Research and Planning: Analysis of 'The Spiderwick Chronicles' Teaser Trailer

Media Language

Editing
Editing techniques used in this trailer include:
- Dissolve -This is used when showing a transition from the real world to the world of the creatures. It is also used a lot in the equilibrium of the film to show the main character's discoveries and revelations.
- Wipe - Wipes are used as the main character gives the audience an overview of the plot. We hear his voice as he reads in the form of a voice over, while images are wiping on and off the screen at relevant times during the story.
- Fade to black - These symbolise danger in this trailer, and occur every time the plot thickens
- Jump Cut - Jump cuts are used in the montage section of the trailer, where the main character and his brother and sister are fighting off danger.
- Graphic Match - This happens at about 1:08 in the trailer, where it goes from the eagle's eye to the baddie's eye to the main character's eye. It gives the effect of a dream or premonition, where the main character realises what it is he needs to do. This leads to a montage with heavy action.

Cinematography
Cinematography evident in this trailer includes:
- Establishing Shot - This shot starts the trailer off and it a shot of a pretty house surrounded by nature, giving a false sense of security.
- Close ups - Close ups are used to show the emotions of the family - they're not happy about being in this house from the start
- Mid Shots - Mid shots are used a lot to show the main character when he finds the book and as he's reading it. This could give the impression of a presence other than the boy
- Extreme close up - An extreme close up shows the main character's eyes at one point as he reads the note on the book he found. This may have been designed to show fear in his eyes, or to symbolise his concentration.
- Crab - A crab movement follows the boy as he runs through the woods. This is not the main focus of the screen however, as subtitles are shown in the middle of the screen.
- Pan - Again, this is not the main focus of the screen, but creates an effect as the camera pans around the woods and subtitles are shown.
- Two shot - There aren't many of these, however when we do see them, they show two very different characters - a believer and a non-believer talking about what's going on around them. These shots create tension and further break up the false sense of security painted at the beginning of the trailer.
- Low angle - Low angles are used to show the irregularities of the real world, e.g the creatures. This tells us that they are creatures to be feared and taken seriously.
- Birds eye view - A birds eye view is used when the three siblings team together to protect the book. It is used to show their fear as well as give an indication to the audience of how much immediate danger they are in.
- Ground level shot - This uncommon shot follows straight after the bird's eye view to show that something is about to attack the siblings. In the first instance, this shot shows no action, but hints that something is going to be making its way through the floorboards.

Sound
Diagetic
-Voices - There isn't much dialogue in this trailer, it only occurring in the aforementioned voice over-type story telling (this is diagetic because it is a character reading a book that he was seen reading on screen) and in the action montage, were voices are high and dialogue is quick, showing the rush and struggle of the fight.
- Sound effects - These sound effects, although added afterward, are diagetic as they would be something that a character can hear. Sound effects are a huge part of Fantasy films, especially when the fantasy element is cartoon or a special effect.

Non-Diagetic
- Score -Music is played practically all the way through the trailer and forms a score.
- Mood music - A good example of mood music is in the action montage, when the pace quickens and the music gets louder. As the montage comes to an end, so does the music, and then, once again, all is calm for the subtitles. All the way through the trailer, there is an air of mystery created by the music.


Mise en scene
- Low Key Lighting - The lighting throughout the trailer is quite low.
- Props - The props shown in this trailer are old and rustic. This creates a type of fear in itself, as the audience are more than likely to have some element of fear of the unknown.

Genre
The genre of this film is fantasy. It also fits into the children's genre, as it is aimed at children. This is reflected in the PG certificate. The trailer is also a good example of Steve Neale's theory about repetition and difference, where repetition attracts the audience, but difference is 'absolutely essential to the economy of genre', where audiences are less and less and willing to go and see films that are alike in almost every way. Typical fantasy conventions in the trailer include: mythical creatures, multiple worlds (ours and another), sword fighting and a magnificent tale of how the world was discovered.

Representation
Laura Mulvey's theory is that films are always filmed with the male gaze - i.e in every film, females are shown as sex objects. This is not the case particularly in this film, possibly because it is aimed directly at children and would be irresponsible and morally wrong.

Narrative
This trailer follows Todorov's theory in that it has an equilibrium, and then a disruption. It doesn't however have an ending, as what would be the point in a trailer that gives the ending away?

Audience
With this trailer, the audience has to be quite active, as without doing so, they wouldn't know what's going on.