Sound- Film Trailer Analysis

Types of Sound

• Diagetic
• Non- diagetic
• Natural
• Unnatural
• Sound Bridge
• Sound effects
• Theme tune
• Dialogue
• Narrative/ Voice Over
• Music

What affects the types of sounds you hear?

• Genre
• Target Audience
• On screen action
• Setting
• Narrative
• Characters
• Props
• Editing

Marketing/ Cross promotion

• Theme tune- CD, from TV series?
• Sound boards, IPods etc
• Ring tones
• Quotes/ Catchphrases
• Sound Track, e.g. song that goes with a film like Linken Park with Transformers movie
• Sounds that the audience will recognise

  

Larry Crowne

What I think minus the sound;

• Genre- Romantic Comedy

• Target Audience- 20- 35 year old women

- An indication of the genre and target audience is the actors that the casting director chose to play the main roles. Tom Hanks starred in films like 'Forrest Gump' and 'Big' and Julia Roberts starred in films like 'Notting Hill' and 'My Best Friend's Wedding'. All of these  were popular comedy's/ romantic films that were released in the late 1980's and throughout the 1990's. This means that this target audience grew up watching these actors go through different roles and increasingly gain respect for them. Also the main films that these actors are associated with are romantic comedies so when the audience see the trailer they will expect it to be this genre of film.
- Another indication to the genre of the film is the main use of warm, natural lighting. By using this type of lighting it gives a happy vibe to the trailer and signifies that it will be based around either romance or comedy. It is essential that the lighting is bright throughout the trailer to avoid confusion to the audience about what the genre is to be, as if the lighting was mainly dark or artificial they could think its a horror/thriller. 
-Tom Hanks falls of his moped in a comical manner

• Sounds expected to be heard- romantic soundtrack, diagetic sounds like bell ringing and keyboard being typed, sfx like moped crashing, dialogue, laughing.
• After watching the trailer without the sound I think that its going to be about a middle aged  man (played by Tom Hanks) who goes back to college/university and falls for his teacher (Julia Andrews)

When watching the trailer with sound;


After watching the trailer with sound I found that I was right about the genre of the film and what the film will be about. Although when the sound is added it creates more meaning and adds more detail about what the film is going to be about and what happens. Also it shows a couple of the jokes in the film to draw the audience in and make them want to hear more.
Also when the sound is on you can hear the soundtracks playing in the background. There are three different songs playing in the background, one being 'Hey Hey Hey' by  Michael Franti & Spearhead.


Trust

I then watched the first 15 seconds of the new film, 'Trust' without the sound on to see whether I could guess the storyline or not. 
From the first 15 seconds of the trailer, without the sound being played, I couldn't really gather what the film was to be about. From looking at the mise-en-scene it seemed to be a happy environment as it is a child's birthday party and everyone appears to be laughing and having a good time.

Once watching  the whole trailer with the sounds playing I realised that it was completely different to what I expected. I now think that it is a family drama about a teenage girl who gets a new laptop for her birthday and signs up to a chat room and begins an online relationship with a teenage boy, but later finds out that he is actually a 30 year old man , and it documents all of the drama that is added to her life and how she had to accept what happened to her and hunt down the 30 year old man.
The music played in the background to the trailer is very sinister and dark, even at the beginning at the birthday party to signify to  the audience that although this is a happy event, things are rapidly going to change for the worse.


Mother’s Day

With no sound-

• Expected sounds- screaming, dialogue, music picks pace as the trailer goes on and is really bold and striking, silence to cause an effect, crying, having fun at the beginning with happy music then changes to drums etc, gun shots
• What I expect to happen- I think this film is going to be about a group of friends who are having a small get together until a woman ('the mother') and her gang members raid the house and take the group hostage, not letting anyone escape and keeping them there by any means possible.

After watching the trailer with sound I found that my initial idea about what the film was going to be about was almost right, but the voice overs given in the trailer give additional information about the film and the background music adds to the tense atmosphere indicating to the audience that it is a thriller/horror.

What I have learnt from analysing sound in trailers

After watching these three different trailers, that are all of a different genre, I have discovered that the right soundtrack/ background sound is essential as it adds to the overall verisimilitude and atmosphere of the trailer indicating the genre and sometimes the target audience.

Sound can be used to emphasise what is happening on screen, for example screams being amplified to illustrate the horrificness of the atmosphere