Trailer Deconstruction: Oz

The trailer I am going to deconstruct is Oz: The Great and Powerful. This movie is a fantasy adventure movie directed by Sam Raimi and starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams. All these actors have starred in well known films, James Franco was Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man Trilogy, Mila Kunis played the lead role in Black Swan and voices Meg in Family Guy, Rachel Weisz was in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns and Michelle Williams played a Role in Shutter Island.

In the opening sequence of the trailer it’s in black and white and has an aspect ratio of 4:3 this is used as a story telling device and to link it to the original 1939 film ‘The Wizard of Oz’ because in both films when the main character arrives in Oz the film becomes colour.  The film may also use black and white to pay homage to the original film and use it for older audiences to be nostalgic about the original film.

The different sequences used in the trailer introduce the main characters to the audience and give the audience an idea of the storylines and some of the important events to grab the viewer’s attention. 

The music used in this trailer creates tension and mystery which links in with the Land of Oz being a mysterious land full of mysterious creatures. The trailer also suggests that this film will be in 3D. 3D is a new technology and this may attract audiences who enjoy 3D films.

This trailer is aimed and film is aimed at people who watched and enjoyed the Wizard of Oz, the film has a darker feel to it though so it may be aimed at older children and teenagers but could still be enjoyed by younger children as well. There are also famous actors that act as a unique selling point and may persuade people to go see this movie like James Franco, who was in the Spider-Man Trilogy and 127 hours and it may also bring in fans of the TV show scrubs because the actor Zach Braff plays a role in this movie.

Certain scenes and sequences have been selected to show the audience what type of film it is, in this case the film is of the fantasy genre and so this will make people quickly decide if they are interested in the film and want to look further into it because if a person does not enjoy fantasy films then this movie will not appeal to them.

To back up that this film is a fantasy one it shows strange animals (like flying, talking monkeys) and is set in a bright and colourful land where witches live with munchkins. The trailer also gives the audience a general outline of the story so they will know the basics when going to see the film. Also in the different scenes it shows dramatic and action filled parts to grab the viewer’s attention.  Other scenes shown in the film are a clip where James Franco is going through the Emerald city which is a well known place in the world of Oz and so people who have seen The Wizard of Oz or Wicked and so people will know some settings from the film.

Also in the film you see Kansas this is where the character Dorothy lives in the original film and when the tornado sends James Franco to Oz you can see that they put a house in the tornado as an ‘Easter egg’ Easter eggs in media are usually hidden messages cameos or inside jokes that are used so people who have seen other films or know about them will understand the reference.

This trailer and film is aimed at two different psychographic groups and these groups are aspirers and reformers, the reason for this is that in the film the character James Franco plays says the line “I don’t want to die, I haven’t accomplished anything yet!” this shows that he aspires to accomplish something in his life and going to Oz will give him a second chance to make a difference and accomplish something significant, this could also be an  enigma because the audience don’t know what he wants to accomplish in his life or what he will accomplish as the film progress’s.   It could also appeal to reformers because James Franco’s character has to care for the Land of Oz and its people. This is shown in one scene because it shows James Franco repairing the teapot girl.

This film has also had a panel at comic con which is an event that is designed for fans of TV shows, films and comic books to meet in one place, the event is also used to premiere trailers and promote new series of certain TV shows and sell merchandise. At the convention people who are interested in the movie can ask the director and actors questions about the film to get more information; this can also get a bigger audience because comic con is a big event in media and is a good way to promote films.  Film reviewers from websites and magazines also attend to watch early previews of films to give their opinion on what the film could be like.

This film can appeal to both mass and niche audiences, the reason for this is that the niche audiences could be people who follow certain actors and will watch anything they are in, and the mass audience is people who enjoy fantasy films and/or have watched the Wizard of Oz or have seen the musical Wicked and are interested in the world of Oz.

The sound in this trailer is both a mixture of diegetic and non diegetic. Music is very important in film trailers because it sets the mood for the film and different music will tell the audience how they should feel about a certain part e.g. if the music is sad the scene usually shown is sad and maybe a tragedy has happened. The diegetic sounds will in the trailer are normally short clips of speech that will draw the audience in. In this trailer James Franco is doing a voice over the first part of the trailer, and then the trailer meets up with his speech so the clip is showing him saying it.

Directors

The Lumiere brothers

The Lumiere brothers have the title of the first film makers in history. There first film was Sortie des Usines Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory) and was a 50 second film of workers leaving the factory this filmed used one camera and one shot because editing was not around at this time. The two claimed that "the cinema is an invention without any future".

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Georges Méliès

Georges Méliès was famous for his narrative and technical developments in cinema. He was one of the first filmmakers to use time lapse, dissolves and hand painted colour Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his Le Manoir du diable (1896).

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D W Griffith

D W Griffith is famous for his movie ‘Birth of a Nation’ and ‘Intolerance’. Griffith's film ‘Birth of a Nation’ made use of advanced camera and narrative techniques, and its popularity made feature length films popular in the U.S.

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Sergei Eisenstein

Sergei Eisenstein was famous for being the ‘Father of Montage’ his most famous film was ‘Battleship Potemkin’ which he was hired to do by the Russian government as a propaganda film. People in the outside world praised the movies. However, in the Soviet Union, Eisenstein's focus on structural issues such as camera angles, crowd movements and montage, was not liked by the much of the Soviet movie community.

Jean Luc Goddard

Jean Luc-Goddard directed such films like breathless or New wave. Godard did not like mainstream French cinema's "Tradition of Quality", which "emphasized craft over innovation, privileged established directors over new directors, and preferred the great works of the past to experimentation. To challenge he and other critics started to make their own films. Many of Godard's films challenge the conventions of traditional Hollywood in addition to French cinema. He is often considered the most radical French filmmaker of the 1960s and 1970s.

Wipe

Wipe

A wipe is a type of edit that is used to change locations in a film the most recent use of a wipe is in Star Wars and it was used to keep in with the original film. In this scene it wipe from one location to another.

Battleship Potemkin

This film was directed by Sergei Eisenstein and was a russian propaganda film that used quick cuts in its editing and using russian montages theory.  This film is based largely on these editing principles sacrifices some narrative concerns.

The Great Train Robbery And Life of an American Fireman

The great train robbery and 'Life of an American Fireman' were both wrote, directed and edited by Edwin S Porter and were both some of the first example of using editing to tell a narrative and cross cutting this was one of the first films to use editing in this form and was an important film in the history of film.

Rescued by Rover

Rescued by rover is a British film that was one of the first to use paid actors, this film was an advance in filming techniques, editing, production and story telling. This film used both styles of that were popularised by D.W Griffith and Edwin Stanton Porter.

Birth Of A Nation

The Birth of a Nation is a film directed by D. W. Griffith and used continuity editing and to help tell a story and also uses parallel editing techniques. The editing was used to help the audience decide what emotions to feel in the romantic scenes he would edit the shots in a way to have a softer mood to the scene but in the assassination of Lincoln it was edited to portray chaos and tension

Breathless

Breathless was a film created by Jean-Luc Godard and was a movie which became famous for using jump cuts. This film broke many rules of editing and was a rebellious film for the time because Hollywood were setting rules on editing and Jean purposely went against these rules by going against the 180 degree rule and using strange jump cuts.

Non- Linear Editing

Non - linear is a digital editing technique that started to become present in the 1990's when the digital age was starting to become present. Non linear editing is a type of editing that is non destructive form of editing so if the editor made a mistake he could just undo the mistake and try again. Non linear editing is easier to learn because of tutorials on the internet and computers now come with video editing software. The main software that editors will use s final cut pro or Avid.

The first digitally edited film to get an oscar was a film called The English Patient in 1996 even though though final cut was done using the traditional negative method.

Linear Editing

Linear editing is a form of  analogue editing used most commonly back in the 50's until the digital age came along and non linear editing was used. Linear editing is analogue and is a form of destructive editing in the sense that it physically cuts the the film. With linear editing they used teams of people to cut together a film and if someone made a mistake it would be costly on the production company. Linear editing done using a razor blade or guillotine and them put them together using a specialised solution.

Cut Away

Cut aways are used to hide mistakes and continuity in a film, they can also be used to give additional information on the character and surroundings in this example the notebook is used as the focus of the cut away, this is to show the psychiatrist not caring for his patient because in the cut aways you see him playing naughts and crosses and writing inappropriate things about the patient. It also helps the audience figure out what this person is like.

In the opening scene from scream a cut-away is used on the popcorn every time tension is rising within the scene and as the tension rises the foil over the popcorn becomes bigger and starts slowly becoming hotter and when the tension is broken the popcorn sets on fire.

Fade To Black

Fade to blacks are used to create emotion and suspense within movies and trailers. The example below uses them also as a story telling device. For example the first scene is setting the scene and the it fades to black, then fades up to see an alien space ship crashing on the moon this is used to set the story for the movie. The fade to blacks in this movie trailer are also used to create suspense because at the start of the trailer it uses fades to blacks and then it goes into jump cuts then back to fade to blacks. There is an example where it is used for suspense when the man in the space suit is looking at something and says "Oh my god" it then fades to a different location to create an enigma for the audience.

Intercutting

Intercutting is an editing technique used to show two different scenes happening at the same time. In this scene  from Star Wars Episode 3, Padme is giving birth to Luke and Leia and in the other scene that it intercuts to it is the 'birth' of Darth Vader, so although the scenes are different  they are linked in that they both have similar themes. It also shows Anakin losing his humanity by turning into Darth Vader. 

Another film that uses inter-cutting is Point Break in the opening credits this helps the audience establish characters and it also helps the audience establish what these characters might be like because one of the characters is surfing so the audience may feel he has a calm, relaxed approach to life whereas the other person is shooting targets so this is a clash of personalties or a binary opposition.

Cross Dissolves and Jump cuts

Cross dissolves are used to show flashbacks our memory this is used as a story telling device an example I've used is from a movie called A Place in The Sun which was directed by George Stevens in 1951. This movie uses crossfades to show a passing in time and location e.g. he finishes work it hen cross dissolves to him writing and then  cross dissolves again to show him writing some more which implies he's been doing it for a while it eventually uses a fade to black to show the end of the scene so the film can cut to a different location.  The sense cross dissolves also show a sense of longing in the character because he wants to be at the party but he cant get in.

Another way cross dissolves are used is to show flashbacks in memory this video also uses jump cuts which  are used to give pace to the video. In this video example the cross dissolve is used to flash back on the events leading up to how he got to where he is, the flash back eventually catches up with the first clip. The fast jump cuts when the person is running also can suggest to the audience that the character is in  real danger if he doesn't get away.

Montage Sequencing

A montage sequence can either tell a story in a short amount of time or tell the audience about the characters emotions and feelings, montages use short clips or images to do this. Music videos and trailers usually use montage sequences to tell a story in short time frame. Below is a montage sequence from the season 3 finale of community they use this style of editing to set up story lines and a feeling for season 4. This is also a good example of montage editing because it helps ties up the season all the clips are set in different places with different characters and are unrelated to each other. This montage has also been established to develop a new equilibrium and also setting up character enigmas for season 4.

Another film that uses a montage sequence is the original 'Ghostbusters' this montage is shown after their first successful encounter with a ghost. The montage shows the Ghostbusters becoming local hero's and being all over the media, and it also shows that the Ghostbusters enjoy what they do.

Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing

Continuity editing is a form of editing that makes the cuts invisible so the audience doesn't consciously notice the cuts, the video also  runs smoothly without noticing the edits 

180° Rule

As you can see in this picture the 180° rule use an 

imaginary line through the middle of the actors, the camera can not pass the line or the viewer will become confused on where people are sitting.

Below is a good example of the 180° rule taking place from NBC's "Community, The reason this is a good example is because it keeps to the left side of the actor so nothing confuses the audience on were the actors are sitting. There is also of an example of the rule being broken in the bathroom scene from "The Shining" This is a good example of the rule being broken being broken because it symbolises The character Jack Torrence going insane.
Another example of continuity editing is in action scenes the last video is from the movie "Goon" in the final fight sequence