Dinner for Schmucks - Feature Trailer (1:48)
At what point in the trailer are we told the name of the film? Why is this?
The title is given at the end of the trailer for the same reason as previous horror trailers; because the trailer leads to a high level of suspense having given the audiences enough time to make a decision whether or not they want to go see it. If they do, the title will stick in their mind so they wouldn't have forgotton it. The title is served on a plate to fit in the theme of a dinner as well and the colours are a refreshing mix red and white in a simple text, which compared to horror trailers is light and balanced, connoting the film isn't something you would expect to have gore or terror.
Why are we told who is starring in the film?
Two names are given from the cast list: Steve Carell - who is described as "One of American comedy's most popular faces" by IMDB.com casted in hits such as 'Bruce Almighty', 'Little Miss Sunshine' and 'The Office' and Paul Rudd - of whom has been casted in many comdey films and televsion programms including 'Friends', 'Night at the Musuem' and 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall'. These names appeal to comdey lovers as they carry a great background portfolio within the area, they also hit a target audience as these names have a fanbase who will watch their films based on just them. Furthermore, within the trailer names and people are reffered to within sneak-peak shots - actors like David Williams, Lucy Punch and Morgan Freeman. These names still attract audiences without being mentioned, showing a popular castlist and a larger amount of funds.
How is this information given to us? Why?The information is given on a white plain background focusing just on the names about half-way into the trailer. This is because the audience is engaged by then and the speed of the trailer has started growing to a climax allowing the trailer to reveal slightly more to attract audiences to see the film. This is done by showing the actors they may be familiar with, which would hopefully enhance the experience of the film/trailer. The audience also is shown that the director has also directed 'Meet the Parent' which won many comedy and entertainment awards, attracted another audience whom may like the director or previous film and therefore are influenced because of the quality before. This information is all given in hope to attract more audiences other than the storyline of the film itself.
What type of action from the film do we see?
The charcters take part in comedic and bizaare actions such as imaginary fighting across a dinner table and fire rising from the table previous shots have been situated around showing that the unkown dinner will not end particulary well. Thebizaare behaviour captures the audience because of the weird hilarity of the characters and situations that audiences won't seein their everyday lives (escapism). Therefore, the market scheme is to attract audiences with the plot's weird and imaginative screenwriting without revealing the funniest parts to intregue audiences.
What clues does the music give us as to what type of film the trailer is advertising?
The music at the beginning of the trailer (as well as the image) is very dramatic giving the illusionn of prehaps a film from the action or thriller genre because the non-diegetic noise contains large drum beats and string instruments heard in these genres - not with comedy films; showing how the film plays with genre and subverts it. After the diegetic script reveals the truth of the film the music gets lighter, strings and piano are faster and relaxes the tension there was before.
Does the trailer come with a voiceover and if so, what can you tell about the voice being used?Why do you think this voice was chosen? What effect does it have?
There is a voice-over for the first half of the trailer - when the trailer has subverted expectations fooling the viewer into thinking that this is an action or thriller sequence. Therefore the voiceover is deep, well-spoken and reveals sentances slowly - hitting into the connotations of said genres. The sentances are very ambiguous 'They gather in a secret location, they are extraordinary yet their identitie are unknown' this script fools the viewer into thinking the trailer is something that it is not - which many comedy trailers take part in as the comedy is also finding out what the true genre is after this tense false build-up is released.
How does the speed of what we see compare to watching a clip from a film? Why is this?
The speed in a trailer alters for comic effect - pausing all other noise and film to silence for a characters particulary funny speech or action. This would be different within a clip from the film - the music wouldn't be as fast so to keep with the tone and pace of the longer shots and there would be a deeper storyline which would pan out far longer then a couple of minutes so the whole tone would need to be changed. This slower pace allows to build the plot and storyline and enable the audience to learn further about it - whereas a trailer is in order to advertise the film and tease the audience to want to see the full-feature and story. Therefore it contains a mixture of emotions in a condensed couple of minutes including names and other information which wouldn't be seen in the film itself.
Does the speed alter through the trailer or does it stay the same?
The speed changed various time throughout the trailer in order to enhance the script of certain actions as well as tease the audience with fast unknown clips of action which may not make sense to them now in order to publicise the film. The start is very slow to build tension - the continuous long shot of a table sets the film's focus of 'dinner' and this builds tension and confusion over what the film acutally is. The shots then become faster (as does the non-diegetic soundtrack) to show that this trailer is actually of the comedy genre and roughly shoes parts of the storyline for the audience to get some understanding. At two more points after this does the trailer pause in silence for speech for comedy effect.
What type of audience is the trailer aimed at? How can you tell?
This audience is aimed at comedy lovers due to the content of bizaare and wacky behaviour and scriptwrting, also to the fans of the cast's names and reputations. Moreover, using PearlandDean.com we can see profile from the film has a audience base of 15-24 aged viewers showing that the film has a young age range of attraction and only 2% of viewers were abover 45. Furthermore the gender weighed out much more biased then of previous horror films showing that 65% were males showing a huge gap in this genre and particular film.
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