Research and Planning: Trailer Analysis

Twilight
Genre
The genre of this film is fantasy thriller. The fantasy aspect can be seen through the fact that the film is based on vampires, which are mythical creatures. The genre of the film also includes romance as the trailer shows that there is a love story between a human and vampire.
The low key lighting throughout most of the trailer shows the genre of it being fantasy thriller as it shows the disruption and difficulties within the storyline.
The fight scene within the trailer shows the thriller aspect of this film, and as the characters that are fighting are vampires, it shows that the genre of fantasy/thriller is very strong.
The Steve Neale theory is very relevant to this film, as there are many vampire films, an example of this is 'Dracula', but this film and many other films put a twist on an original story to make each film their own, in this case, they have given their own interpretation of vampires and modernised the original vampire myth.
The Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes theory is also very relevant to this film/trailer a there is obviously conflict between two groups of people, one side being the good force and one being the 'bad guys', showing the conflict. This theory is also relevant as the vampires are the 'bad guys' as in the trailer, the main vampire says to a human character "What if i'm not the hero, what if i'm the bad guy", showing that he may actually be the villain.

Representation
Representation in this trailer is quite stereotypical when it comes to gender. The male characters are seen as the strongest, and the human female character is quite weak and needs protecting, she is also seen as the clumsy character and needs help from the male character.
By using attractive male characters, who are also dominant and strong, the Laura Mulvey theory  of the 'male gaze' has been reversed so that the male character is the desirable gender in this film. The strength of the male character is also represented, as the two main characters, being the male vampire and female human strongly show the males dominance and need to protect the female as he is always higher than her, as if he is guarding over her. His strength is shown when he is demonstrating his powers, as he pulls out a tree root and climbs up a tree.
This also points towards the target audience as using attractive males will make teenage girls interested and more likely to watch this film.
Social groups are shown in this trailer when the conflict begins as there is obviously history and conflict between the two groups of vampires, showing that they stick within their groups, as if it is an unwritten rule.

Narrative
In this trailer, Propp's theory is very relevant due to all of the stereotypical characters. The hero, being the main vampire, needs to save/protect the 'princess', being the female character. The father of the female character is stereotypical as he obviously wants to protect his daughter.
This trailer gives clues of a conflict between two social groups, backing up the Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes theory of binary opposites.
The main male character is shown as the protagonist as he acts as the hero to save the girl he loves.
This theory also supports the Todorov theory, as there is obvious equilibrium as the beginning of the trailer after the male character saves the female character from being crushed, as there is no conflict, but then there is disruption as we learn about the murders and the conflict begins. We are shown the climax of the fight between the vampires, although the audience aren't shown the resolved equilibrium as this would ruin the plot of the film.
These theories show how typical the narrative is to this genre of film, as the storyline is simple when you look at it overall and is similar to many other films involving vampires, although it has their own twist added to it. There is also a love story in between all of the action, this is very typical of this genre of film, as there is usually a love story underneath everything, being the reason for the conflict and events happening.

Audience
The main audience for this film will probably be female, due to the fantasy characters and the attractive male characters and the age of them would probably be teenagers, up until about the age of 30.
In this film/trailer, the uses and gratifications are shown, as the the audience know that vampires are not real, therefore the audience will reject that information and not take it into account in real life.
The storyline to this film can be quite complicated at times, like for example when the 'hunt' is on for the 'bad guy' vampire to find the female character, the audience will have to concentrate on what is happening to follow the storyline, therefore the audience need to be active for the majority of the film. This may encourage the audience to watch as some people enjoy watching a film with a big storyline to follow, although is may discourage them as some people also like to sit back and relax when watching a film, paying little attention.

Media Language
This trailer uses the Kuleshov method as there is a montage of different clips to show the story moving on, and also to show the personality of certain characters, for example; when the main vampire says "What if I'm not the hero, what if I'm the bad guy?" There are different clips showing to show what he is like.
Cinematography
In the trailer a lot of close up shots are shown of each of the characters showing their moods and reactions to things. When the female characters says "I know what you are" then says "Vampire", there is an extra close up on her mouth and she reveals it, this adds extra drama and emphasis to the word.
When the characters are in the forest, there is a birds eye view of it and the camera it panning to show the views and how amazing it is, and also what it looks like from the characters view, this shows how extreme the location is, emphasising the powers of the vampires.
When the van is about the hit the female character, there are shots from many different angles to show how it looks from different points of view and make it more dramatic as this makes the event take longer to happen, but also shows how quick the vampire reacts.
The point of view shot when the characters are walking through the school parking lot is very effective as it shows the audience what the character sees, putting them in their shoes.
Editing
Throughout the trailer, there are a lot of fades to black, this sometimes shows how time moves on, but sometimes shows the drama and the dark secret of what is going on.
There is a lot of dissolves throughout, especially when they have the conversation when she reveals that she knows he's a vampire, this acts a shot reverse shot, but with more drama.
The many dissolves throughout the trailer also show that time is moving on, this is an effective way to show passing of time as the audience knows about it rather than just using a straight cut.
The writing flashing up on the black screen throughout the trailer looks effective as it gives information about the trailer and also makes it dramatic due the black screen and the font that is used.
Sound
At the beginning of this trailer, the non-diegetic eerie music makes the audience know that something out of the ordinary is going to happen, as mixed with the shots flicking between the vampire and female characters, it makes it obvious that something will happen. The music then changes to have an upbeat tempo, showing that the story has progressed on slightly and something has happened within this time, and in the case of this trailer, the female character has worked out that the other character is vampire. The dialogue adds to the tension, and as the vampire says "What if I'm the bad guy?" there is a gap in the music to emphasise the emotion behind what he is saying.
The dialogue throughout the trailer is very important and that is what the audience will focus on as it gives away very important details to the storyline.
When the mood becomes more romantic and tense when the main characters kiss, the music changes to much slower, emotional music to show the tension and fear behind the characters.
The diegetic sound effects of the sirens of the police cars add drama to the events that have happened when the murders are revealed, and then the sound effects of the fight are very dramatic, for example, the sound of the window breaking show how violent it actually is.
The many different music changes show how the different moods change in between each event and show the emotions that are there.
Mise-en-scene
The mise-en-scene throughout this trailer is very important. As a lot of the location is the forest with very tall trees, this could show the mystery behind the vampire characters as there existence is a secret, and the way that they are hidden in the forest shows this. The dramatic locations also show the strength of the vampires as he climbs a very tall tree, which a human could not do.
The audience see the school that the characters attend and the houses that they live in, giving an insight to the lives of them, showing what their lifestyle and what they are like.
The costumes of the characters are just ordinary, showing that the vampires do not want to stand out or be known as they just fit in. Although the makeup of the vampires shows that they are slightly different, as these characters are supposed to be beautiful, therefore the makeup on them makes them look mysterious and slightly different, without giving anything away.
A lot of low key lighting is used throughout the trailer, showing that the place that they live in is dull and not used to different events happening. It also shows the mood throughout the trailer as there isn't a time that the chracters are happy, show the low key lighting reflects their mood.