textual analysis

Textual analysis

I have chosen two video trailers in which to analyse as I feel they both have qualities, which I would like to replicate in our trailer. I have chosen a trailer from the film ’28 days later’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’. The first one I am going to analyze in ’28 Days later’ which lasted 1 minute 31 seconds.

When the trailer first appears there is no real footage or clips from the film. It begins with a blank screen and screaming in the background. Then writing appears on the screen, which begins to create a narrative for the film. Images and footage from the film then begin to appear on the screen in a flashing motion. The first film footage the viewer sees is of a woman standing in a close up. The camera then begins to move in on the woman as she begins to scream, ending with an extreme close up and a black out. This POV shot was very effective and gave the trailer a dark feel early on.

Now that there has been a narrative established, the trailer moves on by using clips from the film and flashing them on and off screen in between intervals of text on a blank black background. Some of the words that appear between film clips are ‘infection’ ‘devastation’ and ‘evacuation’ along with a day count starting at 1 and continuing up throughout the film. Then towards the end there is the introduction of music, which lasts roughly 25 seconds. Then the title appears on screen under an effect. To end there is a short clip of some of the ‘creatures’ from the film running towards the camera before it cuts out and the word ‘Soon’ appears on screen.

I found the beginning of this trailer very effective. There was a great use of sound and text. Screaming was played over a blank screen with red writing over it. This created a very eerie feel and was very effective. I also like the use music. It was used only briefly near the end of the trailer but I thought it was used very well and had a great effect. it almost lightened the mood which was previously very dark.

I am now going to analyse the second of my trailers, ‘Pulp Fiction’, which lasts 2 minutes 16 seconds. The film begins with two gunshots. These gunshots are then followed by music. This music is laid over clips from the film. These clips do not feature sound, however one of the early clips does. The music volume is therefore dipped and the speech can then be heard. Then text flashes on a blank black screen, the word ‘loyalty’ appears in red text. After this there is sound breech, where a vocal clip from a different scene is played over various scenes from the film that are muted. After this there is a music change, which is not faded in. they stop the first music track have a small gap then play another slower song. Red text then appears on the screen over a black background. Short Scenes from the scene then continue to appear. Followed by more red text over a black background saying ‘Betrayal’. After this text there is a music change to a more up beat song, this helps the change the mood of the trailer, and the scenes that follow reflect this, as they are less dark. More text appears again in red on black, this time saying ‘crime’. There is then a stop in music followed closely voice clips from the film being played over silence. A new song then begins while film footage is being shown while cast in formation is being shown. After this there is another music change, which returns to the original track played at the beginning of the trailer. Footage is played over this clip until the end of the trailer,

One thing I particularly liked about the Pulp Fiction trailer was the variety of music used in the trailer. There were four different tracks used. By changing the music it was possible to change the mood either create an upbeat or downbeat mood. The music was then teamed up with footage of a similar mood and I felt it really had a great effect. This is definitely something to consider featuring in our trailer. Another thing I found very effective was reducing the volume of the music for an important vocal clip. I thought this was extremely effective and helped to emphasise the importance or significance of what was being said.

charlie brown