Trailers as Multi-model Texts

A multi-model text is a form of media that has two or more ways of creating meaning through different ways of communication. This can be through written text on screen, spoken language, sound effects and music. 

TITLE OF FILM: Catch Me If You Can (2002, Directed by Steven Spielberg)
FEATURES OF MULTIMODAL TEXT	DESCRIPTION OF FEATURE IN TRAILER	ANALYSIS OF IMPACT ON AUDIENCE
Written text on screen	When introducing the actor's names and when it says 'based on a true story' the text is transitioned into the trailer by two arrows running parallel to each other moving across the screen in opposite directions.  Other on-screen text includes: 'Frank never went to flight school' (proceeded by a shot of Frank mas a pilot) Frank never went to medical school' (Proceeded by a shot of Frank as a doctor) 'Frank never went to law school' (Proceeded by a shot of Frank as a lawyer) 'Because Frank is still in high school'	The fact that this says 'based on a true story' would intrigue the audience as this might intrigue them to find out how the protagonist, Frank, managed to get away with becoming a pilot, lawyer and doctor without any training or how he never gets caught by the FBI, or at least avoided them for as long as possible. Considering the film's title and the the plot of the film, the arrows help to connote the fact that Frank is avoiding the authorities while they are trying to catch him for being a con artist.  This would intrigue the audience as they would know that you would need further education in order to get into these professions yet the on-screen text tells them that Frank has not attended any of these and that he is still in high school. This will make the audience ask a simple question of 'How did he do it?'.
Spoken language	Carl: 'You're gonna get caught, its like Vegas, the house always wins' [Carl and Frank speaking over the phone] Carl: 'What do you want' Frank: 'To apologise'  Carl: 'You didn't call to apologise did you? You have no one else to call'	This line of dialogue could be a hint of foreshadowing to the audience. Car id comparing the FBI as a house and therefore frank should be an 'outsider'. This metaphor Carl uses compares the FBI's mission to capture Frank as a casino game, as if it was a gamble, that both sides are risking everything they have in order to get the job done. This could make the audience support Frank even more because they would know that he would literally lose everything  if he does not escape the FBI. This piece of dialogue achieves the same effect as the previous, as the audience will feel more sympatheic towards Frank, as Carl implies that Frank is alone and has no one to trust.
Moving images	We are shown a mixture of shots showing Frank 'living the dream' where his life appears to be glorified, and other shots showing him in disdain and with a worried expression.	As this film is based off of a true story there are no special effects featured in the trailer and the cinematography is not overly dramatic in order to help retain the realism in the narrative. As mentioned before, we see many scenes showing different sides to Frank's life, hinting to the audience that he will go through a series of  events where he has a rise in power over the FBI, and a fall where the FBI are catching onto his case. There are two consecutive shots that show Frank (now with long hair) and a young girl as they look at each other through a window (shown in the bottom left image). This could possibly symbolise that through innocent eyes that do not look at him as a criminal, Frank is not such of a bad person that higher authorities make him out to be.
Sound effects	There is not a great amount of sound effects in this trailer since most of the sound in the trailer is the background song. When we see Frank as a lawyer, he says 'This is irrefutable evidence that the defendant is lying' and proceeds to slam his open case down to close in which we hear a loud 'thud' with a short echo.	Like I have mentioned before, they likely did not put in too many sound effects in order to make the film more realistic and not far-fetched as this is based off of a true story.  The music playing from the start of the trailer up to this point stops as soon as we hear this 'thud', creating a dramatic pause, signifying to the audience that Frank is very confident in his statement. It also helps build up apprehension for the following on-screen text that tells teh audience that Frank is still in high school, making this revelation have even more of an impact.
Music	The music being played in the background of the trailer is called 'Don't Rain On My Parade' by Bobby Darin.	The lyrics of the song can relate to the protagonist's life. 'Don't tell me not to fly I've simply got to If someone takes a spill It's me and not you Don't bring around a cloud To rain on my parade.' Considering how the protagonist, Frank cons people by pretending to be a pilot, a lawyer and a doctor, and gets a wealthy living out of it,and how the FBI are after him to bring an end to his law-breaking ways. The lyrics 'Don't tell me not to fly'  strongly relates to the fact that he posed as a pilot for a a number of years. The title of the song itself makes it seem as if it is Frank directly telling the FBI not to 'rain on his parade'.

Sound in Trailers

Sound is a very important aspect to film trailers as it is the sounds that help set the mood to the trailer in order to get a specific emotional response from the audience, weather it makes them scared, excited or saddened. The audience's response will be different depending on the pace/ tempo, the intensity of the bass and possibly the instruments involved in the music. For example, if the music played was a slow violin or piano we would be made to feel sadness if it was inserted alongside a scene of tragedy, but if we were to hear a song that had an electric guitar and a quick and heavy drumbeat that was inserted alongside a montage of action-shots then we would feel excitement and get an 'adrenaline rush'. Often in actions trailers, they would use a piece of music by artists such as Ninja Tracks, Two Steps From Hell, Audiomachine and Immediate Music. 

Trailer Example:
The Legend of Tarzan (2016, Directed By David Yates)   
This trailer features the song 'Axois' by Nathan Lanier, albeit it has been edited in order to help make the trailer more dramatic and does not begin until the middle of the trailer. There is a certain noise that is repeated throughout multiple times over the course of the trailer that sounds like a violin being played at a high key, the noise is made to sound unnerving. There is also a rhythmic drumbeat at the beginning of this trailer used to help gradually draw the audience into the trailer. This drumbeat runs parallel to the cuts and action. At 1:25 the drumbeat gains a quicker tempo in order to make the action seem more intense. The song 'Axois' has a female singing in a non-English language and a rhythmic drumbeat which is the similar to the one used at the beginning of the trailer and almost sounds tribal, which suits the setting of the film as it takes place primarily in a jungle.

Foley Sound

Foley sound is the reproduction of everyday sound, which is edited into films, videos and other media productions in order to help highlight can action so that we can recognise what the action is even if we cannot see it. Examples of these sounds can be a horse galloping (this sound can be created by clapping coconuts together) walking through snow (crunching grain in a glove), breaking glass. Foley sounds can be catagorised into three sections feet, moves and specifics. Feet refers to the sound made by footsteps. The sounds made vary depending on the type of surface that the person should be standing on and the type of shoe the character should be wearing. Moves refers to movement. This can be the sound of fabric swaying or rubbing against each other. Specifics refers to other sounds like doors closing, alarms ringing, or knocking. These sounds can help an audience get a better idea of the size and space of the room judging by the echo. Without foley sound the audience might not know what is going on in the scene as sometimes microphones do not pick up background sounds.

These sounds are created by foley artists. They are the ones who experiment with different objects and techniques in order to replicate the sound and they record them in a studio whilst watching a scene from a film so that they can time the sounds right and have a better idea on what type of sound to use. 

This video shows how foley artist Gary Hecker does his job as he recreated the sounds of footsteps by walking on a gravel-like surface whilst watching a scene from the 2010 Robin Hood film.He also created the sound of a sword being drawn by scraping two pieces of straight-cut metal against each other, a horse breathing by him cupping his hands over his mouth and imitating the sound of a horse, as well as the horse running by clopping cup-like objects against a sandy surface. He also demonstrates how he creates the sounds of a car falling out of a plane and crashing onto the ground. 









Foley Example:
Jurassic Park (1993, Directed By Steven Spielberg) Clip - Tyrannosaurus Rex 

This is the scene in Jurassic Park where the escaped t- rex comes looking for prey and crushes the Ford   Explorer which has the two children inside of it. At the start of the scene the dinosaur nudges the side of the car with it's nose. The noise made by the car being hit would likely have been made by a foley artist dropping or hitting a sheet of metal against a strong and hard surface. When we see the t-rex break the glass on top of the car we can hear the glass breaking. One  technique to do this is by laying metal wind chimes on the floor and either throwing or moving a small bottle over them. It is raining in the entirety of this scene, one technique to create the sound of rain falling is recording the sound of sizzling bacon. 

We cut to the two adults who are in the car behind, as one of them frantically searches for a box of flares, he has to shuffle paper around to find them, which can easily be replicated by repeating the same action in a silent location. When the car is bing pushed into the muddy ground we can hear the mud squelching as if fills us the car. This could be done by having a bucket of wet mud and moving the contents around to get the squelching noise. We cut back to the man with the flare, which is now lit and has a fizzing sound to it. A way suggested to make this noise is by placing a microphone close to a running stream of water and placing something in the way of the water to adjust the flow. When the wooden toilet hut got destroyed by the t-rex, the sound could have been made by throwing blocks of wood and woven wooden strips to the floor. The dinosaurs roar was created by using a mixture of dog, penguin, elephant, tiger and alligator sounds throughout the entire film. 

Diegetic and Non-diegetic Sound

Diegetic sounds are sounds that can be heard in a scene by a character in the scene. This can be something such as an alarm, a radio or a telephone. Other examples can be characters talking (in a conversation or in the background) or ambient sound of the surrounding area (eg. wind, traffic noise, weather). 

Diegetic Sound Example:
American Graffiti (1973, Directed By George Lucas) Clip - 'Must Be Your Mama's Car'

 In this scene we first see two characters having a  conversation in a yellow car, until a driver behind them in  a black car clearly wants their attention, he drives to the  side of the yellow car and the two drivers start sparring  non-offensive insults at each other. The entirety of this  scene is made of diegetic sound. At the start of this  scene we can hear the conversation between the two  people in the yellow car which is clearly diegetic as it is  not a voice-over or narration. We can also hear the faint  sound of the radio playing in the background with the DJ  in the middle of talking, though this is slightly muffled so  that we pay our attention to the main conversation going  on between the two characters. 

When the driver of the  yellow car realises that the driver in the car behind is  clearly trying to agitate him, he immediately stops his  car in which we hear the screech of the breaks. The car  pulls up into the lane next to them so that the cars are driving side-by-side. The two drivers then start shouting to each other from the cars until they reach a set of traffic lights. They decide to compete in seeing who can drive off the fastest and both start roaring their engines. For half of the duration of this scene we can hear music playing in the background which does not change volume as the drivers move along, and sounds as if it is coming from a distance from a radio, so we can assume the music is coming from one of the car radios. 

I think that they decided to make this scene entirely diegetic to create a sense of realism of what it would be like driving along the streets at night, in order to make this scene feel like something that would genuinely happen in real life. The audience would not feel as if the characters were real or relatable if the music in the background sounded non-diegetic and just played over the top of the scene as it would set an entirely different atmosphere. 

Non-diegetic sounds are sounds that the characters in a scene cannot hear but the audience can. This can be a piece of music incorporated over the top of a scene to compliment the events going on, a leitmotif (a piece of music attached to a character) or can be a narrator talking over the top of a sequence. 

Non- Diegetic Sound Example:
Forrest Gump (1994, Directed By Rovert Zemeckis) Clip - 'Peas and Carrots'
In this scene, Forrest Gump reflects back on his childhood to the time where he first met his best friend and love interest Jenny. For the first10 seconds in this clip, all dialogue spoken by Forrest is diegetic. After this, all lines spoken by the older version of Forrest turns into non-diegetic sound as he is now narrating his past rather than speaking to someone next to him about his life and he is not physically present in the past. During the entirety of this clip there is a piece of joyful, violin, melodic music playing to help add a happy tone to one of Forrest's favourite memories so that it is easier for the audience to relate. 

 

Trailer Example:
Batman V Superman (2016, Directed By Zak Snyder)

For the first 45 seconds of the trailer, most of the sound we can hear is diegetic. From 0:00-0:15 we see Alfred driving Batman's jet towards a building so that Batman can jump through a window to get inside. The diegetic sound we here here is the clicking of the jet's controls as Alfred moves the levers around, the sound of the jet's engine when it is viewed from a long distance shot, and the crashing of the glass when Batman breaks through the window. 

The scene changes to when Batman breaks through the floor boards of a room with a number of armed men. The sounds that are diegetic in this sequence are of the wooden floor panels breaking, punches being thrown, wooden crates being crashed into, an explosion, the scratching of knives against metal and men being thrown to the floor. In the background of this scene we can hear a very faint sound of violins making an increasingly loud screeching discordant noise, this is non-diegetic as the characters in the scene cannot hear this as it is very unlikely that there is a violin orchestra sitting in the back of the room, casually watching this act of violence play out. 

The scene changes again to show Alfred talking to Bruce Wayne, Bruce telling Alfred 'I'm getting slow in my old age Alfred', and Alfred replying 'Even you've got to old to die young, not for lack of trying.' This dialogue can be heard over a black screen as a clip of a character walking through a corridor filmed from an establishing shot starts to fade in, during this time the dialogue is non-diegetic. When we finally see Alfred and Bruce as close ups this dialogue can then be classed as diegetic. 

As this cuts to black, the song 'The Seeker' - Waspland remix starts playing. This song is used non-diegetically throughout the rest of the trailer, albeit it is edited in order to run parallel to the action in the trailer. The line 'He has the power to wipe out the entire human race' is non-diegetic as it is spoken over a scene showing Superman looking at oncoming missiles. We find out the speaker of this line when he continues with the line starting  'If we believe that there is even a one percent chance....'. This line is continued over a shot of Superman being crowded around by a group of people to which the dialogue then switches to non-diegetic. The remainder of the dialogue in this trailer is either entirely diegetic or non-diegetic. Any sound effects such as explosions, throwing knives, guns being fired, breaking buildings and attempted kicks are all diegetic. 

I think that the reason why they chose to switch between diegetic and non- diegetic dialogue is to help add drama to the trailer, when we hear the voice but not see the speaker first it helps to create an enigma of 'who is speaking?', and when the dialogue is continued over a clip from diegetic to non-diegetic, it can help tell the audience that what they are talking about is significant to what is being shown at the time, like in this trailer when a character says 'The greatest gladiator match in the history of the world. God versus man' and the scene where Batman arrives in his bat-mobile to confront Superman is shown, clearly referencing that Superman is the 'god' and Batman is the 'man'.

Levi Strauss Narrative Theory and Film Trailers

Strauss created the narrative theory of the binary opposites (clear contrasts), and that a narrative is centred around the conflict of these opposites. These opposites can include: 

Good vs Evil

Hero vs Villain

Light VS Darkness

Human VS Inhuman

Innocent VS Corrupt

Town VS Nature

Civilisation VS Barbarity

Beautiful VS Ugly

New VS Old

Warcraft (2016, Directed By Duncan Jones)

This poster for Warcraft is a good example for binary opposites, I believe. We can clearly tell the opposing sides by the use of contrasting colours of red and blue. We can assume that those in the blue section are the protagonists as blue can be seen as a calming, peaceful colour, and that those in the red are the antagonists as red can be an aggressive colour. Those on the red side are also wielding weapons, telling us they are looking for a fight, whereas those on the blue side seem to just be standing, although the male on the right appears to be casting a spell. It can be argued that this film could be based around humans VS non- humans as two characters on the left look monster-like, although the characters on the right are not entirely human, they look more human-like than those on the left. The enigma in this poster is that we do not know why these two sides are opposing each other, as we know it cannot be about race as each side has different creature races. To summarise, the binary opposites we can see in this poster are:

Good VS Evil

Human VS Inhuman (to an extent)

Peace VS Aggression

Rise of the Guardians (2012, Directed By Peter Ramsey)

Rise of the Guardians is a children's film made by Dreamworks. The narrative of the film is about the guardians: North (Santa Clause), Bunnymund (Easter bunny), Tooth (the tooth fairy), Sandy (the sandman) and Jack Frost (who is not shown in this particular trailer) as they fight against Pitch Black (the Boogeyman) as he tries to replace happiness with fear among children. As this is a children's film there is a clear distinction between good and evil as the audience is young and might not take an interest in a film where there are blurred boundaries between innocent and corrupt characters. 

The clear distinction between good and evil can be seen here in the character's design and the colours used in their surroundings:

Sandy

Is made out of gold, sparkling dust. He has a round physique which makes him look harmless and friendly. The background behind him in this shot is of a night sky which is starting to change to sunrise. This blue and orange combination creates a soothing colour palette which is relaxing to look at. This fits the character of the sandman as he delivers peaceful dreams to sleeping children.

Tooth
Like the sandman, she has a fairly round physique to make her look harmless. Both her, her fairies and the mural behind her are all brightly coloured, none of which are harsh clashing colours but complimentary, which can be eye-catching to a young audience. 

Bunnymund
Unlike the other guardians, Bunnymund has more of a sharp and pointy physique which usually would indicate a character to be evil, however because of the environment he is in we can tell that he is a good character. Like Tooth, his surrounds are of bright pinks and greens and has the sun shining down upon him and his Easter egg workers.

North

Again, like Tooth and Sandy, North has a very round physique to give him a friendly look, but he is also made to look large and strong. From what we can see in this shot he is wearing a red shirt since this is traditionally what Santa Clause wears. The setting behind him is mostly made of brown wood and is lit up by candle light, giving an impression of warmth and cosiness.

Pitch
Half of his body is hidden by the darkness, concealing his looks, which quite literally makes him seem like a shady character. Apart from his pale yellow eye he is colourless, clearly lacking a vibrant, friendly personality. His features are quite sharp which can indicate an evil character as it can remind you of sharp objects that can harm you. 




As North narrates over the top of the trailer he mentions that the guardians bring wonder, hope, joy and dreams which we have seen evidence of in a montage during the first minute of the trailer where we see children being made happy by the actions and creations of the guardians. This contrasts greatly with what pitch says later in the trailer 'That dream is over, its time for fear to rule the world'. While the guardians fight to protect children's happiness, Pitch will fight to replace it with fear, the complete opposite. As the film is made for a target audience of children, they will obviously route for the guardians to win as they are presented to be morally good, whereas Pitch wants children to feel at unease.

To summarise the binary opposites shown in this trailer:
Good VS Evil
Light VS Darkness
Happiness VS Fear

And although it isn't heavily touched upon in this trailer, other binary opposites are:
Dreams VS Nightmares
Belief VS Disbelief

How could this theory be applied to my trailer? 
Considering how how both sides of the conflict will be criminals (a group of drug users and a serial killer hacker) who are corrupted in their own way, it would not make sense to apply binary opposites the binary opposites theory to the characters as this entirely defies the conventions, especially since we think it will be best to leave it ambiguous who the audience should be routing for in order to keep the trailer enigmatic so we will not be showing a clear 'good' side and 'bad' side. 

Vladmir Propp Narrative Theory and Film Trailers

Vladimir Propp created the theory of the 8 character types, that there is 8 recurring characters found in the narrative of a film that each have a role to help the narrative progress and that the story is built around them. These 8 character types are:

The Hero: Leads the narrative, usually the hero is motivated to progress through the narrative in order to find or save something, such as finding a holy grail or saving a princess. The hero generally succeeds.

The Villain: The main antagonist of the story and usually the rival of the hero. The villain tends to be shown as morally bad so that the audience supports the hero. The villains role in the narrative is to create or be an obstacle for the hero so that they cannot complete their quest. 

The Donor: Gives something to the hero to help them succeed in their quest, this doesn't necessarily need to be a physical object.

The Helper: Similar to a donor, the helper aids the hero in their quest, their role is to support the hero in the most crucial times to give support and guidance. They can also help show that even the hero has his limits.

The Princess: The princess is the reward for the character, though this doesn't necessarily mean a literal person,  the reward can simply be a gold medal. Generally the princess is the love interest of the hero who requited feelings for them.

The Princesses Father: Will reward the hero if the task is completed. The father can be in competition with the hero.

The Dispatcher: As the name suggests, the dispatcher sends the hero on their way to complete their mission.

The False Hero: Acts as if they are a hero throughout the narrative and can be mistaken for the actual hero, when in fact they are either claiming the fame or is secretly working against the hero. 

Film Trailer Example:

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005, Directed by George Lucas)

Star Wars Episode 3 takes an interesting approach on the 8 character types as the film is about the protagonist, Anakin, turning towards the Dark Side, who have notoriously been the antagonists throughout all of the Star Wars movies up until now. As Anakin becomes more corrupted with his change of allegiance, the perspective of the characters start to change as well, as once foes will start to become allies and once allies will start to become foes, though this mostly applies if you are looking from Anakin's perspective. As an audience we are still made to perceive the Dark Side as antagonists as we have an omnipresent view of the narrative and can see the wrongs in the Dark Side's actions.

The Hero 

The protagonist of the film, Anakin Skywalker. His motive is to find a way to save his wife Padmé from a prophesied early death. He was told by Yoda that nothing can be done and he must accept that, whereas Palpatine said that a Sith lord was once able to bring the dead back to life, thus marking the start of his turn to the Dark Side. 

Villain/ False Hero / Father

The Emperor, also know as Darth Sidious and Palpatine, serves as multiple roles in this film as he is the villain to those on the Jedi's side and is overall the main antagonist of the narrative. He is a false hero as he helps Anakin through out the story, luring him towards the Dark Side, in Anakin's perspective he is an ally however he is still a villain. He can also be considered to be the father of the story, though he is not literally the Princess's father, his role is to reward Anakin once he fully joins the Dark side in his attempt to save Padmé, and to make him a Dark Lord of the Sith.  

Helper

There are three helpers shown in the trailer. The first is Obi Wan Kenobi. Obi Wan is the main helper in the film as he is the one to show that Anakin has a weakness and almost plays the part of Anakin's good side of his conscience, his voice of reason, particularly in the part of the trailer when he tells Anakin 'You were the chosen one!'.

Helper

Mace Windu is also a helper in the film, in the trailer we see him help fight against the Dark Side forces as well as disallow Anakin to become a master and attempt to arrest Palpatine before either of them overthrow those of the Jedi order.

Helper

Yoda is the third helper shown in the trailer. He appears to be the wise mentor to the Jedi's as he tells Obi wan 'Twisted by the Dark Side, young Skywalker has become', informing him and the audience of what one of the disruptions of the narrative is. He is also shown fighting Palpatine towards the end of the trailer.

Princess

Though she may literally be a princess/ queen, Padmé is essentially Anakin's reward and motivation for the sake of him moving onwards in the narrative since his reason to join the Dark Side is to find a way to save her from death.

Dispatcher: There is no clear dispatcher shown in the trailer as Anakin is given tasks from both the Jedis and Palpatine.

Donor: It can be argued that the Emperor is the donor as he teaches Anakin the dark ways of the force, however there is no particular donor shown in this trailer.

This is the poster for Iron Man 3. Like most superhero films, the poster shows a range of characters, though as there is not a large main cast in this film, only 5 characters are prominent on the poster.

Hero

Tony Stark, clearly the protagonist of this film as he is the closest to the front and has been made to be more prominent by the lighting as his face has a key light on the right side of his face, which the other characters do not, this being done so that we are instantly drawn to look at him first because he is the most important. He is also the only character with glowing blue lights, this connoting that he is a 'good' character. His stance in this poster tells us that he is ready to defend the girl he is holding at all costs as he does not look aggressive, but still has his hand slightly raised, ready for a fight. 

Princess

Pepper Potts is the princess of the film. We can tell this because Tony is holding her tightly in order to protect her, and she has her hand on his chest as if to say that she trusts him. Since she and Tony are intimately holding each other we can assume that Pepper is Tony's love interest and his motivation, which makes her fulfil her role as the princess. Considering how he looks like he is protecting her and how she is close to the front, she must have a significant role in the film that if something bad happens to her then they will not be able to resolve the disruption. 

 

Helper 

The helper for this film is James Rhodes aka War Machine. We can tell this because his expression is fairly neutral and he is stood determinedly, but not with aggression. He is wearing an iron suit similar to Tony's which could suggest that they are a team.  

(False) Villain:

This character is placed at the back of the group and is made to be the smallest scale suggesting that his character has importance to the plot but is not very significant overall. He looks as if he is scowling towards Tony and Peppa which means that they are enemies. It is revealed in the film that this character is Trevor Slattery, an actor hired to pretend to be the terrorist, Mandarin, because he had the 'ideal look'. 

Villain

This is the true antagonist of the film, Mandarin. We can tell he is the villain because he is not grouped with the other four people but is instead placed at the top of the poster like many villains do. He is also in a different coloured lighting and is facing away from Tony, meaning that they are on opposite sides. He is of a bigger than than Rhodes is suggesting that he is of more significance to the plot. He looks as if he is supposed to be sitting on a throne, telling the audience is is supposed to be intimidating and looked upon. He also looks as if he is scowling, yet bored, that he does not feel threatened by anyone. 

 


How could this theory be applied to my trailer?

Like in the Star Wars Episode III trailer, the protagonists in my trailer will all be corrupted in some way or another since we plan for the narrative to be based around criminals vs criminals, therefore making a clear distinction between the hero and the villain will not fit the themes we will want to create as we do not want to make it clear to the audience what side they should be routing for because we believe that this helps to create a good enigma. At this point I don't think that the 'princess' will be a physical object or being, but rather an achievement. Helpers can simply be less significant members of the drug-user gang or a friend of the serial killer hacker. In conclusion, we do not want to follow the typical character types to a great extent as we want our characters to be unconventional in order to give a fresh twist on the genre. 

Tzevetan Todorov Narrative Theory and Film Trailers

Todorov is known for his theory of the 5 stages of narrative. This theory is that there will be a cycle start starts and ends with an equilibrium (a state of normality or equal balance), but there will be a disequilibrium (a loss or lack of stability) in the middle. The five stages look like this:

Stage 1) Equilibrium - Where everything is normal and functioning as expected, the fictional setting has a sense of  stability. 

Stage 2) Disruption - Something has gone wrong and has destabilised the normal balance. This event can affect a singular person or perhaps the entire world.

Stage 3) Recognition - When the protagonist(s) realise what has gone wrong.

Stage 4) Attempt to Repair- The protagonists will try and bring an end to the disequilibrium.
Stage 5) New Equilibrium - Either the equilibrium has returned and is the same as before or a new equilibrium has been made, such as after a war- the conflict is over but there is still an aftermath that people will adapt to that will become the new normality. 

This is a common or base structure of a film's narrative however not all films use this. In action, thriller or horror films there is likely to be more than one attempt to repair the disruption, where characters are stuck in a cycle of repairing the disruption and then a new one comes along. There is also the case where there is not an equilibrium at all, or that the equilibrium does not end on a positive note. Films that do not feature an equilibrium tend to end on a cliffhanger, this is common with films that are separated into parts or have sequels. An example of this can be The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013, Dir. Peter Jackson) as this film ends with the dragon antagonist setting out to destroy a nearby floating village with the protagonist coming to realise the mistake they had made, asking himself 'What have we done?' before the screen cuts to black. An example of a film with a disequilibrium is The Wickerman (1973, Dir. Robin Hardy) as this ends with the protagonist being burned alive as a sacrifice to a pagan god and as a result dies,  which is a disequilibrium on his behalf, however there is an equilibrium on the behalf of the islanders who sacrificed him. 

Trailer Example: 

Jurassic World (2015, Dir. Colin Trevorrow)

The trailer starts off by showing us two of the protagonists, Gray and Zach, who are young brothers. Their mother tells the youngest 'I'm really proud of you for going on this trip', this give the audience information that these brothers are going away somewhere without their parents, explaining their situation in the beginning of the narrative. A few seconds later the mother tells the boys 'If something chases you, run'. This can be interpreted as foreshadowing for events later on in the narrative, hinting to the audience an idea on what type of disruption the protagonists may face. 

We then see a montage of clips showing a ferry taking its passengers to a remote island, and then see them entering 'Jurassic World' by a train. The next montage of clips show us numerous tourists travelling around the park in various forms of transport up close to the dinosaurs. This is the equilibrium of the narrative as the humans and dinosaurs are living at peace with each other - there is stability. 

The next sequence of scenes show us scenes of a science lab with preserved insects, the creation of dinosaur eggs, and a spinal cord with wires wrapped around it. Over the top of this sequence we hear another one of the protagonists, Claire, explaining what they have learned about dinosaur genetics. What stands out in this dialogue is when she says 'We have our first genetically modified hybrid'. It cuts to another scene where the fourth protagonist, Owen, is shown speaking to Claire about the hybrid, telling her 'You just went and made a new dinosaur. Probably not a good idea'. 

We move onto another scene where Owen and a paddock supervisor are looking at a wall with scratch marks. The supervisor says 'That wall's forty feet high. You really think she could've climbed out?'. Owen is later seen telling Claire to evacuate the island. This suggests that the genetically modified dinosaur they made has gone missing, hinting to the audience that this is the disruption in the narrative. 

We get another compilation of scenes, this time showing Owen and other park workers looking for evidence of where the dinosaur has disappeared to. There are also clips shown of a POV of presumably a worker being dragged away by the dinosaur, and scenes of Owen and the brothers running to escape from it, with the addition of a crowd of tourists escaping the main area of the park. This would be the recognition stage of the narrative as they realise their lives are now in danger. 

Right at the very end of the trailer we see Owen riding on a bike along with three raptors. This is the only clue we are given as to how they are going to attempt to repair the disruption. The trailer deliberately does not show much of the attempt to repair or any of the new equilibrium as this would give away too much of the narrative that the audience would already know what is going to happen so there would be not much point in watching the film. 

How could this theory be applied to my trailer?

In my trailer I will not use all five stages of narrative, and will limit it to the equilibrium, the disruption and the recognition, although there could be small hints towards the attempt to repair. We do not want to give the audience too much information as this will take away the enigma away from the trailer. When showing the equilibrium, this can be a compilation of scenes of the protagonists in their daily lives, or showing the drug addicts hanging around in their meet-up spot messing around, cross-cutting to the serial killer setting up their equipment ready to make their fake anonymous video. The disruption will be the serial killer sending the video to the drug abusers, threatening their lives. The recognition stage will be that the drug users will start to be killed off and the remaining ones will start to realise that the threat was not a joke.

 

Roland Barthes Narrative Theory and Film Trailers

Roland Barthes created two theories for films, the most common one being the 'enigma' theory. This theory is that different texts (e.g.films, posters, television) all have an enigma that the audience must solve. These enigmas will make the audience ask questions such as 'who is this person?', 'what are they looking at?', 'which person is the killer?'. It is because of the questions asked that an audience can be intrigued by the film as they will want to know the answers to these questions. One of the most common film types to use this theory are murder mysteries where a detective must gather clues to find the murderer, and often there are multiple suspects that both the detective and audience must narrow down to one in order to find the true murderer. 

Barthes' second theory is the referential/ cultural code. This states that meaning can be found in a text through culture relevant information. In order to understand the culture code, you must have knowledge of the culture or know the stereotype.

Poster Example:

Black Swan, 2010

Here is the poster for Black Swan (2010) and is a psychological thriller. As the woman is the only person on this poster the audience can assume that this is the protagonist for the the film . The woman is very pale and is dressed in white, which can connote purity or innocence, whereas the background is just plain black which can connote darkness. One of the first questions a viewer might ask is 'why does she have a crack going down the side of her face?'. This crack can suggest the emotional breakdown of the character, that she herself will become broken, or symbolising the deconstruction of her 'good' side, which connotes the psychological theme. This can then make the audience question what caused this to happen. Was it a traumatic event? Did someone deliberately change her to be this way? 

The feather on her head, the thin straps on her shoulders, the way she is posed and the film title all denote a ballet theme. Black swan is an alternative name for Odile in the Swan Lake, who is the daughter of the ballet's antagonist. The audience may assume that the film's title refers to the protagonist, yet ironically she is dressed in white, so this further symbolises the character's personality change.

As the poster only features a close up of the protagonist and a black background, there is a limited amount of information given to the audience about the narrative for them to be able to ask many questions. There is also nothing referencing to any culture so Barthes' second theory cannot be applied to this poster. 

 Straight Outta Compton, 2015

Straight Outta Compton is a good example of a cultural codes. The film depicts the story of the gangsta rap group N.W.A in California who set up their own record label and create songs about discrimination and harassment they get from higher authorities. Based on stereotypes, you can recognise the characters to be gangstas by the way they are dressed as they all wear baggy trousers and jackets, and wear baseball caps. They are all walking near each other in the same direction which gives the impression that they are walking as a group of friends or even a gang. The background is also a stereotypical image of California with the classic American car at the side with the palm trees, and the sign post saying 'Compton' on it. The fact that this poster is in black and white gives California quite a negative feeling as it is usually shown as bright and colourful.

Trailer Example: 

10 Cloverfield Lane, 2016

I believe that this trailer is a good example of use of enigma codes. It starts out showing a seemingly normal group of three people, all enjoying themselves with games and hobbies, until the house they are in starts shaking as if there is an earthquake, but assuming by the characters reactions, this is not the case. The audience will start asking 'what caused the house to shake? Is this a natural occurrence?'. As the trailer progresses, the eldest of the three starts to act more violent, as the other two start to look at him with scared or worried expressions. The girl eventually hits him with a glass bottle and makes a quick escape towards a locked door. The audience will be asking at this point what is wrong with the eldest man? Why is he keeping the younger two from leaving the house? Once the girl opens the first of the two locked doors, the eldest man desperately starts shouting for her not to open the door, not as an angry demand, but rather a plea for safety. Before she does unlock the door, she looks out of the window with a shocked expression, the trailer then cuts to black. We here the eldest man say 'something's coming' as the title of the film starts to fade in. More questions will be asked with this revelation such as 'What is coming exactly?, why does it need to be feared? Is it human? Is it a supernatural entity? Is this why the eldest man tried to keep the other two in the house?' 

The fact that not much information has been given about the narrative of the film is used as an enigma in itself as we initially think that the characters have normal life much like ours, but this changed once we realise that there is a disturbance in this life. We do not know what the life outside the house is like, if there is any life outside the house at all. We do not know how long life has been like this for either. The only way to find these out is to go and watch the movie themselves. 

In terms of cultural codes we can tell that this film takes place in America as the house contains a jukebox which is usually found in American diners. The male characters are both dressed like stereotypical American men in t-shirts, jeans, long beards and baseball caps.

How could this theory be applied to my trailer?

As we plan for the plot of the film to be criminals vs criminals, I believe it would be a good idea not to reveal to the audience which side they should be rooting for. As one of the criminals will be a serial killer posing as a member of Anonymous who has a grudge against the low-lives of society, in this case drug addicts, and as the other criminals will be the drug addicts they will both be morally wrong on equal levels and both be breaking the law, so strictly speaking there will be no 'good' or 'bad' side. The serial killer's reason for killing these 'low lives' will not be revealed in the trailer in order to create this enigma for the character in order to make the audience intrigued how the character has gotten to this stage in their life that their morals are so twisted, what has happened in their past to make them act this way and form a grudge? I like how in 10 Cloverfield Lane's trailer it starts off with a seemingly normal life, we could incorporate this into our trailer by initially showing scenes of the characters how they would act in the middle of public, and then cross-cut between the two sides as they venture into an unknown place where they commit their crimes, for example the drug addicts can walk into their drug den whilst the serial killer can walk into an apartment and start setting up their computer to record a fake Anonymous video to lure in their prey.

Forms and Conventions of Film Trailers