Film Trailer Analysis

In this part of my blog I will evaluate four film trailers and analyse each one. I will use the trailers from; Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Twilight Saga: New Moon, Superbad and The Hangover.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a 2008 romantic comedy starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell and Russel Brand. From the brief plot we get from the trailer we can see that its the story of a woman, Sarah Marshall, leaving her musically talented boyfriend Peter. We see the "comeback" of Peter trying to get his life back by sleeping with women and visiting Hawaii intertwined with pop ups on the trailer stating who made the film, who is starring and really just things to excite the audience which is of course the main aim of a trailer. There are cameo appearances in the film from Mia Kunis and Jonah Hill and they are shown in the trailer. The trailer its self keeps to the codes and conventions of a trailer by highlighting the fact that because it's a romantic comedy genre'd film, the trailer must adhere to this and be the same so in all the clips we see, it's either about love, humour or at times a bit of both. As this is the official trailer for the film, it goes on for a reasonable amount of time: 2minutes and 41 seconds and like a good trailer should, entices the audience but does not give too much away.

Over the top of the trailer we hear four songs, all part of the films soundtrack which each give the audience and idea of what will happen at certain parts of the film. For exmaple, "All by myself" plays in the background when Sarah breaks up with Peter but in reality, that is played at a different part of the film, however as a trailer, it still incorporates the idea of an active audience.



Twilight Saga: New Moon
New moon is the second film and book in the Twilight series. The film hosts stars such as Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner and has gone on to become hugely succesful. I feel part of this may be due to the way the film is marketed in terms of the trailers released so i have chosen one to analyse.

The trailer starts off with a sound over telling the audience of the laws of vampires and how powerful the royalties are. We then see Edward break up with his girlfriend Bella and the trailers gives us an idea that the film is about her getting back to him and how she must save his life by risking her own. In the trailer we see many different cliff hangers, the biggest being weather or not the main character dies. We are told that "Bella" knows too much about vampires and because of this she has put the family in danger, resulting in a fight scene at the end.

Unlike many other trailers, this one does not feature "pop ups" like the others detailing characters and release dates. These only come right at the very end and i can only think this is because it is the second film in the series so the audience is expected to know the answers already.





Superbad
Superbad is a film released in August of 2007 and stars a stable of big actors. Before the production of this film, 4 main actors were tied down to contracts from the production company Columbia Pictures and have been used in many films together before and after including Knocked Up and Zack and Miri Make a Porno. These actors include Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, and Bill Hader.

In regards to the trailer its self, we have a common string of work. By this I mean we have a scene or two from the movie, albeit some of the words have been changed from what is in the actaul film, and then we have a pop up of the producer or the films name or the date of release: Classic film trailer approach.

Over the top of the trailer we hear two songs; One called Too hot to stop by The Bar Kays and the other called Panama by Van Halen. We hear various clips from the film detailing what is going to happen. This includes the character called Fogul aka Mc'Lovin' buying alochol under age with a fake ID and getting mugged whilst in the shop. Two police detectives appear and try to sort the situation outbut prove to be no help what so ever so instead, they take Mc'Lovin' to a bar and hang out with him. Mean while Seth and Evan are trying to become "the mistake" of the night before at parties with girls, and trying to lose their virginities before they go to college which gives us a non too detailed outline of what the film is about.


The Hangover
This is a 2009 film made in the USA and more specifically Las Vegas. It's the story of a Groom and his three best men intending to visit Vegas for one night that they will never forget, unfortunately for them, they never remembered it instead. It stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis amongst others in this big blockbuster film.

In reference to the trailer its self, it durates 2 minutes and 25 seconds and goves the brief over view of "A night they will never forget". We see the Groom and his men doing vairous tasks around Vegas untill the Groom goes missing. This trailer tells us that the rest of the movie is about the other three men working together and finding out where the groom is.

Over the top of the trailer we hear a few tracks from the albums soundtrack which has become a big thing when creating trailers as the companies already own rights to the track so they will truy and use it as much as possible.

Another thing i noticed was how the trailer referred back to the old school style of trailer and popped up with the production companies at the start and had various writings come up on the screen in the style of "Welcome to vegas", giving an outline to the trailer without needing a narrator. This was effective as it referenced the actual film its self.