Movie Trailer Analysis Project

The Purpose of a Trailer Let’s set up a scenario: You have directed a movie and you are giving instructions to the person who is editing the trailer for your movie. What guidance do you give that person? What do you tell him/her to do in order to put together an effective trailer? (respond on page 129 of your film packet)

The Basics… While both are important and ultimately have the same purpose (to entice potential viewers to see the movie), what’s the biggest fundamental differences between movie posters and movie trailers? (continue to respond on page 129)

Trailers (But Not Posters) Have… Cinematography Sound Music (songs and score) Dialogue Narration Sound effects Acting Editing Pace, Feel, Tone, Energy Ultimately (and obviously) it’s more like a movie than a poster Trailers are much more important and impactful than a movie poster

Your Essay Assignment Similar to the poster analysis, this will be a step-by-step process and be due on Thursday, Dec. 7th (or before) You will be required to write a four (or more) paragraph analysis of your trailer. See separate assignment sheet for details and information (there are specific things you must do in each paragraph).

Practice Reaction The following have been judged as some of the most effective trailers in the past few years. We’ll watch and respond to them in different ways. Do this on pages 129, 130, 131, etc…

Practice Reaction Today in class, let’s look at a few trailers. Put down your thoughts as you see the trailer a couple times. For our first trailer: Initial reaction Discuss a few key film elements in the trailer. Highlight a memorable shot or aspect of the trailer. Explain how effective you feel the trailer is as a whole.

The Social Network https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOuEATqbN0E

Practice Reaction For our next trailer (Wolf of Wall Street), respond to the following: Your initial reaction What do you feel is creator of this trailer was focusing on? What are you (the viewer) most supposed to remember after watching this trailer? Explain your point. Explain how effective you feel the trailer is as a whole.

The Wolf of Wall Street https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idAVRvQeYAE

Practice Reaction When you do your essay, you are going to focus on a variety of movie making aspects. Let’s do a practice paragraph for the following film focusing on this trailer’s use of music. While you watch, focus your attention on the music. Then write a paragraph in which you analyze how it’s used to help the overall effectiveness of the trailer. Refer to specifics to help support your point. In effect, this would be one of your middle paragraphs of your essay if you were doing this trailer for your essay.

A Good Day to Die Hard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_0K7ZfU2e0

Practice Reaction Same thing (practice paragraph) but this time focusing on the editing and how it incorporated into the trailer and how it helps the overall effectiveness. Again, this would be one of your middle paragraphs of your essay if you were doing this trailer for your essay.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVLvMg62RPA

Prometheus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34cEo0VhfGE

Mad Max Fury Road https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWNWi-ZWL3c

Inception https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoHD9XEInc0

Where The Wild Things Are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcBPzqxBnRU

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXwaKB7YOjw

Little Children https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bezyl7ZDp44

Requiem for a Dream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgo3Hb5vWLE

Wall- E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alIq_wG9FNk

Resources www.nvhskeller.weebly.com www.movieinsider.com www.traileraddict.com www.imdb.com