Research and planning: Trailer analysis 1

This is the first teaser trailer that I will be analysing for the genre romance, this film is called Love and Other Drugs and was released in 2010. The certificate of this film is 15 and was directed by Edward Zwick. Looking at this trailer will give me a larger insight into how romance can develop throughout the film and will give me ideas into the trailer that I will be creating.

Genre and Audience

This film is a mixture of romance and comedy genres. This will attract to the primary audience of females aged 18-40 as the trailer has an aspirational lifestyle that women at this age would desire to have. In terms of the male character who's appearance comes across as the typical male model which will attract this type of audience and his career and the city in which they live in. Throughout this film you see the relationship of a typical romance film grow and develop and you see the characters change. As at the start of the film Jamie is represented as a 'player' who focuses on girls through his career, however he meets the girl who inspires him to change into someone that is more considerate and caring. In which case, the female character has succeeded in changing him for the better which lends itself to the idea girls want to make a bad boy a good boy. It is this idea which makes this film appeal to its intended audience.

Narrative

From the Love and Other Drugs trailer you can clearly see that there is a parallel narrative for the male character, this is shown through two key themes which are his work career and his love life. Theme 1 which is his work career straight away shows us that his dad disproves of him being a pharmaceutical rep but then we are shown in the next shots of the trailer that he has found a new drug that he thinks will be successful as you can see the excitement on Jamie's face in the scene in the car. Throughout the trailer we see his decision was correct and the drug is becoming successful and he is becoming more popular with the females. Theme 2 focuses on his love life and how it changes and is influenced by a women which is something he did not expect from his previous 'player' status. In a scene of the trailer it states he has 'met his match' and they become closer and Jamie releases he is developing feelings for this woman which is something he is not used to and shows he is becoming more vulnerable to her which is something they didn't agree on. As Jamie realises that the woman, Maggie has an illness his feelings for her become stronger and shows him 'chasing her' and trying to be in her life as much as possible which will grip the audience as it shows how the romance has grew throughout the film. With the two themes combined this is how he meets the girl of his dreams through his work career of selling drugs and becomes the man he is therefore this is a parallel narrative trailer.

Representation

At the beginning of the trailer the boy is perceived to be a typical male, looking at girls and taking about them in a sexual manner as he is planning how to get them attracted to him, he is a typical good looking male model character, this is stereotypical as these are normally the ones who gets all the girls. The male character is always talking about his personal love life and always making immature mistakes as this is the way a male model character should be perceived as they will not think about reality and just care for himself. He is shown through a lot of the scenes in this trailer using his charm to get the girl he wants 'you have beautiful eyes' and straight away they become linked in the trailer so he has got what he wants which again is stereotypical.
The girl is not the stereotypical type as she wants exactly the same as the male character and usually they are always the heartbroken ones who love the male characters rather than the opposite way round. As you can see on the males face when she says this to him he looks very shocked, this shows that he is not used to this kind of response as she knows exactly what he wants and him being the typical male character and not thinking, he just presumes that she wont find out, Jamie is being played at his own game.
The girl has the power throughout this clip which is not stereotypical as usually it is the male character, she decides what happens throughout the trailer as when she tells him to leave he goes and she rejected him and the male character isn't happy about this as he is used to getting every girl he wants.
At the beginning of the trailer the male model character was shown to be a 'player' as this is the typical view of males from a girls perspective, but throughout as the girl has the most power in the trailer she has changed him to be in touch with his emotions as near the end of the trailer he says to her ' I love you' and he evens states after he says this 'I've never said this before' which shows the girl has changed him and this is what every girl wants to see.
Suddenly the girl becomes the vulnerable one as we find out that she has Parkinson's the disease. But the male character still wants to be around her and to look after her.

Sound

At the beginning of the clip there is non-digetic sound to represent the male characters emotions as he is talking about girls, this music is very happy and upbeat which shows he is getting his own way.
There is a lot of voice overs from the male character as it is showing what he is doing but talking over the trailer rather than on screen.
The non-digetic sound changes as it gets to the scene where the female character becomes ill, the music becomes slow and calm to represent her emotions.

Mise en scene

Straight away we see the two men sat there all dressed up in suits which shows they have authority and have a good working life as they have to go to their jobs in suits, they must be quiet high up in their jobs as they are just sitting around drinking coffee talking about girls.
It goes to them saying 'why don't you be a pharmaceutical rep' and shows him lay in bed with a girl, this shows he is having a good life and getting things thrown at him left right and centre.
Everyone looks up to this male character as in his office he is always centre of  attention and it shows him having sexual intercourse with a girl in work so this shows he has power of his job and at work.
The girl is very natural looking and is first shown with a hat on and not much make-up so she is represented to be down to earth.
Then the next scene is shown in the location of her house, and they are both talking and playing around with each other, her house is not 'posh' its just a typical house with most objects out of place and straight away you see his house which is all modern and everything is tidy.
There is lots of different scenes showing their relationship developing and outside when they are driving the car there is lots of trees and leaves blowing in front of the car, this sets the romantic scene as she becomes ill.

Cinematography

There is a two shot of the two male characters together talking about girls.
Then a close-up of the male characters face in sunglasses as he is in the passenger seat in the car being told what to do, this shows he doesn't really care what anyones says and he does what he wants.
There is a long shot of him in his office with all his work colleagues around him to show his importance in the business.
There is a close-up of the phone when the male character is having sexual intercourse to show that he has made a mistake and is on the phone so whoever on the end of that line can hear everything.
There are many shot reverse shots within the scene when they are at her house talking about their lives and trying to figure each other out.
There is a long shot of them both on the floor together and then a close-up of the females face saying he needs to leave.

Editing

There is black screen positioned outside of the narrative explaining parts of the story.
There are many jump cut scenes in this trailer when they are in the girls house.