A2 advanced portfolio research

Destructing and analysing film trailers.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dcYw4OwCA0

Synopsis

• At the beginning of the trailer it is clear to us that Forrest is the main character and that he is the person we are seeing on the bench. This is clear to us through the dialog and choice of shots.

• From watching the whole trailer the story suggests that there is a character, Forrest, who’s mother has concerns for his development and visits the doctor who tells her that he is ‘different’. He then tells us about his friend Jenny describing them as ‘two peas in a pod’. However we can see that Forrest’s personality lands him with many great achievements but we also see that Jenny is not doing so well. Forrest’s mother is then sick and he rushes home to see her and at this point Forrest then reflects upon his relationship with Jenny and the trailer ends.

Summery of camera shots

• All together there are 45 camera edits (different jumps/angles).

• The most frequent shots are medium long shots, long shots and close ups. The long shots represent Forrest as standing out from the crowd and single him out and along with the narrative shows us that he is the main character. For example the football pitch scene and in the beginning of the trailer when he is running.

• Close ups in this trailer are commonly used to portray emotion, for example when Forrest’s mother is being told about his development.

• There are also a lot of shots which are filmed behind the characters, especially at the beginning (lake, running, pitch). This could represent the characters isolation from the world.

Sound • Forrest’s voice is throughout the trailer telling us about his life. Along

with this, his choice of dialog tells us that he is different. For example when he is confused about the raccoons.

• There are realistic bomb noises in the army scene which is a contrast to the rest of the trailer. This is only for a short moment, which represents the speed of Forrest’s progression.

Mise en scene

• The clothing is a true reflection of the period in time (1994) which is smart, patterned and colourful. Forrest is always represented as dressing very smartly, mainly always a shirt and tie. Probably because he is a very cool guy.

• In the beginning the main colours are different shades of browns, whites and blues. However this progresses into bright colours of green and red throughout the trailer.

• The surroundings are mainly isolated areas, which is probably due to the southern location. There is a lot of small town areas, with a small populated school. This is well suited to the homely themes of the film.

Editing

• The editing is fast as it has to fit in a whole story in a few minutes. Forrest’s voice is sometimes used to narrate over a situation in which he is not directly involved. This is linking Forrest to the other characters in a way that can be fit into a short clip.

• When there is a new scene each frame dissolves, this helps us to understand that Forrest is telling us snippets about what has already happened. The last shot dissolves particularly slow leaving us with the white of Jenny’s jumper and wondering if that is the end of Forrest’s story and if he is with Jenny at last.

Purpose, genre and audience

• The purpose of the trailer is obvious, however personally I think that this trailer gives away too much about the film.

• I think that we are to feel sympathy with Forrest as we learn about his simplistic mind set, but also we are made to feel envious of him as he looks at life rationally and not too serious.

• The genre of this film is hard to segregate, there is an element of romance, action, comedy and drama. Because of this I think that this film is aimed at an audience of older teens and adults, mainly female, because a lot of the time we are supposed to feel empathy and this is hard to do so if we are young.

Institutional factors

• Budget - $55 million

• Grossed- $24,450,602

• Released into 1,595 cinemas in the first weekend of release

• Distributed by Paramount pictures

• Based on the 1986 novel by Winston Groom

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Produced by Wendy FinermanSteve TischSteve StarkeyCharles Newirth