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.