Analysing Movie Trailers in terms of Conventions and Iconography

My Sister's Keeper 

Conventions 

• Includes name of the film 
• Includes Credits 
• Includes Production company 
• A climax including visuals and music 
• A strong, effective ending  
• Includes a dialogue from the film that acts as a voice over  

Iconography  

• An emotional love song with an almost dramatic base 
• Scenes of crying/happiness 
• Young, attractive cast  
• Use of bright colours as well as dark, shows contrast of emotion within the drama
  
  
  Charlie st Cloud

Conventions 

• Shows production company  
• Shows actor's name 
• strong ending  
• Includes a dialogue from the film that acts as a voice over  
• Includes name of the film 
• Includes Credits 

Iconography  

• young, attractive cast 
• use of bright colours at the start, then dark after the accident, followed by a mixture towards the end 
• 'normal' day to day clothing worn 
• an emotional soundtrack 
• scenes of happiness/stress/grief
  
  
  Prisoners

Conventions 

• includes credits 
• shows production company 
• shows actor's names 
• Includes dialogue from the movie which acts as a soundtrack 
• strong, dramatic ending 

Iconography 

• Dramatic soundtrack which builds up to a climax at the end  
• No soundtrack at the beginning and just shows dialogue from the movie, making out they're in a normal situation adding emphasis to the fact it could happen to any family, appealing to a wider audience 
• dark colours reflecting the dark storyline 
• wears plain clothing showing they are in no mood to care about appearance
  
  
  The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo  

Conventions  

• Use of a voiceover 
• use of text  
• strong effective ending  
• shows credits 
• shows film name 
• graphics match film theme 

Iconography  

• dramatic, tension soundtrack  
• dark, dramatic actions 
• quick cuts present actions 
  
  
  The City Of Bones 

Conventions  

• strong opening/ending 
• use of voice over and text 
• includes credits 
• shows production company  

Iconography 

• tension/dramatic soundtrack 
• use of dark colours 
• young, attractive cast to appeal to their target audience 
• they wear dark clothing to focus on what's happening  

What is Iconography?

Iconography is mainly used in films and TV including trailers for such medias. Iconography is used to add emphasis to a certain genre to make it more recognisable to it's target audience. For example, if there was a new western movie out, we would expect to see scenes consisting of dusty roads and men dressed as cowboys, whereas in a Bollywood movie, bright colours dance sequences are likely to be seen. In some sense, it's similar to mise-en-scene due to the fact it's based on clothing, objects, and set.  

Movie Trailer Examples Presentation

What are the Different types of Music Videos?

Performance Based

This type of video show the artist or band performing the song throughout the video. An advantage of this type of video keeps the promotional tool all about the music and gives fans a sense of what the band/artist is like when they perform on tour, therefore promoting the band as a whole as well as the song itself. This representation is a typical feature in rock videos. 




Narrative Based
Narrative based videos represent the narrative of the song, almost pushing a message forward to the viewer. This is a convention used in many music genres and can present the artist or an actor acting out the video. In Ed Sheeran's example below, which is a pop music video, shows an actress taking lead of the video, with Ed having a small acting part mid way. 



Concept Based
These videos consist of a single concept or idea and is often conventional. Again, this type of video is used across genres. 



Animation
Lots of record labels now use animation to portray their latest releases. This technique makes the video more popular based on word of mouth as audiences generally find them more interesting. The Dance/Club genre use this technique a lot, but it also features in some Pop videos as well as Indie.   

Andrew Goodwin's '6 Points'

While writing in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (Routledge 1992), Andrew Goodwin identified 6 key points in music videos.

1. Genre characteristics - Music videos present references and stereotypes to the genre the song or band are in. For example, a heavy metal video will traditionally  feature a stage performance, where as a pop video may feature a dance routine of some sorts.

2. There is a Relationship between lyrics and visuals - This could be either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting.  How does what you hear relate to what you see? Are they dancing in time to the music? Does the editing cut on the beat of the music?

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals - Either illustrative, amplifying, or contradicting 

4. The star image of the artist - The demands of the record label will require lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). Features to determine this include; artist close ups, artists logo or iconography 

5. Voyeurism - There is frequently reference to notion of looking or spying (screens within screens, mirror shot, frame-within-frame, unconscious exhibitionism, private view, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. Voyeurism = pleasure gained from watching (ideally when the object is unaware of being watched ). This is similar to gender theory, e.g. Laura Mulvey and the 'male gaze' 

6. Intertextuality - There is often intertextual reference. For example, a reference to a well known image or phrase from another media text. E.g. Madonna's Material Girl/ Marilyn Monroe's Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend.    

The Four Main Types of Documentaries

Expository Documentaries

Expository documentaries expose a person or a topic. They are well known for having a commentator explaining a story whilst pictures/ videos are being shown, reflecting the same story through visuals.
The main conventions of a expository documentary include:

• The use of facts
• A range of opinions
• Persuasive techniques
• A commentator
• Rhetorical questions

A technique that the commentator, who is arguably the main feature of this type of documentary, uses is talking directly to the audience. This is an attempt to engage the audience and inform them directly to the information given, and is a way of getting them thinking about the topic. These documentaries are often historical, biographical, or inform about a certain event. They include footage of interviews, and exclusive pictures for the documentary itself.

An example of this type of documentary is An Inconvential Truth, as it relies on verbal commentary and argumentative logic to make its strong case for prevention of global warming. 
Please follow the link to a clip from the movie documentary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXMarwAusY4&safe=active


Observational Documentaries
An observational documentary involves a film crew following the person the documentary os based around to capture events in their life. The equipment need can even be a hand held camera to capture the life of the subject. Traditionally, interviews with the subject are not needed and there is no use of a commentator. Usually, synchronous sounds are used and long takes are a common occurrence.

An example of this type of documentary is Teen Cribs, an MTV documentary series which follows teens round their wealthy family homes. Please follow the link to see an example of an episode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my4b4Y_iZBU

Although interviews are not conducted, a clip is shown of the teens' parents discussing the subject matter. Other examples include: Big Brothers, 16 and Pregnant, and Jersey Shore 


Reflexive Documentaries
Within a reflexive documentary, the film maker is shown visually and provides a narrative to the documentary. This type of documentary is usually associated with experimental documentaries which is where the audience is just as interested in how the film was made. This makes the audience more aware of the problems that the film maker had while they made the film. This type of documentary tends to be more truthful as they often focus on realism and try to avoid editing to show how certain events unfold. 
Please follow the link to an example of a reflexive documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M3ilX1reAQ







Participatory Documentaries
Participatory documentaries believe that it is impossible for the act of film making to not influence or alter the events being filmed. What these films do is emulate the approach of the anthropologist: participant-observation. Not only is the filmmaker part of the film, there is also a sense of how situations in the film are affected or altered by their presence. 

Documentaries

What is a Documentary?
A documentary is an informative insight into certain topics. It is an attempt to capture or 'document' reality.
An example of a documentary is a classic, traditional documentary, stereotypically featuring David Attenborough if the genre is nature. These are usually slow paced, narrator-led, featuring an expert presenter, shows authority, features reconstructions, CUs-range of high quality shots, set ups, made by the use of technical kit (IMAX, hi-def) It can also be a documentary series which consist of long filming schedules and are usually expensive to make.

Types of Documentaries

• Nature
• lifestyle
• music
• science
• constructed reality (The Only Way is Essex)
• 'the making of...'
• Expert led
• celebrity led
• drama documentaries
• factual entertainment (My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding)
• Observational Documentary

What Affects the Type of Documentary made?

• Development of technology - more accessible to make and distribute
• range of climates and environments
• Access to people, location and information
• changes in society - liberal/open - more of a range of different types of documentaries and opinions
• more people have a voice
• world events - natural disasters, news events, anniversaries
• budget/talent
• commissioner and buyer - BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Sky