Timings of Film Trailers

Alice in Wonderland
(0:00 - 0:15) Institution's intro
(0:15 - 1:19) Different cuts from film
(1:19 - 1:20) Director's name
(1:20 - 1:47) Different cuts from film
(1:47 - 1:48) "This spring"
(1.48 - 1:58) Different cuts from film
(1:58 - 1:59) Institution's name
(1:59 - 2:09) Different cuts from film
(2:09 - 2:11) A star's name
(2:11 - 2:18) Different cuts from film
(2:18 - 2:20) Film title
(2:20 - 2:23) Advertising cinema types to see it in
(2:23 - 2:25) Year of release
(2:25 - 2:27) 2010 changes to cheshire cat (advertising film more)
(2:27 - 2:28) Production company involved
(2:28 - 2:33) Stars and production


From research I have found film trailers generally last between 1 minute 30 seconds and 2 minutes 30 seconds.

Visual Essay

The film trailer which I am analyzing is Our Mother's Murder:

Representation Theories

Laura Mulvey - The Male Gaze Theory

Laura Mulvey's theory was initially applied to classic Hollywood films, her theory states that when we watch media products we put ourselves into the mindset of a heterosexual man, suggesting that women put themselves into a secondary perspective when watching media texts and that we watch it from a male's viewpoint, the conventions of her theory include: slow camera movements, deliberate camera angles, deliberate camera movements and deliberate edits and cut aways, The areas looked at explore how men look at women, how women look at women and how women look at themselves,  The male gaze theory both applies and doesn't to this film trailer as in Mulvey's theory she states that the female is not necessary to the narrative but in this instance the female characters are crucial to the narrative, therefore disregarding Mulvey's theory. However the use of slow camera movements on the main female character who is literally being used as an object in the narrative supports Mulvey's theory of how women are used in movies for men's gratification. In this instance a slow deliberate camera movement is used from the couple’s faces to this to show his control over her. The theory also suggests that the male gaze theory denies women human identity which is done through the narrator's dialogue in the media text as well: "and he'll make her life a living hell." as the antagonist is shown as controlling towards the protagonist throughout the trailer showing that she is only there for him. It also does not apply for all the protagonists because the daughters try to regain control and help the mother, therefore the male gaze theory is less applicable to them as they are not controlled by the antagonist. Mulvey's theory also shows that the female characters in media texts are passive, this is both supported and rejected by the trailer I am analysing, this is because within the text, one of the females, the mother, is passive to the male's actions and she reacts to him in line with the narrative whereas the other two females in the text reject this part of her theory because they both take on their own role in the narrative which is in reaction to him but it is not conforming to his requests and they are going against him therefore they are not the passive characters which Mulvey states women in media texts are. Throughout, the trailer both conforms and rejects Mulvey's theory, this is due to the contrast in characters between the mother (who conforms to the theory) and the daughters (who reject the theory) meaning that whilst the theory is applicable it cannot be seen as a main focus in the trailer. Her theory can also be criticised in an overall aspect due to the fact that she does not take into consideration gay men, also (although this is not applicable to the trailer which I am analysing), not all men view women as objects so her theory is not always applicable to all situations.

Richard Dyer - Stars Theory

The star theory is developed from the idea that a perception of a film is heavenly influence by the perception of its stars and the the publicity and reviews of a film heavily impact the way an audience experiences a media text. Reviews such as those found on sites such as IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118932/reviews?ref_=tt_urv) could seriously influence a viewers decision to watch the film, as the overall rating is a 6.8 audiences will have some expectation from the film and the stars within the film but they would not expect too much. The use of advertising shows a key scene from the film as well as the main two actors, this could affect viewers watching as they will be interested in seeing what happens in the case of the scene or if they are familiar with and enjoy watching the actors they are more likely to view the film. In the trailer it mentions two cast members names, "Roxanne Hart" and "James Wilder" these two are named because at the time of the film's release, Roxanne Hart has been in a total of twenty eight films up to the end of the year this was released and James Wilder had also been in twenty eight films up until the end of 1997, the year in which the film was released.

Tessa Perkins - Stereotypes

The mother and daughters stereotypes swap. This is seen by the daughters taking more control of the situations such as one reporting an attempted murder rather than the mother, Also the fact that the daughters begin questioning their mother's relationship rather than the stereotypical way of the mother questioning her daughters, so it is a role reversal for the characters.

The trailer is about an upper class family so through the stereotype were even money can buy their love as both the characters are presumed to be from a wealthy background and the fact the money is the main thing which drew him into the relationship was her wealth were as she initially sees him as the man of her dreams so she follows the stereotype of how a woman in a narrative always falls head over heels in love with the male.


We also understand that stereotypes are not always negative this is portrayed by the daughters who are protecting their mom and although it goes against the traditional stereotype of how young people are seen as uncaring for their elders, this trailer shows that they are caring which fights against the typical uncouth youths stereotype and portrays young people in a more positive light.

Narrative Theories

Bordwell and Thompson - Story and Plot

We see the institution in the first part of the trailer so the audience knows who has created the film.

We are introduced to the protagonist in the first scene of the trailer, this is conventional of trailers as audiences tend to connect to characters within films and it is also vital we see the protagonist as they are key to the narrative.

In this scene we are introduced to two more characters, we may have been introduced as they may become necessary to the narrative. We infer that the characters are blonde and a dark haired to reinforce stereotypes which connects to Tessa Perkins representation theory, for instance blondes are seen as dumb and dark haired people as suspicious. The blonde character looks happy for the protagonist and the dark haired looks jealous which gives us more insight about their characters rather than just our presumptions from the stereotype.

This non-diegetic material informs a viewer that it is based on a true story so they can learn more about the narrative.

The audience is explicitly shown that the two characters are in a relationship, from this we infer that at some point they have met and started a relationship with one another.

This cut further enforces that the brunette may be jealous of the protagonist.

We are shown an establishing shot which is a large house to give us further details about the characters and we infer that they are wealthy and of a high class.

 We are then shown the male character and a close up of a car, this could further enforce the male stereotype as when we think of males we generally think of cars, it could also be to further enforce the wealth of the characters as the cars look expensive.

 This shows the protagonist and her daughters conversing but the dialogue in the diegesis "He's ten years younger than you, is that good?" could further enforce the brunettes jealousy of the relationship.

We are again shown that the two characters are in a relationship to keep this notion in our head and enforce that the film will be about the couple.

We are shown close ups of the protagonist's and her partner's faces to understand how they feel about one another at this point in the narrative.

 We are shown the male character alone, this is to enforce that within the narrative he is important, it is also to show his masculinity and that he is in control which links to Mulvey's theory.

 This conversation between the two characters could either reinforce jealousy or portray the character in a new light as overprotective as the male is still seen as to young which reinforces the jealousy but they also would like someone who could take care of her which rejects the initial feeling of jealousy and enforces a more overprotective side of the character.

 We are further shown the couples relationship which is reinforced throughout the trailer.

We are shown this scene again but the camera is now a medium close up, the scene is repeated to further enforce the characters importance to the narrative.

We are further shown the relationship between these three characters and are shown more of their relationship and we learn their relationships with each other and the scene is a visual repetition of the previous one to reinforce the character's relationships.





We are again shown the couples relationship but the camera tracks their arms to this position and we realise their may be more to their relationship and he is in control.

This scene is repeated again but with a close up of the characters face to show his strength and to again reinforce his importance.

We are then shown the brunette girl reading papers and we then see the male character reading papers also and due to this being between two scenes of the girl reading we presume that he is reading the same documents.

We are then shown this scene and we notice the couple growing distant and the fact he is awake and staring at her in the scene we infer that he in control and is planning something.





We are shown a close up of the male to further reinforce the characters importance to the story and plot.

This scene shows the character having a darker side and he is scaring his wife, from this we infer that he is the antagonist which from previous scenes in the trailer is unexpected as we're led to believe he is in love with her.

We are then shown his violent tendencies as we see him throw an unknown girl down the stairs. This further confirms that he is the antagonist in the film which is why he is important and seen throughout the trailer,

We then see the two girls running into the house, the fact they are running enforces a feeling of panic into an audience so we infer that something serious is happening in the narrative.

We see the antagonist banging on the door suggesting his anger in the narrative and that lets us infer that something is going to happen to someone in the narrative.

We then see the protagonists bruised face and we infer that the antagonist as hurt her and we realise their relationship was not as loving as it first seemed.

We then see his anger increase further to show the audience that he is dangerous further enforcing the antagonistic qualities.







In this scene we see the character laughing showing that he has no sympathy for what he has done.

This shows the protagonist in a car, inferring that she is trying to escape and runaway from the antagonist, the fact her daughter is looking back suggests he is following them.





The two shot of the girls suggests that they are trying to help and better the protagonist by saying the protagonist needs to do something and this helps us understand the danger of the situation they are in.






Here we see the antagonist further hurting the protagonist and it helps us understand that it is not a healthy relationship enforcing that the narrative is about violence in a relationship.







This scene is to show the protagonists fear and to create a response in the audience (which relates to audience theory) it creates a tension in the narrative and is part of the disruption as seen in todorov's theory.





We then are shown one of the girls reporting an attempted murder and we infer that the antagonist has tried to kill the protagonist prior to the scene and that the girls are trying to protect the protagonist.







Although this scene is not seen as important to the narrative it plays on the audience's feelings as we learn that a young child is involved, we infer that she is the daughter of the couple and it allows an audience to worry for her and this encourages them to watch the film to learn more about if she is affected in the narrative.







This scene is used to show the antagonist and it seems as if he is spying on the family so we infer that he is no longer living with the protagonist but still want to control and hurt her which is conventional and supports Kate Domaille's narrative of Circe which is the chase and he is chasing after her.





We see the locking of a door which suggests that they are trapped within their own house or that they are protecting themselves from the antagonist which could tell us that he has got more dangerous.








We see the protagonist, blonde girl and the young child huddled against the door, this could suggest that they are hiding from the antagonist and we infer that despite the fact he no longer lives there, he has broken into the house so they're trying to protect themselves.







We see the protagonist in an office with another woman giving her advice, from this we infer that the other woman is her lawyer and the audience understands that the protagonist is getting help.





We see that the protagonist and antagonist have resumed their relationship yet we can still tell that he is in control.

The scenes flip between a car driving fast and the antagonist getting angry, at first the car is driving away from the camera which could be presumed that the protagonist is getting away, the next shot of the car is then one forward suggesting that she is still running away, the third time we see the car door open which makes an audience question if she was truly getting away at all or if the antagonist was driving the car and there is a risk of her being pushed out especially due to the                                                           nature of the driving, we see the
antagonist getting angry and violent in multiple scenes between the ones with the car and the fact he in two different costumes could show he is like this throughout the narrative.

Here the montage of the car and his anger ends when we see what looks like him pushing her away further showing him antagonising her.

Here we are shown images of the protagonist and antagonist and in the narration the actors names are spoken which connects to Richard Dyer and the conventions of trailers in which they name the actors within it.

"Something has to be done." This dialogue suggests that the antagonist is going to seriously harm the protagonist which creates tension and would encourage an audience to view the film.

We see a scene of the antagonist holding a hammer which we infer is going to be used as a weapon against the antagonist. This is used as the final scene in the trailer to leave the audience in suspense.

We are shown this promo screen so people know the title of the movie so they can watch it, it also advertises the institution which is Universal.




Sven Carlson - 3 Areas of Narrative Structure

Sven Carlson mainly applies to music videos so narrative is the only area which applies to a film trailer as from it you can get the basic plot as you don't get the full narrative as you only see small clips in a montage edit from throughout the film,

Todorov - Narrative Structure

As this is a trailer we do not find out the result of the re-equilibrium which is to encourage audiences to watch a film as a trailer is a promotion for the film to encourage people to spend money to see it so the institutions which produce the trailer gain more money.

Kate Domaille:

The trailer both applies and rejects Kate Domaille's theories as she says that media texts will fit into ONE of eight narratives and I interpret it as fitting into two of the eight narratives, it fits into:
Circe which is a chase, this fits as he is chasing after her and trying to control her.
Faust is selling your soul to the devil may bring riches but eventually your soul belongs to him. As she falls in love with him and suffers consequences.

Vladimir Propp - Character Types
The characters in the trailer can all be placed into different types as Vladimir Propp's theory states that all characters can fit into one of these types however we do not see all the character types within the trailer.

• The Villain - Scott Douglas
• The Donor - Alex Morrell
• The Helper - Annie Morrell
• The Princess and her father -N/A
• The Dispatcher - N/A
• The Hero/Victim - Anne Scripps
• False Hero - N/A

Audience Theories

Blumler and Katz - Uses and Gratification

The surveillance section of the theory is supported by this video as it can help people understand what a victim of domestic violence is going through and could help someone in the same situation understand and get help, also since it is based on a true story it informs audiences that it is actually happening in the world and is not just fictional and people understand that anybody can be affected including family members,

The fact that we are shown family members of all ages, a mother, young adults and a child allows the personal identity section of the theory to apply as multiple people can relate to different characters even if we struggle to identify with the story personally.

The film helps us make a connection with the media as in the film trailer alone we have already begun sympathising for the protagonist and we worry about the characters despite the fact we have not seen the whole film and have not yet grown attached to them as we presume we would do when watching the film.

The film also works as a diversion as some people may choose to watch it to forget about their lives and realise that some people have it worse and it helps them forget their problems for sometime.

Stuart Hall - Reception Theory
Dominated/Preferred: I believe the dominant reading is that the producers are trying to portray what actually happens if someone suffering domestic violence doesn't get help which can encourage people to help and it does this using a true story.

Negotiated: A negotiated reading would be understanding the point it is getting across and that it is trying to show the end result of domestic violence but it is not just men who are the abusers but women can be too.

Oppositional: An oppositional reading could be someone who is against domestic violence or if in some cultures where this is still acceptable they may see this as normal where as the dominant reading is that they're trying to let an audience know it is happening to help people understand how they can help stop it.

Hypodermic Needle Theory

This theory suggests that media has a direct, immediate and a powerful affect on an audience which was strong in the 1940's and 1950's as technology was still very new and just beginning to grow as radio and television were becoming more popular and the advertising industry began to develop meaning they as an audience were more passive to media texts than audiences now. The theory suggests that a large audience can be influenced by directly "injecting" a message into the audience which is designed to trigger an appropriate response. It suggests a powerful and a direct flow from the sender (institution) to the receiver (audience). As a whole this expresses the view that media is dangerous form of communication because the audience is powerless to it and passively accepts the message and acts upon it. This theory assumes that we believe everything we see or are told and that we are brainwashed by the media.

The Hypodermic needle theory is difficult to apply due to the fact that it is an out of date theory as we now understand media more and are less influenced by it, we also understand that not everyone watches or consumes media texts in the same way. More modern theories have also proved that audiences are not simply passive which needs to happen for the hypodermic needle theory to be used and as a society we are more aware of how institutions operate as a whole as we are no longer heavily influenced by media institutions.

Genre Theories

Daniel Chandler (2001) 
He argues that the word genre comes from the French (and originally Latin) word for 'kind' or 'class'. The term is widely used in rhetoric, literary theory, media theory to refer to a distinctive type of ‘text' I believe this applies to my video as it is within the thriller genre because a thriller consists of a battle between a protagonist and antagonist and we see a chain of bad events as we try to reach the re-equilibrium which is evidence in this from the chain of events we see.

Barry Keith Grant (1995)
All genres have sub genres (genre within a genre).

This means that they are divided up into more specific categories that allow audiences to identify them specifically by their familiar and what become recognisable characteristics. This trailer for instance has fast paced editing which is conventional of thrillers as well as slow paced to build suspense. Many scenes take place in areas where the lighting is low key especially those with the antagonist adding to the tension that is being created already throughout the media text. The antagonist is also shadowed out at one point which further enforces the genre and builds suspense as all we see is his silhouette holding a hammer which adds to the tensions within the film. Non-diegetic music is used sounding like a mixture of thuds giving the impression of a beating heart which creates suspense within the diegesis.

Steve Neale (1995)
He states that “genres are not ‘systems’ they are processes of systematization” – meaning that they are dynamic and evolve over time.  This is evidence when looking at other trailers within the thriller genre, for instance Gone Girl (2014) uses slower edits compared to this trailer which uses fast edits showing us how things can change, this is further supported by another thriller released in 2014 which was The Imitation Game which also uses slow edits.


Jason Mittell (2001) 
He argues that genres are cultural categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry, audience, and cultural practices as well. Industries use genre to sell products to audiences. Media producers use familiar codes and conventions that very often make cultural references to their audience knowledge of society, other texts. I believe this applies because as it is based on a true story, people can automatically refer to the original story and understand it from another perspective by consuming it differently also within the text the voice over states "the story that shocked the nation" which gives us the presumption that many people already know the story and this is another way for people to consume the story.

Rick Altman (1999)-Pleasure of genre for audiences
He argues that genre offers audiences ‘a set of pleasures’:

• Emotional Pleasures: The emotional pleasures offered to audiences of genre films are particularly significant when they generate a strong audience response. This can be applied to this video because the genre is a thriller and often they are made believable for an audience and they feel as if this could happen to them which from the situation the characters are in can create a strong audience response of empathy and maybe fear.

• Visceral Pleasures: Visceral pleasures (‘visceral’ refers to internal organs) are ‘gut’ responses and are defined by how the film’s stylistic construction elicits a physical effect upon its audience. This can be a feeling of revulsion, kinetic speed, or a ‘roller coaster ride’. Due to the nature of the trailer this is likely to get a gut reaction from audiences, this reaction is likely to be an emotional and sympathetic reaction.

• Intellectual Puzzles: Certain film genres such as the thriller or the ‘whodunit’ offer the pleasure in trying to unravel a mystery or a puzzle. Pleasure is derived from deciphering the plot and forecasting the end or being surprised by the unexpected. This can apply to what I am analysing because throughout it is about whether or not the protagonist will stand up and leave the antagonist however the film's title and non-diegetic back story tell us more about the film and it is less of an intellectual puzzle.

Media Language Theories

Media Language is used to create meaning in texts. Different mediums have their own language or combinations of languages to communicate meaning to an audience, each language uses familiar codes and conventions, these may be formal codes and conventions which are the codes and conventions of form (the shape they’re presented to an audience) or generic conventions which are conventions of the genre.

The formal codes and conventions of a trailer include a voice over, a production logo, introduction of protagonist and antagonist as well as a release date, the trailer I have analysed includes all of these conventions except for a release date due to the fact the film had already been released.

Charles Sanders Pierce (1931)

“We think only in signs” this means that when we see something we interpret it as something else, signs can be in any format, this can include: words, images, sounds, odours, flavours, acts or objects. However these only become signs when meaning is given. A sign in the trailer is that the male character is shadowed in certain scenes which shows us he is the antagonist. Audiences create meanings from signs, because of this the shadow could be interpreted as him being an antagonist as it is commonly scene through many different film trailers in different genres. There are three types of signs, an icon, and index sign and a symbolic sign,.

The sign of the shadowed face is a symbolic sign as it does not resemble the signified (that he is the antagonist) but it is conventional within media so we make the connection.

Roland Barthes (1950’s)

His death of the author theory is the idea that no matter what meaning, the author of the media text invests in the text, the creator for the meaning of any media text is the audience, this means that the audiences ideology depends on how they interpret the media text, this links to Stuart Hall's theory as well as an audience interprets a text and signs in their own way. In semiotics, denotation and connotation are terms describing relationship between signifier and signified.

Audiences interpret signs subconsciously by relating them to familiar systems of conventions. This is relevant through texts as when watching them we generally have a passive mind set and can easily interpret the signs, for instance if we saw something red, we'd know it would be for lust or danger.

Ferdinand de Saussure (1974)

He defined a sign as being composed of two things which are a signifier, this is the form that a sign takes and the signified which is the concept it represents. For instance a silhouette within this trailer can represent mystery and suspicious of the character which shows that he is the antagonist, the signifier is the silhouette, this signified is that he is the antagonist.

Roman Jakobson (1956) – Paradigms and Syntagms

Emphasizes that meaning arises from the differences between signifiers, these differences are syntagmatic which is how an audience is positioned in relation to media text for instance when a low angle is used represents that a character is more powerful and a high angle represents that a character is weaker and paradigmatic which involves changing things for different texts, in a film trailer with a romance genre, red would signify love, but in an action film, red would represent danger. Paradigms also include ways of changing shot a fade is likely to be used for a scene without action but fast cuts are likely to be used to during action scenes to captivate the audience attention. Media language is an evaluation of the micro elements which are Mise-En-Scene, Cinematography, Editing and Sound.