Trailer Analysis - 12 Monkeys

The 3rd and final trailer that I will be analysing is the 1995 science-fiction/time-travel film "12 Monkeys" Directed by Terry Gilliam. The reason why I have chosen this is because while Looper is my inspiration for the style of my film, 12 Monkeys is the inspiration for the substance, as it has a lot of similar elements, a man is sent back in time by the government in order help the greater good of the future, however, as soon as he arrives in the past, he begins to question his morals and his mission.

(12 Monkeys, 1995, Dir. Terry Gilliam)

 

The trailer starts off by setting up the world that they live in, the Earth is now desolate and humanity have been forced underground, they then send out protagonist James (Played by Bruce Willis) and is sent back in time to prevent the disaster from happening. They then introduce all of the supporting cast while bringing up philosophical questions, as well as showing the situations James experience as soon as going back in time, including been sent to an insane asylum. Near the end of the trailer, others begin to believe James, while he himself begins to question himself and maybe he is insane.

 

What stands out about the cinematography of this film is the use of wide angles, which can be highly annoying, however here it is justified. As the use of wide-angle is supposed to create discomfort and make things seem more unusual and irregular than normal, which fits for the theme of the film. Things aren't in balance or how they should be, especially during the asylum scenes surrounded by insane people, there is a strong use of wide-angles for it is a very irregular and uncomfortable place to be. As well as this, they use a lot of dutch angles, which helps to enforce this idea of discomfort. While the editing of the film is slow, it likes to take its time and focuses mostly on the characters by having shots linger on them for a very long time.

 

The audience of this film is very hard to define, as everyone involved in it is doing different from what they're famous for. Bruce Willis is known for being an action star, and this film is very slow paced and focuses more on philosophy than action (Even though the trailer shows him fighting several people at once). And Brad Pitt who at the time was a big draw for a female audience as eye candy, but here he plays a crazy man with mental issues. And even though it is a sci-fi/time travel film, it is very bleak and slow paced, unlike most sci-fi films, especially for it's time of release. So it's hard to pinpoint the specific audience who this is for, as all three main draws to the film aren't the target audience for it. So it's really aimed at those who like more art-house films, as it is slow paced and goes against regular conventions of the genre and cast. And focuses on the philosophy and conspiracies of the film. So really it's not going to completley please everyone in these 4 audiences, but it is likely that they will be pleased enough by it.

 

 

Film Trailer Script 1st Draft

Media Studies: Film Trailer

[The screen remains black where all that is head is a ticking noise, it then cuts to the source of the ticking noise, a close-up of a watch with a gun behind it, it stays there for 3 seconds before cutting to a close-up of Hayden in deep thought, it then cuts back to the watch, Hayden’s hand picks it up so he can look at it, he then grabs his gun and stands up]

[Ominous techno music begins playing]

[A Long-shot of Hayden walking down the street, cuts to a mid-shot]

Hayden: [Voice-Over] My name is Hayden Armstrong [Long Shot of him getting into a car] I’m a weapon designed by the government [A worms eye view behind the car driving away, then cuts to night time with the car stopping in front of a building] I’m assigned to assassinate wanted criminals [Cuts to him fighting a criminal, fast paced editing and mid-shots to close-ups] they’re considered dangerous…[Hayden throws the criminal onto the floor, we then get a POV from the criminal as he looks down the barrel of a gun]…I’m worse [Gun shot as a bright flash as it cuts to black]

[Music begins getting slightly more upbeat]

[An establishing shot of a government building]

Scientist: [Voice-Over] we’re working on a new experiment [Cuts to close-up of the Scientist] we’re sending our absolute best back in time [Montage of Hayden approaching a target and killing him as the Scientist speaks] finding criminals that we weren’t able to stop, and killing them [Cuts back to the scientist] simple enough [Cuts to close-up of Hayden listening]

[Music gets more intense]

[Mid-Shot of Hayden’s torso and arm as he checks his watch, the camera then tilts up to his face where he is stood against a wall]

Scientist: [Behind the camera] alright, transporting in 3…2…1…

[A bright flash then cuts to black for a few seconds, then an extreme close-up of Hayden as he wakes up lying on the ground, followed by a low angle shot of him sitting up and looking off into the distance, then a long shot of what he was staring at, the town below as he stands up and looks down at it]

Government Official: [Voice-Over] your mission is to hunt down seven men [Over the Shoulder Shot of one of the targets with Hayden behind him walking up to him] and kill them [Low Angle of Hayden as he hits the target in the head and falls down] [Cuts to night time, in an office with a close-up of another target is sat behind a desk when Hayden’s hand appears and grabs the target by the throat and brings him down] Agreeing to this mission means a great sacrifice for the greater good [Long-Shot of Hayden punching the target in the face, then a close-up of his hand as he pulls a knife out of his pocket]

[Close-Up of Target #2 with blood on his face]

Target #2: you think that we’re the enemies? [Close-Up of Hayden] you don’t have a clue to what they’re really up to [Target #2’s hand grabs onto the desk, followed by a close-up of his hand as he touches a remote control and a close-up of Hayden as he looks up and sees a bright light]

[Credits listing “From Rian Johnson, Director of Looper & Brick”]

[Close-Up of the Government Official on the phone]

Government Official: I don’t care how you do it! [Cuts to a mid-shot of Hayden running as fast as he can] I want that traitor found [Long-Shot of Hayden running and a car turns into the road and chases him] and I want him killed!

[Credits listing “And the Producers of Inception”]

[Montage of Action scenes, firstly Hayden fighting an assassin with a knife and then catching the knife, followed by Hayden in a car and doing a hard turn, Hayden pulling out a gun, An assassin grabbing him and throwing him against a wall, the scientist running down a hall and Hayden holding a gun against a woman’s head and the montage stops]

Woman: if you think that you can beat them…you’re wrong

[Montage continues, Credits listing the stars “James Rhys-Connor” followed by Hayden pulling out a knife and stabbing someone “Bruce Burton” and shows the scientist typing on a computer and then a different shot of him staring off into the distance “Quinn Pacey” shows the woman walking down a hall, then a shot of her kicking someone in the face “And Terry Lawson” and the montage ends with the Government Official]

[Close-Up of The Government Official sat at a desk talking to Hayden]

Government Official: you should know, agreeing to this mission, one way or another…you’re not coming back

[Close-Up of Hayden and he simply nods his head]

[Ends with three credit screens, the first saying the title of the film (still thinking of one), one saying “coming soon” and then a second with all the production credits, both screens with the studio companies at the bottom]

END

History of Film Trailers

A film trailer is one of the most successful forms of marketing currently out there, they can get a person excited for a film they didn't even know about and the more times people watch them, the more excited they get for the film.

History
The first trailer shown in a movie theatre was in November 1913, when Broadway Producer Nils Granlund, produced a short promotional film for the musical "The Pleasure Seekers", shown at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. After this method was proven to be successful, it was then used to promote a new Charlie Chaplin film the following year. However these trailers were very different form the ones we know today, they used almost no footage from the film and instead used text to describe the story. It wasn't until the 1960's when montage editing of various clips of the film were used to promote the film, a technique pioneered by famous film Stanley Kubrick, a method that we still use up to this day.

(2001: A Space Odyssey, 1969, Dir. Stanley Kubrick)

Misleading
A common complaint of film trailers is that they often mislead people into believing one thing of a film when really it either plays a smaller role than marketed or is just omitted completley. The reason why people complain about this is because a lot of the time it's because that one element is the main reason why people even chose to see the film. Or sometimes it is because the trailer has stylized a film to look like one thing when it's not. A good example of this is the film "Drive" which a lot of people complained that the trailer makes it out to be an action film when in reality it was a slow paced crime drama. One woman even tried to sue the producers of the film for this misleading trailer.

(Drive, 2011, Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn)

 

Spoilers
A second common complaint of film trailers is that they show far too much of the film, and that by the time people go to see it, they are already aware of all of the best parts. This is a very big problem especially for superhero films, due to the fact that they are the biggest box office hits of the 21st century, studios are constantly releasing trailers for them, sometimes up to 4-5 different trailers, so everybody knows the movie. An example of this is "The Amazing Spider-Man" where one fan took all of the trailers for that film and was able to make out 25 minutes worth of material from the 2 hour film.

(The Amazing Spider-Man, 2012, Dir. Marc Webb)

Trailer Analysis - Godzilla

The 2nd film trailer that I am analysing is the 1998 film Godzilla, Directed by Roland Emmerich. The reason why I have chosen this film is because even though Roland Emmerich films are normally terrible, and very poorly recieved by critics, they are always a box office success. The main reason why this is, is because his films always have great marketing, such as in Independence Day when all they showed was the whitehouse being blown up, everybody was so curious on how that was going to happen (and now it has become a cliche amongst disaster films). And Godzilla is another good example, the teaser trailer for one of the biggest monsters in monster movie history, and they don't show him in the trailer, we only get small glimpses of his feet and horns; so if people wanted to see the monster, they had to go and see the movie.

(Godzilla, 1998, Dir. Roland Emmerich)

The trailer itself is very well put together, being a teaser for a very popular story, they knew what to put in that people would want to see, Godzilla destroying things. The trailer starts off with Godzilla destroying ships in the ocean, with voice-overs talking about how bad the damage was, this instantly introduces the threat, and the power that he's capable of. It then begins to progress a narrative by saying "this thing's only 200 miles off the eastern seaboard" and then showing an establashing shot of New York, telling the audience where the next disaster and the majority of the film will take place. It then slows down and all that is heard is Godzilla's footsteps and the ground shaking. Again, this teases the audience of the presence of Godzilla to create even more suspense . The rest of the film is nothing more than a montage of Godzilla attacking along with explosions and dramatic music before ending with the trademark Godzilla roar.

 

This is effective as a teaser trailer because instead of showing Godzilla (Which is all the audience really wants) it shows the power of Godzilla as well as the setting of the story. The trailer never even shows any of the human main characters, because they know that that's not what people care about, they want to see the monster, but just giving them a brief look at the monster, making the audience all the more excited to see this movie. The elements of this trailer that I hope to use in mine are the use of suspense, the trailer never reveals the most important element of their film, mine would be the conspiracy that the protagonist discovers, while in this film it would be the monster Godzilla.

 

In terms of mise-en-scene, this trailer uses conventions of a horror film, using lightning storms and ominous music and never showing the monster but more so of people being terrified of said monster. This is all done to create tension for the audience watching this, and it will make them think that is a trailer can get them to be tense, then the movie itself will be even better. Another point that supports this being more of a horror movie is the lighting and colours, everything is made up of earth or dark colours and the enviorment is very dark and bleak, an example of this is the birds eye shot of the umbrellas and they are all black. The reason why this is, is because monster films normally either fall into two catagories, thriller or horror, and this trailer uses these techniques to signify which of the two it focuses on.

 

In terms of editing, the trailer follows basic conventions of a teaser trailer, by that it sets up the basic elements of the story without giving away too much, but also the first half of the trailer is all set up for the story which uses a lot of match-on action by timing the edits along with the lightning, just tohelp create an atmosphere and also to keep the trailer at a good pace. While the second half is montage editing, creating a juxtaposition within the trailer. This is another convention of trailers, especially for action films, showing nothing more than explosions and Godzilla destroying everything. This shows the genre of the film (action) and what the majority of scenes of the film will consist of, so this is what the audience can expect the film to be all about.

 

As for sound, the use of voice-over is done for exposition of the film and the create a narrative for the film and the trailer; as well as describing the monster Godzilla. The use of ominous music creates a suspenseful atmosphere and to set the mood of the film. Seeing as this is the first footage that people will see for this film so it needs to capture the accurate tone of the film within this trailer. During the montage, there is fast-paced action music playing along with the clip, letting the audience know that the film is also an action film with a lot of explosions and voilence. Finally the film closes with the title of the film and the iconic Godzilla roar. This is iconographic for the film as it is used in every Godzilla film to date and should it be left out then a lot of fans of the franchise would be upset about that. So putting it in the end of the trailer is a good selling point for the film as it helps get fans more excited to see the film.

 

As for cinematography, there is no proper establashing shot until halfway through the trailer, for the first half it is all just Godzilla causing destruction, and only when a character says it's close to the eastern seaboard and then it shows an establashing shot of New York, which is where the film (and rest of the trailer) takes place. This is interesting as the trailer doesn't even attempt to create a narrative until halfway through the trailer, but there is a reason why and I discussed it earlier. People going to see this film aren't going for a story or characters, they're going because they want to see Godzilla destroy things, so it makes sense that the trailer would start off with nothing but that. As for the actual shots with Godzilla, the majority of them are filmed from low angles, this is obviously to make Godzilla look larger and therefore more intimidating. This is emphasized by one shot with a man in the ocean, sat in the middle of the bottom row of the frame, when Godzilla suddenly appears and takes up every other frame.

Film Synopsis

Set in the year 2054, Hayden Armstrong a soldier working Spec Ops for the World Government, replacing all country based governments. He is trained as a weapon, taking out criminals for the government, no questions asked, working specifically under a man named General Winters. He is chosen to be part of the “Tempest” initiative ran by Dr. Forrest, to travel back in time 26 years and to take out major criminals who will one day be become the leaders or large terrorist groups, and to kill them before they can rise to power. His mission to take out 7 criminals; however, before he kills one of the targets, he reveals that the World Government initiative was devised as a totalitarian government and the people who Hayden has been sent to kill are the officials who oppose the idea and will one day lead the rebellion against the World Government, and in fact Hayden has been working for the bad guys and never knew.

After being brought back to the present for failing his mission, Hayden goes on the run, being hunted down for treason. After taking refuge with a rebel base, ran by the target who told him the truth about the government. He agrees to help them destroy the World Government by giving them the names and locations of those in charge and to kill them instead, he then joins a squad lead by Captain Natalie Shepard. After succeeding in destroying a government building, it starts to seem as if the rebels are finally winning, until their hideout is ambushed by government soldiers, most of the rebels are killed, the rest (including Hayden & Natalie) are held as prisoners and interrogated by Winters. After being unable to secure any information from Hayden, he is sent for execution; however, he takes this opportunity to escape.

Although he learns that while he didn’t give any information, the other prisoners did, and now Winters is organizing an attack on the remaining rebel bases, so Hayden remains inside the building to prevent the attack by destroying the base. He plans to do this by activating the bombs that they were going to use against the rebels; he finds Dr. Forrest and forces him to activate the bombs before they’re sent off. Once the bombs are set to explode, Hayden makes a run for it, barely making it out in time to survive the explosion. He is then confronted by Winters who survived the explosion and shoots Hayden in the chest, Hayden then falls to the ground as Winters walks up to him, about to shoot him point blank in the face, Natalie shows up and shoots & kills Winters. Hayden tries to stand up, but just falls against the wall, he then holds up his hand like a gun and mutters “bang” before falling to the ground.

Trailer Analysis - Looper

For my Media Studies coursework I am doing a film trailer, more specifically I am doing it for a science-fiction film about time travel, I do have a general overview idea for my trailer, however specifics I am still working out. The main inspiration for my film, as well as the style I will be making my trailer in is the 2012 time travel film "Looper" (Dir. Rian Johnson). The reason why I am using this as inspiration is because it is a film that has a new way of exploiting the overused time travel genre and mixes in a futuristic yet also modern setting, the same as what I hope to achieve with my film trailer.

(Looper, 2012, Dir. Rian Johnson)

 

As for the trailer, the style of editing and cinematography is what I am taking inspiration from, the trailer opens with exposition via voice-over explaining the world they live in, as well as explaining the job and role that our lead character "Young Joe" and how he lives a good live (equilibrium). It then introduces the disequilibrium, Young Joe is hired to kill his future self, however before he gets the chance, Old Joe escapes. Directly after, it instantly cuts to the chase, where now both Joes are being hunted by the criminal gang that hired Young Joe. Following this is a montage of actions scenes consisting of explosions, car crashes and gun fire, with techno music playing in the background (helping enforce the futuristic setting); occasionally cutting away to names of cast & crew.

 

Although I won' t be following this trailer specifically, it does have a lot of elements that I will be using, mostly through the editing and pacing of the trailer, how it starts of slow to explain the basic plot and then as soon as the disruption enters, it's nothing but fast paced action with action music playing in the background, then ending on a joke "this time travel crap just fries your brain like an egg.". As well as this, the music would also be similar, as the two are sci-fi movies so they would have a similar tone in order to follow conventions.

 

The connotations of this trailer and film show that this future is slightly dystopian apart from the Loopers, while everyone else seems to be living in poverty with abandoned buildings covered in graffiti. Within recent years this has become a convention of sci-fi films, whenever they are representing the future, it is usually a dystopian setting (e.g. Avatar, 12 Monkeys, Elysium). However, a way how this film goes against connotations is by making it look more realistic. Even though it is set in the year 2044, people still wear normal clothes instead of jumpsuits, drive vehicles with wheels and have regular guns rather than lasers; while most movies set 30 years in the future (e.g. Back to the Future II, Terminator) technology is far more advanced.

 

The audience for Looper is a more mature audience, as the film is rated 15 and uses a lot of graphic content (blood, sex and drug use) and is a more gritty film. It is also aimed at a more male demographic as all speaking roles in the trailer are men, and the film itself has a very limited female cast who barely appear in the trailer. As well as explosions, guns and violence, which usually appeal more to the male demographic. My film as well will appeal more to a more mature and male audience, the same way how Looper does.

 

In terms of Sound, this trailer uses the effect of having a character (in this case, the protagonist) do a voice-over giving exposition for the film, explaining the diegesis of the film and the protagonist's purpose as well as setting up the main story of the film. A recurring motif used within the trailer is the sound of the protagonist's (Joe) pocketwatch ticking, which is also iconographic seeing as this is a time travel film. Finally the music of the trailer which is a mixture of rock and dubstep. This is in relation to the genre which is a mixture of action and sci-fi, so while rock music is commonly associated with action and dubstep is related to science-fiction, so combining the two lets the audience know that this film isn't just one genre but a mixture of genres.

 

For Mise-en-Scene, the enviorments tell us that this is a dystopian future as already mentioned, as a lot of the buildings shown within the film are covered in graffiti which connotates that they are run down, bad neighbourhoods. Also the use of guns on multiple occassions within this trailer enforcing the action genre of the film, but there isn't really that much that enforces the sci-fi genre. In fact watching this trailer with no sound, it would be difficult to realise that it is a sci-fi. The only elements that connotate science-fiction are a hoverbike, which appears on screen for a second so people might just miss that. And the other element is the lighting of the shots and the use of lens flare, which is a common motif used in sci-fi's (E.g. Star Trek) to make things seem more futuristic. However this convention seems out of place here, even if it is a sci-fi, lens flare is normally used in enviorments that are more clean and sterile, rather than a dystopia.

 

In terms of editing, the trailer follows basic conventions, starts of slow in order to explain the diegesis and then use a montage near the end, usually to show the action in the film. However there is one interesting technique used in this trailer, and that is the shot-reverse-shot and extreme close-ups when introducing old joe and young joe. This creates an interesting juxtaposition as we have already been introduced to the concept of time travel, and the use of this editing means before they even explain, the audience already knows that these two are the same characters. There is also a use of match-on action during this trailer, normally whenever there is a gunshot or a punch, the scene then changes to another. The effect of this is that it makes the film feel even more action packed, as if every scene has action in it, even at times when there is none. For example the trailer ends with Young Joe pretending to fire a gun, yet the sound effect is still there.

 

As for cinematography, an interesting choice is that the trailer starts off with a close-up of Young Joe's pocketwatch, the reason why this is interesting is because usually films as well as trailers would start off with an establashing shot that is a long-shot, normally to show the location and setting of the film. However seeing as this film takes place in multiple locations, it could be seen as unnecessary. Another interesting thing is that even though this is a time travel movie set in the future, the pocketwatch (which as I said in Mise-En-Scene is a motif in the trailer/film) is very old fashioned, and even when the camera does cut to a long shot, it's in the middle of a corn field. So there is nothing within the opening of the trailer to indicate to the audience that this is a sci-fi film set in the future; so this could be to alter audience expectations of the tone and style of the film. Otherwise if they went in with the basic knowledge "it's a time travel movie set in the future" then they might have a very different idea of what the film would come across as, and those opening two shots instantly change what the audeince would be expecting.

Brief

For my coursework this year, I am doing a teaser trailer for a new film. Here is the brief for what I have to do for this chosen work.

A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:

•a website homepage for the film;

•a film magazine front cover, featuring the film;

•a poster for the film.

The two of the options that I have picked is to do a film magazine cover and a poster for the film.

A2 Summer Work