “I wanna see you in the morning.” It is shown to be in the same type of situation as the first film which will further entice fans of the first one. Many catchphrases are used during the trailer such as “We had a sick night bitches”, this shows that the target audience for the film is one of a younger age as the language used will be common in teenage life. The music further on in the trailer is fast paced complicated rock music with the song ‘Woman’ by Wolfmother being used; this creates confusion and fun that the first film was synonymous with.

Mise-en-scene is a crucial point of any film, the trailer sets the location of the film straight away with iconographic images of sky blue seas and small islands dotted around with lots of forests on them; with the sound from ‘Alan’ helps confirm that the film is set in Thailand. There are many links back to the first film in the mise-en-scene as with costume and make-up as ‘Stu’ wakes up with a tattoo on his face that is identical to Mike Tyson’s who had featured heavily in the first one. As with the introduction of ‘Mr Chow’ who was also used in the first film.

The editing in the trailer for The Hangover Part II is quite simple with many cuts and quick fades. It becomes more complicated the further on you get into it as when it goes to the main part it becomes a very quick paced sequence of cuts overlapping each other leading to a white fade in with the camera spinning around as to create the feeling of dizziness after a night out.

There is a variety of camera angles, movement and positions used in the trailer. The opening shot is an extreme long-shot zooming downwards from a high up location looking down towards the sea. The camera at some points can be quite jolty which creates a sense of realism looking from the group’s point of view also it will show confusion and make the movie seem in a fast pace.

Institutional references start at the beginning with the ‘Warner Bros.’ Logo the first object shown when the trailer starts closely followed by ‘Legendary Pictures’. Half way through the trailer it is shown to the audience when it is released so they can become to become excited for the film. At the end of the clip it had the name of the film then a short comedy clip cut to first paced rolls of credits in a rocky font to show that the film maybe a bumpy ride with lots of twists and turns.

Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction is a multi-award winning film released which was released in 1994 and was directed by Quentin Tarantino, this film also features performances from Uma Thurman, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis.

The teaser trailer begins ‘Miramax Films present’ which immediately promotes the distribution company and the awards that the film had already won before its mainstream release. The ‘Palme d’Or’ is the highest accolade to be won at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival for the best director and also for the ‘Best Picture’. These are all institutional references and to go with this at the end of the trailer we are given a few titles with other references such as the two production companies used to make the film ‘A Band Apart’ and ‘Jersey Films’, this will help fans of the institutions immediately relate and connect with the film as they will have been influenced in a positive way to watch the new release. Very early on the trailer also gives the name of the director which is Quentin Tarantino, as with the institutional references the naming of different stars such as the director and key actors will entice the public to want to watch their film. Tarantino directed the hit film ‘Reservoir Dogs’ just two years before as a debut and the public would have been extremely excited about the next project.  Different words were put in as titles which help the audience to realise the broad spectrum of main themes that they will witness during the film such as loyalty, betrayal, crime but then it to throw mist onto what have just been shown, it then goes onto say ‘You won’t know the facts… Until you have seen the fiction’, this gets the audience wanting to know more; to find out what the trailer has not told them so far.

The narrator then name drops all the main actors such as John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman and many others to give the potential audience a taste of their favourite film stars, this technique is called use of stars as any previous film that they may have watched with these specific actors and enjoyed will entice them to watch ‘Pulp Fiction’. The sound right at the beginning of the trailer is a non-diegetic sound of gunshots to instantly grab the audience’s attention this is synonymous with the crime and thriller genres and is also used throughout the trailer but as diegetic sound as we see the guns being used. The voice tone of the characters that are played by John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson tend to be very crafty as if they were trying to solve something very smoothly and throughout; whereas the non-diegetic music puts a smokescreen over that and tries to create a fast pace throughout the whole of the trailer with the use of a version of ‘Misirlou’ changed by Dick Dale which makes the song a lot more of a rock ’n’ roll style; as a result of this will help cause confusion for the audience and make them want to learn more. Halfway through the teaser trailer the music suddenly stops and there is what can be seen as a comedic remark from Jackson as he says “Oh I’m sorry, did I break your concentration?” this is then proceeded with the song ‘Jungle Boogie’ by Kool & the Gang which then brings up a positive vibe to the trailer.

Along with the music that goes along well with the genre of ‘Pulp Fiction’ there is also the mise-en-scene which is everything which is shown in each specific camera shot. For instance the use of guns and money are both conventions of a crime/thriller film and these items are the first shown in the teaser trailer, this automatically gives the audience an idea of what the main themes of the film will be. Next the use of the colour red – lipstick, lights and a sports type car can connote such meanings as love, loyalty and betrayal; they give a more symbolized meaning to the words that are also shown on screen during the trailer.  The men in the film are nearly always dressed in suits as you would a detective to wear chasing a case – much like in crime films. The  fact that there is a car crash gives off the impression that this will be an extremely fast paced film and to help push that idea along the length of camera shots are very short and are cut through editing without any need for complicated transitions, it is all straight to the point.

Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 was released in 2010 and is the sequel to the 1995 (Toy Story) and 1999 (Toy Story 2) hit movies. It is an animated film with the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen.

Institutional references are a major part in the advertisement of films, especially when the distributers are the size of Walt Disney; it is pretty much given as a seal of quality having the emblem at the beginning of the trailer as so many groundbreaking kids films have been made with them, the same goes for Pixar Animation Studios which is owned by Disney. Pixar’s first film was the first Toy Story film and has gone on to produce many more hit films with the use of new technology involved. The sound in this teaser trailer is mainly dialogue but with ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ being played at a low level underneath; the song is synonymous with Toy Story as the theme song of each of the previous films, this will subconsciously creep into the audiences mind and will help evoke memories of how much they enjoyed the first two films along with the same character voices and catchphrases, none of the new characters are shown in the trailer which helps keep everything very secretive and give the fans something to look forward to. 

            As the film is an animation great detail has been taken into the mise-en-scene making sure all parts look as real as possible, within this teaser trailer we are just in one room very similar to Andy’s room which is the main bedroom of the first Toy Story, as this is third film we can connote from this that it will follow the same type of themes and ideas as the films before have; yet no having any clues towards any differences that the newest film will have and to aid this thought each character follows the personality traits that were shown in previous efforts. The shot lengths are all extremely long to create a calm leisurely pace to the film which is great for the kid’s film genre, also being kept at a long shot so we can see the whole of the character and not have any hidden surprises within the trailer until we get to Buzz Lightyear. The main logo that the characters make is the same that has been used also for the other two previous films, the aim of this teaser trailer is to get the fans talking and buzzing about what the new film will hold in as simple and least time consuming way as possible. It then at the end gives main details such as a broad release date and that the film will be shown in 3D for the first time, this is another talking point for the audience who will have something new to look forward to.