Initial name ideas for our trailer

When I began thinking of names for my trailer I decided to try and focus mainly on titles that will be mildly suggestive of themes included in the story but will not overtly give anything away. I found drawing inspiration from song titles and lyrics to be particularly useful while also trying to work around the Lego theme created many ideas.

If I had a big budget

Treatment

Norma Bates

In order to help me develop the mother character in my story further I felt that it would be useful to look in more detail at Norma Bates and her nature and mannerisms. A main similarity that I have found between Norma and my mother character is their obsessive need to have absolute and total control over the lives of their respective sons and their unwillingness to let anyone or anything affect the relationship between them. These aspects of her character and her personality will be very helpful to me in fully shaping the character of the mother in my story in complete detail so the script will accurately reflect her personality. I plan to watch the series more and to watch the film 'Psycho' in order to better understand her character and the effects of her behaviour. 

Bates Motel

Third pitch powerpoint

Using the feedback I was given on my second pitch, I decided it would be useful to have a final attempt at creating a pitch even though it will not be formally presented. This allows me to know in more depth what goes into a professional pitch. 

I feel that this pitch is a lot more successful than the previous two due to the level of detail and volume of information which is being presented. It gives a more holistic view of my story idea than the previous two which means that it creates a deeper understanding of what I am attempting to create. The level of detail also gives a deeper insight into my story idea which is useful not only for who I am presenting to, but for myself in giving me a guide to which direction I am heading. The extra information provided on the two characters such as casting and costume I believe to be very useful as it means that the pitch has a lot more depth in terms of the actual content of the trailer. It also shows that I have thought in a lot more depth about what is going to be included in my trailer and the finer details as opposed to the general overview which I presented in my previous two pitches. The music also shows the deeper level of detail which is achieved in the pitch compared to the previous two as it not only talks about what music will be used, but also the effect that this music will have on the audience and how it will contribute to the story and the overall effect of the trailer. This is also shown in the information on the shot ideas as it shows that I have a strong idea of just how I am going to achieve the end result that I am aiming for, this makes the pitch overall more convincing and professional compared to the previous two pitches. The specifics of the location also add to the credibility of the presentation as it builds up the image of exactly how the story is going to be conveyed onto film as who I am presenting to would now be able to create an image of what is going on in their head.

There are, however, still improvements that I could make, such as more detailed information on the exact shots I am planning on using to convey my story and what effect I believe that they will create. This would make my pitch even more believable as it would show that I have a clear, defined idea of how I am going to convert my idea onto film in the most believable and professional way possible. I could have also included character profiles in order to familiarise those I am pitching to with my characters to allow them a better understanding of the story. 

Secondhand Lions trailer analysis

In order to fully understand the genre conventions of specific drama trailers involving children, I thought that it would be useful to do a further trailer analysis on Secondhand Lions. This will help me to clearly define what I should be involving in my trailer.

The shot at the start of the trailer immediately establishes the setting for the film and several of the main characters. Themes of hostility are established from the very start with the aggressive narrative from one of the two men, showing the audience that the film will contain hostility, perhaps throughout. This is very effective at conveying a large part of the general theme of the story right from the very start of the trailer without revealing too much of the story (something which I am aiming to achieve in my own trailer).

The young boy's costume is a complete juxtaposition to the setting which he is in showing another theme of displacement within the film. This first introduction of the character is effective at showing the boy's discontent of the situation with which he is in, but does not provide any explanation as to how he has got there, building a sense of curiosity within the audience which will compel them to want to find out the full story by watching the film. The boy's apparent lack of knowledge of the country environment when he calls the pig 'doggy' also builds on this mystery as the boy is clearly miles away from home and completely out of his comfort zone and away from all that he knows.

The music played at the start also juxtaposes against the hostile and unhappy nature of the characters that are shown in the first moments of the trailer. This further builds a sense of mystery within the audience, enticing them to watch the film, as it raises questions over whether the happy music is connoting the end result of the film. The narrative begins hostile at the start but gradually thaws out over the process of the trailer until the characters are talking like close family members by the end of the story.

The type of person suitable to play the mother

The type of person suitable to play the young boy

Shot ideas

One of the issues raised in our pitch was the need to clearly establish which shots we will use in the trailer in order to convey the general idea of our story without giving too much away. With this in mind I started to brainstorm some different ideas of shots that would show a progression in the story without giving away the final result. I highlighted each point to emphasize the important parts of the shot that will be most effective in conveying the story and the boy's changing state of mind without having to explicitly say what is going on.

In doing this I have found that cinematography will play a large part in conveying the different stages of the story, such as the use of high-angle shots to convey vulnerability and low-angle shots to convey power. Mise-en-scene will also be vital as the state of the boy's room is a central part of showing the progression of the boy's state of mind. 

Initial storyboard

This storyboard is intended to show the brief overview of the whole story. It shows the boy's relationship with his lego and the ultimate destruction of his 'perfect world' and the seizing of control over his life back from his mother. I feel like it is effective in conveying the isolation of the boy as he is not shown to venture outside of his room and the close relationship that he has with his lego as there is not a scene shown without it. The mise-en-scene is obviously not how it will be in the actual trailer, as the room shown was the only bedroom background available to use on Pixton and was not able to be altered, however, the overall tidiness and cleanliness of the room is clearly shown. I feel that this storyboard is very effective in conveying a brief synopsis of the story.

I will be creating a more detailed specific storyboard of exactly what will be in my trailer soon.

Second pitch feedback/analysis

Further audience research

After finishing this slideshow I then looked further into researching the specific films that I spoke about in my initial research in order to see whether this would return more positive results. However, there was still no specific information linking to audience statistics and the opinions of audience members. This means that inevitably my audience research is not going to be as accurate as it arguably could be as it will be based on data that appears to be marginally biased and not representative of the population as a whole. It is not all bad, however, as the information will still be largely useful in giving me a rough idea of who will be interested in my film idea.

In order to gain as much information as possible before I make my conclusion I am considering creating and carrying out a questionnaire in order to gain the opinions of my peers, friends and relatives. 

Blog feedback

Our blog was marked in order for us to be able to assess what grade we are currently working at. Although it does not say so on the assessment sticker, I am currently working at a B1 grade meaning that I am almost reaching the A grade. In order to do this I am currently thinking of different ways in which I can present my information. 

Initial audience research

Second pitch ideas

These are the ideas of which we started to form the basis of our second pitch around. The planning allowed us to know which points we would need to highlight in our presentation and which aspects need further development before they will be convincing as an idea.

Detailed idea

Our story revolves around the relationship between a young boy and his favourite inanimate object, his Lego. The boy has no friends and spends almost all of his time in his bedroom playing with his lego, constructing his own fantasy world in order to gain back some of the control over his life that has been removed by his control freak of a mother. The boy's lack of friends and social life has very little to do with his lack of ability to make friends or a lack of people wishing to be his friend, he simply prefers the controllable relationship that he has with his Lego.

At the beginning of the story the young boy is a stereotypical 'Mummy's boy' who always does his mother's bidding and adheres to her wishes and demands no matter how controlling or unreasonable they may seem. This is reflected in the cleanliness and tidiness of his room and the pristine condition of his clothes and hair at all times, despite this being far from the norm when it comes to a young boy. The mother clearly adores her young son and still talks to him as if he were a toddler suggesting that she has a real fear of him growing up, perhaps explaining her need to be a control freak when it comes to parenting and disciplining the boy. Although the mother will not be shown much throughout the story her influences will be clear; whether it is through the boy's homework being done early instead of on time or a plate of food being sat in the boy's room 'just in case he gets hungry'.

Throughout the story the boy will be shown to be slowly growing tired of his mother's control of him and small acts of rebellion will begin to occur. Initially it will only be something small such as him leaving his bed unmade once he gets up in the morning, however, these acts of rebellion will soon get larger and more and more obvious. His emotions during this turbulent time will be shown through the world that he constructs using his Lego until he eventually snaps and, as the ultimate act of rebellion, he destroys all that he has constructed never to touch it again.

The act of him destructing everything that he has made shows him finally destroying the control which his mother has had over him up to that stage in his life. It will be at this stage that the story will end, leaving the audience on a cliff hanger but also suggesting that the boy will be leading a life free of his  mother's obsessive control from this point onwards.

Second pitch powerpoint

We decided to create a powerpoint in order to be able to convey our idea more clearly and more professionally during our second pitch. We looked in detail at the perspective from which the film will be shot, the set, cinematography, costume and music in order to show how we intend to convey our story.

In-depth pitch evaluation

Further decision making on child's object

Inanimate object ideas

I started to look at ideas for what object the young boy could develop a relationship with. I have started off by looking at generic toys and objects often associated with and enjoyed by young boys and the variety that there is available. Most of these objects/toys are easily accessible meaning that problems with accessing this prop should not be an issue. At the moment I am liking the idea of using either a fire truck, lego or teddy bear as the object. I will look at those objects in more detail in a later post.

Location ideas

As I started to think of possible locations for my story to be placed, I started to think of how the boy would be spending so much time in his bedroom (due to his lack of social life). This led me to start to look further into the different styles of young boys' bedrooms as I do not have much experience in this area myself. Due to the boy's control freak mother, I imagine that his room would be relatively bare and immaculately clean and ordered. I had a brief thought of the boy having an extremely messy and cluttered room as an act of rebellion towards his mother, however, I soon dismissed this as, at the boy's age, it is likely that his mother would take charge of keeping the room neat and tidy.

The main colour schemes that I identified in the bedrooms that I researched were blue of all shades, cream, orange, yellow, red and white; expectedly steering away from the generic 'girly' colours like pink and purple etc. 

Idea outline

Research into sub-genres

Psychodrama

A Streetcar Named Desire

I was completely unaware of this sub-genre until I started to research the different sub-genres of drama. Although this film is relatively old and in black and white it shows the clear theme of varying degrees of psychosis throughout the film. I feel that this sub-genre would be extremely interesting to work with as it provides such an interesting basis for a range of stories. I am very interested in using this sub-genre for my trailer.

Crime

The Shawshank Redemption

Crime films are certainly an interesting one to consider as they can cover such a wide variety of topics. I wouldn't say that I'm particularly interested in doing a trailer that is entirely crime based as I do not feel like I'd be able to create a convincing story.

Romance

The Notebook

Romance would be very easy to pull off, however, I feel that it could appear very generic and cheesy if the plotline was not interesting and exciting. It does, however, provide me with quite a wide creative potential as there is such a wide spectrum of stories that I could use and create. It is, however, very hard to be original with romance films as they have mostly all been done before. 

Comedy

Silver Linings Playbook

Comedy is a very easily accessible sub-genre of drama as many films contain aspects of it, no matter how big or small. With that being said, it is very hard to write a good comedy script that is completely original as it is a hard genre to write for. This means that the end result is likely to be unprofessional and amateur. It may be possible for me to include parts of this sub-genre in my trailer, however, it would be unwise of me to attempt to create an entirely comedy based trailer concept.

Tragedy

Titanic

Tragedy films rely a lot on the temperament of the viewer and their personal experiences as to whether it will affect them. This means that it would be very hard to pull off well and write a professional script for with extremely in-depth research into the potential target audience. If pulled off well it could be a very professional finished product,  however, on my budget I am not sure that I will be able to achieve this. 

Pitch feedback

25 Word Pitch

Decision on genre

Researching sub-genres

Thinking about genres

I have looked at several genres in-depth to allow me to make the best decision on the genre of my film trailer. From just looking at the genres I have decided to rule out sci-fi and horror as, on my budget, I feel that it would be unrealistic to hope to be able to create a trailer in one of these genres effectively and to create a professional result. 

This leaves me with comedy and drama. I believe that I can create a professional and effective trailer for both as the budget for these genres does not necessarily need to be high as the main focus-point of the trailer will be the quality of the script and the actor. Both of these things can be easily achieved and found on an immensely small budget.

COMEDY

Pros:

• Very entertaining if executed correctly in terms of script and performance.
• Minimal props needed usually (although this doesn't help with me showing my ability to construct mise-en-scene).
• Gives vast creative freedom in terms of the script writing and the kinds of characters involved in the trailer.
• Actors suitable to play comedic roles are usually easily accessible.
• A very popular film genre among a large variety of audiences, will appeal to a large group of people. 

Cons:

• Needs a very strong idea.
• Easy to execute incorrectly in which case it often appears amateur and unprofessional.
• Script usually needs the knowledge of someone who is familiar with the comedy genre or there are great risks of it appearing amateur. 
• Not suitable in terms of addressing certain things e.g. if you want to create something hard-hitting then this is usually not achieved through a comedy.
• Depending on the theme there is a significant risk of something coming across or being construed in a negative way. 

DRAMA

Pros:

• Huge creative potential to write a script on a broad spectrum of topics and themes.
• The most likely genre to look professional as an end result.
• Has the potential to be the easiest trailer to execute correctly which will, as stated earlier, create a more professional finished product.
• Actors suitable for the drama genre are usually easily accessible, the only main defining point for character is usually gender.
• A very popular film genre among a large variety of audiences, will appeal to a large group of people.
• Props needed are usually easily accessible and cheap to obtain.

Cons:

• If the idea for the script is not genuinely original the trailer may seem generic.
• Can sometimes seem weak if not executed correctly to a large extent which will result in an unprofessional finished product.

Initial thoughts on genre

To allow me to make the best decision with regards to genre I decided to look at what each genre would entail for me if I were to make a film trailer of that genre. What became clear was that budget and availability of actors would be a major factor in how effectively I could create a trailer. This will effectively lead to me needing to decide how passionate I am about a genre as, if it is unlikely that I will be able to create a professional looking trailer in a certain genre, it is a better idea that I look at and explore the possibility of attempting other genres. 

Initial Mood Board

I have created this mood board as a start for further research into the drama genre. I am interested in producing a drama trailer and feel that the films shown in my mood board cover the drama genre spectrum, therefore enabling me to see all of the elements and conventions that are involved in drama posters, some of which can be transferred into my trailer.

AS mise-en-scene reflection

Thinking back to the project that I did for my AS coursework I realised that I had barely included or focused on any aspect of mise-en-scene as my main focus had been on ensuring that the script and cinematography etc were of a high standard. I now realise that, had I spent a bit more time thinking about and constructing the mise-en-scene for my project it is likely that it would have resulted in a higher grade as it would have showed that I was aware of every aspect that goes into making a film (or an opening sequence for a film in my case). With this in mind I filled out a reflection sheet to see what I could have done better which will then help me to ensure that I have a sharper focus on it for my A2 project which will hopefully ensure that the finished product will look much more professional and more reflective of the hard work that I will put into it. A main thing which I identified that I need to work on is the use of props, perhaps making more of an effort to ensure that I include some props where appropriate whether they're home made or bought etc.

Make up

I made this make-up chart as a part of a class activity where we were encouraged to look deeper into the different aspects of mise-en-scene. The genre of film that my group was assigned to create the mise-en-scene for was action.

I feel like this make-up would be particularly effective for a film involving a war conflict as the traditional army paint can be easily linked to this theme. The injuries on the face also closely link to the idea of conflict and action although they are not strictly confined to the war theme and can be used in almost every kind of action film (as action films often involve combat of some kind which will result in injuries such as the one shown).

Trailer remake evaluation

My trailer remake

Although I did not have the time or resources available to create my own titles, I feel like my trailer is a success as I have been able to able to accurately recreate the shots included in the trailer and the costumes, mise-en-scene and make up are fairly true to the trailer.

Make-up for trailer remake

Costume for trailer remake

Props for trailer remake

Pretty much the only prop that will be required for me to film my trailer remake is the cow toy that the minion is playing with and laughing. I'm not sure where i will be able to find an exact replica of this toy but there may be something such as an app that i will be able to use so that the sound that will be in the trailer will at least be true to the original trailer. With this there is the possibility to maybe use a cow print phone case which will mean that the phone will look more like the prop that it is supposed to be imitating. This will be quick and easy to do as apps are easy to find and come by and will be extremely authentic.

Casting for trailer remake

Blog evaluation

We were asked to spend 5-10 minutes evaluating another student's blog, here is Jonathon's evaluation of my blog:

Remaking trailer

I have chose to remake the teaser trailer for Despicable Me as it is a film that I enjoy and think that it would be an interesting trailer to remake.

This is the trailer:

Although I obviously will not be able to make an exact copy of this trailer I am hoping to be able to recreate the shots, acting and comedy theme of this trailer.

My poster

Here is the poster that I made for an imaginary horror film called 'Closure':

Overall, I feel that (although it is very amateur) the poster has fitted into many of the conventions of horror film posters. It has an image which is linked to the film's storyline which is central to the poster and takes up a large amount of space, a dark background and the film title in the bottom third of the photo. Although it fits into many of the conventions of a horror film poster I do not feel like it is a great success as it does not look particularly attention catching, its only merit being that it is clearly a poster designed to advertise a horror film.

Horror film posters

I am making a poster for a horror film but before I did this I chose to closely examine the conventions of existing horror film posters to ensure that my posters fits into these conventions (or perhaps give me scope to create a slightly unconventional poster).

By looking closely at these posters I have come to these conclusions:

Examples of posters from different genres

DRAMA

Briefly looking at the posters for drama films it appears that the main emphasis on these posters is based entirely on the main characters to the film (such as the two lovers etc.). There is very little focus on any of the text apart from the title and tagline suggesting that these are the most important things to the potential audience that the film makers are trying to reach. Overall, the colours used in the posters can vary quite drastically but tend to be fairly neutral and soft colours.

COMEDY

Comedy posters also focus mainly on portraying the main characters of the film with less focus on the text. The characters are sometime shown in unusual or comical poses or situations, however, they are also sometimes just shown face on. The overall colours of comedy posters tend to be quite vibrant as this helps to convey the comedy aspect of the film and is more suitable than darker colours.

HORROR

Unlike comedy and drama, all but a few horror posters do not even show the main character to the story which places more of an emphasis on the storyline. This is done by the use of images which can also sometimes appear to be quite cryptic which could help entice the reader. Overall, the colours used in horror posters are dark and dull, however, there is also a large use of red as this is a colour often assosciated with both danger and blood (things which are present in most horror films).

Film posters

CONVENTIONAL

In class we were asked to think of what we believed was meant by the word conventional. It proved to be far harder than we expected as we could not find a specific way to define it but after listening to each other's ideas and pooling them together we came to a decision that being conventional means to stick to the norm or standard way in which things are done.

We were then asked to look at and apply this to film posters to determine what the conventions of a film poster was and whether it varied from genre to genre in order to give us help in making our own poster for a specific genre. 

Props

One aspect of mise-en-scene that we overlooked drastically in our AS project was the use of props. With this in mind Joe started to create some ideas for props that could be used in action films:

Gun

Sniper stand

These props are obviously far more amateur than I would use in my A2 project but it gave us a good insight into what goes into constructing props which is a vital part of mise-en-scene. It also made me more interested in perhaps attempting to make my own props for my A2 project instead of using entirely existing objects.

Mise-en-scene research

My group was assigned the task of creating mise-en-scene for an action film; my role was make-up, Joe was doing props and Image created some costumes that would be suitable for that genre.

Other interpretations

Seeing as it was a class activity I also got to observe others' opinion on what a target audience is/is made up of:

I think that this is very interesting in showing how different people regard what a target audience is. Although there is a general theme there is a wide spectrum of interpretations within that.

Final thoughts

After participating in that task and gaining a deeper insight into how target audiences are constructed and reached I came to this conclusion about what the definition of a target audience is:

Changing trailers to be appropriate for different audiences

After deconstructing the trailer for Riddick we were then asked to try and think about what would need to be changed if the film was a Disney/Pixar movie that was targeted at younger audiences.

By doing this task we realised that attempts to reach target audiences are based primarily on stereotypes as it is not for certain that everyone in the target audience will be under the demographic that is expected or is being explicitly targeted.

Deeper thinking into target audiences

We were assigned a group task to enable us to think deeper into what makes a target audience. This involved us watching the trailer for the film 'Riddick' and deconstructing it in terms of how it is engineered to appeal to its target audience.

Sound

Editing

Cinematography

(harder to see top left says: Panorama shot)

(harder to see top right says: Establishing shot)

Typography/Fonts

After looking at these aspects of the trailer I rewrote what I believed to be the definition of a target audience:

I feel that this was a lot more of a comprehensive definition of what a target audience is as this can also incorporate exceptions from other demographics who will also be interested in the film.

Target audience initial thoughts

My initial thoughts on what a target audience is:

I made this judgement based on a very basic understanding of what a target audience was. I mainly focused on what a target audience is instead of looking deeper.

Conclusions

After watching three of both a teaser and a theatrical trailer i have come to these conclusions about what should be incorporated into each of them:

Theatrical:

Teaser:

This shows that there is a big difference between what must and should be involved in either type of trailer. The musts for teaser trailers are the same as theatrical however there are far fewer of them leaving more creative freedom to make and interesting and outstanding trailer.

Teasers vs trailers

Monster's University
This trailer includes:
-Introduction to main characters
-Scenes from film
-Background music
-Release date
-Film title
-General idea of story
-Informs the viewer that they can watch in 3D
-Production company titles

Insidious 2

-Background to story (information on first film)

-Atmospheric background music

-Shots that establish location

-Introduction to characters

-Scenes from film

-Names of other films made by production company

-Release date

-Tagline

-Film title

-Release date

Paranoia

-Brief character profile/introduction to main character

-Background music

-Establishing shots of city

-Information on Director's previous films

-Clips from the film

-Vague release date

-Tagline

-Film title

-Coming soon

-Possible Twitter trend

Aurora
-Production company name
-Establishing shot
-Background info to film
-Brief intro to story line
-Brief intro to 3 characters
-Film title
-Film website
-Names of those involved in film quickly shown at end
-Atmospheric background music

Last Vegas

-Introduction to main characters

-Vague release time

-Tagline

-Brief intro to story

-Actor's names

-Film title

-Background music

Anchorman 2

-Introduction to 4 main characters

-Diegetic noises

-Quiet background music

-Mainly dialogue by characters

-Introduction to comedy genre of film

-Film title

-Year of release

What is a teaser trailer?

In my experience teaser trailers come out a fair while before the initial film, particularly with sequels. Most recently this has happened with the teaser trailer for 'The Hunger Games' sequel 'Catching Fire'; the teaser came out roughly a month ago (May) despite the film not being due for release until November. 

Teaser trailers begin to initially introduce the potential audience to the film which starts to slowly build up the audience for the film. This is particularly effective when teasers go viral as it reaches a vastly wide audience in a very limited amount of time, perhaps even a wider audience than the actual trailer will end up reaching. 

In my opinion, teaser trailers are very good at creating a lasting impression with those who view it as it captures their attention more due to the shorter length, this then means that they will recognise the full trailer when it comes out and are more likely to want to watch the film due to the sense of familiarity.

What is a trailer?

From my research I have discovered that these elements are often/always incorporated into trailers. This is because these are the aspects of the films that are most likely to appeal to audiences and these elements can also be altered/removed/included to appeal to specific target audiences that the film makers are trying to target. 

They are fairly basic elements meaning that there is a wide scope for how they can be presented which leaves a lot of flexibility for those making the trailer as they can be modified to become specific to the film/target audience. They are also what people generally perceive to be the most important elements of a film as people are more likely to watch a film by a director they know, including actors they know and when they have a rough overview of the story-line/genre of the film.

The Hunger Games

The trailer is very effective at conveying a sense of escape from the very start; the shots showing Katniss leaving District 12 through the barbed wire with Gale's voice providing a short voice over before he is revealed to us as he talks of fleeing the district. This attracts the viewers attention from the very offset as it leads them to wonder why they feel that this escape is necessary. The low angle shot of the Capitol hovercraft starts to explain this need for escape to the viewer as low angle shots are often used to make something or someone appear menacing. The diegetic natural sounds of the birds and the rustling grass create a very natural and calm feeling to the trailer which is particularly effective when teamed with the picturesque natural backdrop which is incorporated into the first scenes of the trailer; this, however, is juxtaposed against what Katniss and Gale are talking about. This starts to convey the tone of resentment against conformity that is evident throughout the film to the audience granting them a better understanding of the film's general overtones. The high-angle shot of Katniss and Gale as the Capitol hovercraft flies over them conveys their vulnerability to the Capitol's mercy to the viewer. 

The Lionsgate logo is shown relatively early on in the trailer suggesting that there may be a particular importance of Lionsgate to the audience which may, in turn, attract them to watch the film. The logo blends in well to the next shot of the children of District 12 walking to the reaping as the colours involved in both are very similar. The lighter colours, contrary to their usual effect, create a sense of uniformity which seems quite harsh when compared to the natural soft colours of the nature that surrounded Katniss and Gale just moments before. This helps the audience to understand the regiment and order that is incorporated into these peoples lives and grants them a better understanding of why Gale is so intent on escape. 

The complete difference in Effie's accent and costume compared to the occupants of District 12 displays the clear genre of class divide within the movie to the audience, this allows the audience to begin to understand the oppression of the poor by the rich within the film. The shot, reverse-shot used in the scene between Katniss and her sister Prim creates a sense of the importance of relationships of whatever form throughout the film but particularly family in this case; this will appeal to parents who can relate to having a similar kind of closeness with their own child meaning that parents are more likely to be attracted to the film and will bring their children along too. The over the shoulder shot of Effie opening Prim's name during the reaping is particularly effective in conveying the Capitol's importance in the lives of those living in the districts as Effie is the Capitol representative for District 12. 

The music played throughout the majority of the trailer is surprisingly mostly serene apart from a few more intense moments; this serene music, however, creates a sense of uneasiness in the viewer as they feel like all is not as it seems, this will then attract them to watch the film as they will want a better understanding of what exactly is going on. 

Before any titles are shown in the film the viewer is informed of the fact that the film is based on a successful book, this will interest the audience as they will know that the story is already a success and for those that have already read the book it will evoke an interest into how the book has been adapted onto the big screen. Once the tributes have reached the Capitol the colours in the trailer become much more vibrant and the music tempo increases conveying the hustle and bustle and splendor of the Capitol to the viewers. This will entice viewers who may have been previously uninterested by the natural and uniform colours that had been shown so far in the trailer in District 12. 

An emotional side to the story is clearly conveyed when Peeta and Katniss are shown sitting on a window ledge as the music dies down to a much softer sound and the viewer hears Peeta talking of his emotional struggle with the concept of the Hunger Games. The tagline shown towards the end of the trailer ('the games will change everyone') is a sort of cliffhanger as it leaves the audience wondering how and why the games change people and what events take place in order for that to happen; this in turn will attract them to watch the film. 

The entire trailer, in fact, is left on a sort of cliffhanger as the viewer is allowed to see the countdown to the start of the games but none of the events that ensue, this will frustrate the viewer meaning that they will want to go watch the film to get answers. The film title is shown very close to the end of the film creating a sense of mystery up to that point and ensuring that the name will be remembered by the viewer as they will not be distracted by the films plot afterwards. The famous line from the film 'may the odds be ever in your favour' being shown above the date when it is shown creates a sense of personal involvement in the viewer as it seems to include them within the adventure of the film.

Overall, I believe that this is a very effective trailer for The Hunger Games as it clearly conveys the overall message and themes of the film. My only problem with it, however, is that it may give away too much information on the film's story perhaps ruining the viewer's experience when they do see the entire film.