Monday, 18 June 2012
Analysis of The Five - Year Engagement Trailer
The Five - Year Engagement is a romantic comedy about a man who proposes to his girlfriend exactly a year after they first met. However, their wedding has to keep being delayed as a series of events keeps preventing them from planning it. It is rated a 15 and would attract mainly a female audience which is shown throughout the trailer with the pink font and further highlighted through the storyline of it being about love, marriage etc. 15 seconds into the film we also see that the films producer also produced 'Bridesmaids', this was a popular comedy, especially among females so it further suggests that this film is mainly for a female audience. It also draws the viewer in as 'Bridesmaids' was so successful it suggests that this film has the potential to be as well.
The trailer also starts with a popular song by Plan B which draws the audience in as it is catchy and upbeat. Music plays an important part in a romance film and plays a big part in this trailer. The music fades out as a comical moment takes place and this indicates to the audience that this is a comedy as well. In the first comical moment we see the mans friend doing his speech at the engagement party and embarrassing him, this is a cliche in romance and comedy films for the protagonist to have a humorous best friend.
The trailer continues in chronological order and the storyline of the film is revealed as title screens keep appearing saying 'the two year engagement' followed by 'the four year engagement' and the events that take place between these title scenes indicate that something is prolonging the engagement. Lots of establishing shots are used throughout showing big cities and the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. This is a common convention of romance films as romance and love is often associated with big cities so many films are set in places like New York, San Francisco, Paris etc.
There are also long shots of the couple walking together through the snow, which are also common scenes seen in romance films and sometimes included in the cliched montage of dates seen in romance films. This is followed by a two shot of the woman and her mum and portrays her mum as pushy and wanting her daughter to be married as soon as possible which is a common convention in horror films. This trailer demonstrates a variety of cliches for romance films and encourages the audience to go and see the film as they see familiar scenes in the story line so expect it to be good.
The trailer also shows the couple arguing, but the music stops and a comical moment is put in. This suggests to the viewer that this film isn't just about the romance it does have an equal amount of comedy included. Towards the end of the trailer the clips become shorter and don't seem to be in chronological order anymore, there are a lot of jump cuts and more comedy moments are shown towards the end whereas at the beginning the trailer seemed to establish the romance side of the story first. The actual title of the film appears at the end and the previous pink font has changed to blue suggesting that now more comical moments have been shown this film could appeal to some males also. There is one final scene shown after the this title screen, which is a comical moment of the female protagonist being shot in the leg by a little girl, this leaves a memorable moment in the audiences minds.
The unique selling point of this film is that it seems more relatable to a modern audience and the name immediately suggests that the relationship is not the common happy ever after one portrayed in most romance films.
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