Movie Trailer Analysis 1: The Giver

The Giver
Directed by Phillip Noyce
Genre: Drama/ Sci-Fi
Certificate: PG-13 (for a mature thematic image and some sci-fi action/violence)

Plot:

In a perfect world where there is no conflict, racism or sickness, every member of society has a specific role, and 16-year-old Jonas is selected to be the Receiver of Memories. As Jonas uncovers the truth behind his world's past, he discovers that many years earlier his forefathers gave up humanity in order to have a stable society.

Movie Poster:
Like other films such as 'The Hunger Games' and 'The Avengers' this film has other various posters that have the main characters on with a small amount of text along with it in white, to stand out, this shows the audience what the character is feeling or what their character is like, and it also makes the audience question what it is about, and the use of interest in the film.

I really like the use of different posters to show the different characters, this film poster in particular shows the setting of the film and with one strip of colour and then the use of the title being in red, really stands out to the rest of the poster.

Trailer:

Mise-en-scene:

• In the trailer we see a vary of environments from a dessert, a rain forest, to a utopia where everything is perfect (which is also when the text comes up on the trailer saying 'within this perfect world') the utopia does not make the audience feel safer because we as an audience cannot relate to a 'perfect world' where there is no crime or evil, but this does not make us think that there is no evil in the films, it makes us not know who it is that is the evil. 
• with clothing, we see a difference in the type of uniforms and colour options, to show the difference in character role and hierarchy in the film. This is shown in a lot of films, in different genres, for the audience to see who is in which position of society.

Editing:

• At first the rhythm of the trailer is quite slow and calm, keeping the audience calm, we see scenes such as children playing and a couple and a baby, something that the audience would find settling, however expecting a change. Our thoughts of this 'perfect world' is immediately questioned when we see text across the screen showing 'there is a dark secret' then we are shown shots that are not so focused around calm characters, but show tension. When we switch to black and white, the beat gets faster and shots a lot quicker.  
• The very quick shots and the showing of the same shots but with a shattering to them, can show the change in atmosphere or the ruin of calmness. The majority of shots would show the main character, and I assume it is the teenage boy, however the title of the film is 'The Giver' and when we find out who the giver is, and older man. 
• We also have a change of coloured scenes to black and white, therefore the audience never knows what time everything is happening. 

Sound:

• At the beginning we can hear quite a simple and calm notes on an instrument, there is also the sound of guns being fired, which is contradicted to the constant voice that we are hearing over the top.When the voice of a woman has a pause (having the voice be a woman, is considered to be calmer than if it was a man, so the audience is matching what they are hearing, so they would most likely react calmly) the notes are then dragged out, waiting for the audience to react to what the shots are showing them.
• We are then hearing small parts of conversations, again they are conversing about matters that are contradictory to what the shots are showing. After we are shown the very quick paced montage of life throughout history the notes are very far apart, then after a character says ' there is something missing from our lives, something that has been stolen' the notes come together and have pauses, and also are high pitched giving the audience quite an uncomfortable feel. 

Camera Shots:

• There are a few establishing shots showing the different locations that the trailer is set in. However, there are also a lot of close-ups to show emotion of the characters, one in particular is when we are shown quite a futuristic (what looks like a prison) cell, we are shown the worried expression of a teenage girls face as she says that something is missing. 
• Spanning is used once or twice, I believe it is showing their effect on their 'world' or society that they are living in. The use of different and unexpected angles, for example we see the main character from underneath a glass table, this being that this situation that the character is in can be interpretated differently to different audience members. 

Analysis of Screen shots:

The image on the left, shows a lot of the background, when you look at the screen shot, you notice the surroundings, look at what they are wearing, also the use of positioning, we are to the side of the boy, so we are seeing more of the girls face, seeing her reaction possibly to what the boy has said or to show us the audience how she is around him possibly.

Again you can see the background in this image, we see how small the characters are compared to the large walls, filled with books, possibly to show intelligence. The film has got black and white moments but it also has colour, noting the contrast of the two, you can still very clearly see the props that are used, the books, the lamp on the table and the stairs on the right of the still.

I really like the use of lighting in the shot, the lightness of the sun shows through as well as having the light beam from the 'plane' the edited in beam stops mostly when it reaches the body of the boy. The lights that come off the 'plane' are easily seen. The dust which is moving across the scene at the bottom of the screen, take up quite a bit of the screen, however, enough to show the environment of the scene, without looking at a clip of this scene, we know that it is most likely to be in a desert, due to the sand, and the wide space.

Whilst looking at the trailer and posters, I also wanted to look at the title ending, so the image on the left shows the sign that would be recognisable, they also show this on their website.

The simple use of the title, and the one letter that stands out more than the other, with the plain backgrounds and only some light coming through, brings the attention straight to the title of the upcoming film and is easily memorable.

The Giver Film Website

Looking at the trailer, the use of changes in music tempo adds to the tension of the trailer, the use of fading in and out to show different environments and when the camera focuses on one thing then changes to another 'pull focus' to show the reaction of the characters. Overall I really like this trailer and I think it will help me out in getting ideas for my final piece.