Trailer Analysis.

The typical codes and conventions of film trailers are normally, music, music is vital as it can suggest things like the style and genre of the film and also the plot of the film. Film trailers often have strong and effective voiceover that can draw attention to the main points of the film. They also have small pieces of texts in the trailer which can show important information such as the title, release date, some of the main stars that can draw attention to the audience as they may be a fan of the star/s in the film, the tagline and the director or producers of the film. In the film “The Happening” the conventions that are used are the names of the director/producer with phrases such as ‘from the directors/makers of…’ this is so the audience can connect ions between the films that they are watching and successful films in the past that they may have liked. Trailers are distributed on the internet, on the television, YouTube which is viral marketing, on the radio and in cinemas. YouTube is the most popular way from which trailers are being distributed recently. The target audience for ‘The Happening’ trailer are people in their late twenties, people who are fans of disaster movies and also most likely males.

The unique selling points are the stunt acts that happen as you can see below; it has been made to look like there are people jumping off a building. Also another unique selling point is Mark Wahlberg, as the main character in the film, fans of the film may be influenced to watch the film as they have enjoyed previous movies from him. The genre of the film is presented through the characters, you can see that the genre is disaster by the characters body language and facial expressions. You can see that they are scared and that nothing good happens in the film. The setting is very abandoned and normally in abandoned places good things don’t happen. The lighting also presents the genre of the film by its being really dark and glum, the lighting makes the film look negative and scary. The music presents the genre of the movie by it having very tension building noises and then big bangs in random places, which gives the audience a bit of a fright. You get a better idea of what the film is about by the trailer instead of the poster, this because when looking at the poster you can only assume what the film is going to be about by the picture, the surroundings on it and sometimes by the director and the main actor. When watching the trailer normally the voiceover hints what the film is about and you can see some of the parts in the movie which shows what it is actually about instead you having to guess. From the trailer you also get to see the director/producers of the film, previous films that the director/producer has made. When the film is coming out and the certificate of the film. All of the information from the trailer makes it more desirable because it makes you want to find out everything else that happens in the movie as the trailer isnt really detailed its just a teaser. The advantages of using an internet trailer to promote a film over using a poster campaign is that more people will view it as everybody uses the internet nowadays, if you use a poster not as many people will notice it or pay much attention to it.

Poster Mock Up.

Poster analysis.

The genre of the film is ‘disaster’. You can see this as the mise-en-scene shows that the picture is based with the characters in the middle of the road, there are papers flying around and everything looks weird. The picture is also very dark and the weather looks foggy and dim. The characters look very scared and they are huddled together, holding each other tight, this makes them look very scared. There is one main special effect in this picture which is that it looks distorted. The storyline suggests that as there are only three characters and nobody else around that they might be the only ones alive. It also suggests that something has happened for the natural disaster to take place, looking at the picture it makes you think that as the picture is distorted and everything is flying everywhere that an earthquake might be taking place. The title has been designed this way to emphasise the word ‘HAPPENING’, this makes the audience expect that there has to be something that happens in order for the main disaster to take place. In the poster the man is represented in a dominant way as he looks like he is protecting the lady and the child. He also doesn’t look as scared as the other characters do. This is the typical stereotype for males. The female and child looks scared and helpless which is a typical stereotype for females. The setting is represented as most probably a city in America, with tall buildings and deserted streets with nobody around but the main characters that are in the middle of it all. The setting is very dark and glum which gives off a negative vibe, this makes the audience realise that the storyline isn’t going to be something positive. I think that people who like action and disaster movies and people who are fans of Mark Wahlberg would be most interested in going to see this film as they might like him and previous films that he has been in. The main unique selling point is the main actor (Mark Wahlberg); he is the unique selling point because his fans would pay to see his films as they may have liked his previous ones. The film company that produced this film was 20th Century Fox, this is a major Hollywood company. The other films that they have produced are 'Dr Dolittle', 'X-men', 'Black Knight' and many others.