British Flim- Slumdog Millionaire

Which trailer conventions are present and what is their effect on the audience?

One of the conventions used in this trailer is the use of dialogue, the trailer starts off with “welcome to who wants to be a millionaire” this immediately introduces the audience into the main narrative of the film. Dialogue is used to give an understanding of the film so the audience can have some kind of idea about the film. Another convention is the use of text in the trailer which makes the audience read it and raise enigma for example “Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it?” this makes the audience want to know whether he wins the money or not.

In addition at the beginning of the trailer you can see the four institutions/Distributors (Fox Searchlight, Warner Bro pictures, Pathe pictures and FILM)   promoting this film to for popularity as different distributors have different target audience. Also “Winner people’s choice award Toronto international film festival” this makes the audience wonder what’s so good about this film, which will make them, watch the film because of the awards they won. Quotes from popular newspapers like ‘Chicago Sun Times, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, TIME’ persuades the audience to watch it because of the good reviews written by famous newspapers.

How does the trailer use media language (camera, mise-en-scene, editing, sound) to establish the film's genre?

Firstly the use of Non- diegetic sound builds tension; when the clock was ticking while he was answering questions, this creates tension as it makes the audience will they are the protagonist and waiting for a reply. And also the use of diegetic sound when the crowd start whistling and clapping showed the happy side of the film. Then the use of non diegetic sound at the end showed the romantic side of the film when the heroin and hero finally see each other. All these different types of sounds are used to establish the genre of the film to help the audience understand it.

Mise-en-scene is one of the key conventions used to represent the genre of the film. For example the use of colourful costume on the characters suggested the culture of the protagonist which some audience can relate to. Also most of the setting of the trailer was in a studio where the ‘who wants to be a millionaire?’ show is filmed. This indicates reality theme of this film.

Long takes were use to build up tension at the beginning and then the use of short takes were used to create suspense as slowing the climax was revealing. Editing was used to create certain effect and enhance the tension; transition and dissolve were used in the shots to create a flow to the trailer so the narrative can make sense to the audience.

Who is the target audience and how do you know?

The target audience for this film are Indians because almost all of the actors in the film are Indians therefore the audience can relate to them. They are more likely to belong in BC1C2D socio-economic group. In addition most of the target audience will be young couples aged from 19-26 as the story is about the young couple trying to find each other.

How effective do you think the trailer is in promoting the film? Why?

I think this trailer is quite effective as it didn’t give too much away, at the same time used key scenes from the film to make the audience want to watch the movie. It used sounds and editing to create certain tension and suspense to the trailer.

Untouchable

Suspense is when there’s a build up of tension to keep the audience involved and wanting know more by doing this it will make them watch the film till the end.

How is editing used to build suspense in the scene?

The scene starts off with a long shot with long takes, this makes the audience feel nervous, tense and anxious, this creates tension as they are waiting to know what’s going to happen next. The point of view shot shows the view point of the protagonist, which signifies what the protagonist is thinking and makes the audience relate to the character. The point of view shot from the people and the lady with a baby downstairs with shots a cross cutting between them to the clock , may signify that something significant going to happen at 12pm as the protagonist was waiting till the clock handle moves to 12. This creates suspense as the audience will be wondering what he’s going to do at 12pm.  While pulling the pram up the stairs he looks around this suggests that he’s looking for someone this creates tension as it makes the audience question who he’s looking for.

The length of the shots gets shorter as they start shooting, with cross cutting form the guys fighting to the pram falling down the stairs, this creates suspense because the audience will be wondering whether the baby going to get shot or not.  There many takes of the pram falling down the stairs in different angle and shots such as; low angle, high angle, extreme close up , long, medium shots by doing this, you get to see the pram in different angle which keeps the audience in track and waiting to see what’s going happen this creates suspense as the audience are  getting involve into the scene and feel as if they are there seeing the shots.

How is time 'expanded' through the use of editing as the pram falls down the steps?

Time is expanded using many types of editing. The use of crossing cutting makes the audience see both view of the scene so the audience will know what’s happening.  The shots get shorter at the end when the pram starts falling off to show each character’s expressions.  The use of slow motion when the pram start falling expanded the time this create tension as the audience waiting for the pram to fall or to be caught.

The use of editing to expand the time length of the scene is to make scene longer. As I mentioned before the use of shots and angles were put together to get the audience to see every angle and sot of the pram falling to create suspense to the audience.

New Moon Textual Analysis – cover work

What techniques does this trailer use to persuade an audience to see the film?

This trailer uses many techniques to persuade the audience to see the film. Firstly the use of diegetic sound creates tension and suspense which makes the audience wonder what going to happen next and would want to watch the film to see the climax. The use of short takes at the ending of the trailer and the background music together speeds up the trailer, this makes the audience intense and this will make this guess what’s going to happen in the next shot. The use of the character speaking gives little idea of the key scenes to the audience.  The use of the opera music also creates tension and shows a classical side of the trailer.

How is gender represented in this trailer?

Males were represented dominant; as there many violent scenes and they were mostly wearing black which connotes powerful. Both Edward and Jacob had special kind of power inside them, as Edward is vampire and Jacob is a werewolf. On the other hand Bella was represented as a young, innocent, new comer, different from others who don’t have any kind of power.

What target audience would be attracted to this film?

The target audience are teenagers aged between 12-19 years old and BC1C2 socio-economic group; who has an interest in fantasy films. And also the characters in the film are teenagers themselves, so many teenagers can relate to them in way. In addition each characters have their own fan group due to their appearance and talent therefore they will want to watch almost every film they act in.

What Hollywood values can you identify in this trailer?

You can identify Hollywood value in this trailer as one of the settings of a scene is in a high school, this shows the typical Hollywood values used to attract teens. And also the use of violence makes connote Hollywood values.

GHD Textual Analysis

Codes & Conventions of advertising: What techniques does the ad use to persuade the audience to purchase GHD straightener?

The advert used many codes and conventions of advertising to persuade the reader to purchase the GHD straightener. There were beautiful women using the straightener this makes them think if they use it they will become as beautiful as the women in the advert. Each woman in the advert had different hairstyle to show that you can create different hairstyles or different type of hair in one straightener ; also their looked very professional, this also tell the audience that you can get a celebrity or a salon look with just one hot tool which saves a lot of money and you can get creative.  Also the use of the narrator persuaded the audience more to buy the product.

Representation: How is gender represented in the ad?

In this advert, women were represented dominant, in control and negatively.  And men were represented alternatively, as they were used for sexual desire.  This will garb most women’s attention as they will like to be presented in dominant way.  They were also represented in a negative way as they dressed inappropriately, and fighting over the straigtener can make them look stupid and dum.

Media Institution: What issues of regulation and censorship does this ad raise and what does it tell us about the values of the channels on which it was broadcast?

Firstly, the use of the 10 commandant from the bible caused controversy mainly to the Christians; which almost degrading the religion.  The channel didn’t take any action to prevent this from getting noticed by the viewers

Audience On the basis of this ad, who does the GHD brand appeal to?

The GHD brand appeals to wide target audeience; females from the age of 17+ , who are interested in their appearance, femininity...Etc and the product is targeted at females who have different types of hair.  Its secoundary audience can be men, as 10% with short hair and long hair do use straignteners. They both target audience more likely to come under ABC1 socio-economic class.  They also  come under mainstreamers and succeeders category .