The WatcherTrailer

Sarah Olivo

Overview

• The Watcher is the trailer I made.

Narrative

• The narrative begins with a man on the beach. He stands at the edge of the sea and has flashbacks of his dead relatives as he ponders about how someone “took” them from him. “God will forgive them. I won’t.”

• The narrative then switches to a new character sitting on a couch, explaining that he is “The Watcher” a sort of guardian angel. He is here to help the man get revenge.

• The trailer then becomes quicker and less linear.

Shot Types used in this Trailer

• Close-up

• Mid-shot

• Establishing shot

• Two-shot

• Long shot

• Over-the-shoulder shot

Close Up

• Used to show emotion on characters’ faces.

Close Up

• Also used to show important details/items/other body parts, etc.

Mid-shot

• Used to denote position, action among other things.

Establishing Shot

• Used to introduce a new place, scene, etc.

Two-Shot

• Used to denote more than one person in a frame. Shows interaction between characters.

Long Shot

• A shot that shows most or all of the character. A large amount of background is visible.

Over-The-Shoulder Shot

• Commonly used when characters are conversing.

Title Screen

• Title screen is in same font as the captions, with the same colour scheme – keeps continuity with the rest of the trailer.

• However, title has an ethereal glow around it to make it stand out from the other captions.

Post Title Screen

• Again, in the same font as the captions.

• Offers a fairly ambiguous, far off release date, as is the convention with teaser trailers.

Credits

• There are no credits at the end of my trailer as it is a teaser.

Cuts

• The first cut in the trailer is a fade in, the second a cross dissolve. The cross dissolve was used to show a change of distance between the two shots.

• There are long shots, occasionally interrupted by quick flashbacks, after this – all are clean cuts.

• After this point, the cuts become quicker to reflect a change in narrative, but slow down again towards the end to finish on a sinister close up.

Use of Ident

• My ident is the first thing that appears onscreen – this is a convention I observed in many of the trailers I watched. It makes the audience immediately aware of what company the film is connected to.

Use of Captions

• My trailer features three captions. These are used along with the change of narrative to set a new, more violent mood in the second part of my trailer.

• They continue the religious theme.

• To maintain continuity, they are the same font as the title screen and date of release.

Use of Colour

• The movie begins with a rather idyllic looking beach – blue sky and calm sea. However, this is juxtaposed with the dark musings of the character.

• When the second character is introduced, the vividity of the following scenes is far lower, with everything looking darker to reflect the general mood of the trailer.

• The flashbacks are shown in black and white as this effect has connotations of nostalgia and the past - I saw this used in the trailer for Dead Man’s Shoes.

Setting

• Use of the beach – a place where one might wash away one’s sins.

• Graveyard – obvious connotations of death.

• A flat – red couches symbolise anger and blood.

• An area by a church – religious theme of redemption and forgiveness which main character rejects.

• Urban area – the scene of a crime.

Costuming• The main character wears a long black coat in the majority of

scenes – this makes him look dark and mysterious, as well as recognisable.

• The titular character wears a white shirt – angels are, of course, associated with the colour white. However, the colour white can also be associated with madness.

• This also gives contrast when the characters are in the same frame.

Music

• I chose to use a foreboding ambient noise for the first section of narrative, so not to disturb the quiet of the scene.

• However, when the second section begins, I use a discordant soundtrack I constructed on GarageBand to up the tension and violence of the scenes.

Non Diagetic Sound

• Two different character voiceovers – rather unconventional, but necessary to my trailer’s narrative.

• Crash/bang noise at the very end of my trailer when titular character swings cane at the viewer.

Diagetic Sound

• There is no dialouge, though the titular character chuckles towards the end.

• Sound of waves lapping during beach scenes.

Representation

• All characters are white – none are from an ethnic minority.

• Three adult males, one adult female, one young adult female and one young adult male– males have the most screen time, females only appear as victims, so gender representation is unequal.

• Character backgrounds ambiguous.

Review

• Two character voiceovers – splits trailer into two parts.

• Starts slow and calm then becomes faster and more threatening.

• All voiceover, no character dialogue.

• Reveals some plot points but does not fully explain anything which leaves audience hungry for more.