| Evaluation design practice - june 2001 (long night) The Trailer breaks down into three main sections: 1) An introduction to the middle ages which latterly subverts itself. 2) A fast paced edit section introducing differing aspects of the film. 3) A scene in which the content of the film is explained. These sections will be analysed separately and broken down further into sequences: 1) An introduction to the middle ages which latterly subverts itself. Content: A brief opening sequence sets it up as a serious period drama, which is destroyed with a joke about God playing ludo. Mise en scene/ relationship between sound and vision: The opening caption works as a device to establish the setting of the piece. There may be a slight concern about the same information being presented twice, through the voice over and the caption but this is minimised by the speed of the segment. It doesn’t take up that much time, thus avoiding patronising the viewer. The next shot is of a deadman being slumped on a cart. This is a direct image to compliment the meanings to be communicated through the voice over. The following shots of people crawling around in the mud work to add to this construction. There is, however is a slight misjoin between these shots and the latter images of people standing around. These are lighted differently, in a slight contrast from the darker proceeding images. This would dissolve into the proceeding shots more easily if, simply, the ‘bring out your dead’ sound was bridged over these few images. The main criticism that can be levelled at the section is that the voice over is barely audible. The levels, while not exact in their comparison to each other the actual voice over itself is a little hard to understand, trailing off especially in the line ‘If God was a card dealer, death was in every pack’. In terms of target audience: Although bizarre, this would appeal to the target audience as it shares traditional forms of Pythonesque humour. It might be a useful tool to introduce surreal elements to fresh cinematic audiences, unfamiliar with this branch of joke. There is also the slight chance of offending followers of God although people with such hard held and sensitive beliefs probably wouldn’t be attracted to viewing the film anyway. This might minimise the factor into reasonable proportions. Possibly after being drawn into the preceding medieval speech. Critically this section isn’t too long or drawn out meaning that the target audience are unlikely to be turned off by the content of this section. This is a possibility if the sequence took a more considerable section of the product. 2) A fast paced edit section introducing differing aspects of the film. First sequence: The second section is designed to present the film as an exciting extravaganza. incorporating a series of explosions, fighting, knights getting splattered in excrement and other key images of the film. It serving as a pick up from the slow paced section. Second sequence: The next section highlights these with the anchoring of a voice over. Monsters, terror, suspense, mystery, general knowledge, witches and knights that say ‘ni’. These will be taken individually. Monsters: The monster clip works fairly effectively. It is visually a cartoon and it’s placement at the start of the section of trailer may connote that the film doesn’t take itself that seriously at all. Although this meaning may not have been formed due to the tone and nature of the voice over and a previous comment about Gods fondness for games, it would be further deformed by the cartoon monster. The cut works convincingly too, neatly placed in time with a musical break. Terror: The content of the terror clip heightens the surrealism already hinted. An establishing shot of the rabbit is quite effective, working with a splatter of dialogue to quickly communicate the nature of the animal. Without establishing these expectations, the ludicrous jump would not be as effective Suspense: This is one of the weaker clips of the section. The composition of the shot is interesting, but perhaps it should have been tagged differently. There is no suspense in question, this might be achieved if a longer pause before the people appear to come out of the nose. It currently correlates to the sense of suspense only really in that it is a simple shot, contrasting with the pace of the previous edits. This means the audience appear to be waiting for something. In this way it could be considered tongue in cheek but as an overall section it is flagging. General knowledge: The idea behind the section is potentially in fitting with the content of the trailer considering the goonery of the ‘mystery’ section. However the soundbyte merely enforces the need for general knowledge rather than being a gag of any kind. The composition of the shot is poor in the context of the trailer as it essentially shows the backs of knights looking over the ridge. Mystery: The mystery section might be quite effective for those in tune with surreal humour. The comedy timing on the question mark is about right to play with audience’s expectations. Perhaps the music could be slightly quieter to heighten the sense of mystery of the void that needs to be filled. However it’s inclusion here is more prominent black and silence for a cinematic audience is quite a demanding prospect. This is intensified considering the attention grabbing nature of trailers. Witches: This section just sees a mob of people saying ‘we’ve got a witch’. This works reasonably well, although it might be wise to included a shot of the witch too Knights that say ni!: The build up to the introduction of the knights who say ‘ni’ holds complementary mise-en scene. The voice over ends nicely in relation to the following visual of a knight that says ‘ni’ saying ’ni’. The following dialogue soundbyte ‘No, not the knights who say ‘ni’’ works effectively in this context. Third sequence The third sequence of the middle section is the build up to the reveal of the title of the film. A flashback to the unanchored, quick images preceding the arrival of the voice over. The image of someone getting crushed by a wooden rabbit is one of the more distinctive of the production and it’s placement seems to fit. ‘From the makers of Monty Pythons first film comes Monty Pythons second film’ is complimentary to the overall vision of Pythonism in terms of their brand of humour. It also helps build up expectations and compliments the image of animated fanfare building to the eventual climax of the section. Relationship between sound and image The music is appropriate to the content of the trailer. Taken from the film it has a driving medieval undertones, enchanting the subject matter effectively. There are screams and sounds of sword fighting at various breaks in the music, these are complimented visually either with a fight or usually a break in the action. The main suspicion of musical breakdown is in the ‘general knowledge’ section. Here the music stops altogether. Although this works in relation to the specific shot (as the bridgekeeper says ‘Stop’ and it does when the fire flares up) it seems slightly odd that it starts again with less intensity than in the previous sequences. Although it fades up on a recurring image of a fight (often used, seemingly to fit in with the fighting noises on the soundtrack), the musical restart seems a slight jump back from the themes previous incarnation. Before the bridgekeeper ‘stopped’ the music it was more dramatically built up. In terms of target audience: The target audience would surely be captured by the quick editing (with perhaps the exception of ‘suspense’) and some fairly reasonably successful attempts at zany humour. Perhaps this should be emphasised even more. Again the ‘suspense’ and ‘general knowledge’ sections could be modified to greater effect (see suggestions). 3) A scene in which the content of the film is explained. The third section basically explains the plot of the film. It is linked neatly through a caption referring to the subject of Ludo and God, tapping into the previous comments attempting to capture the target audience. The clip itself is in contrast with the high voltage output encountered previously encountered, working effectively with the preceding caption which also introduces the name ‘King Arthur’. This is the first real connotation of the main character, a vital piece of information that further helps illuminate the key context of the film itself. The scene selection introduced from the ongoing Ludo gag is appropriate as it explains the content of the film, leading to the title which is a little inconsistent with the others in terms of font and placement. It also has a little complimentary section in mock Scandinavian, a feature not evident at any other time in the trailer. However considering the lunacy of surreal based humour, it is not as out of place as it would be on, say a film siding with the action genre. The last couple of captions latterly exploit the idea of classic, possibly hyperreal, religious figures being involved in games. Then useful information about when the picture will be available at the local multiplex. relationship between sound and image: This is generally acceptable just to use the synch sound from the film for the main scene. However there could be noises of St Paul the Apostle playing tennis and getting frustrated by his progress. This would enhance the meaning projected in the caption which, ideally then could very briefly cut to a shot of him in action, being beaten by Jesus at Wimbledon. Suggestions: I could also have used a section from a song in the film ‘we’re knights of the round table’. This would have anchored the location and brought meanings of the context of the film, currently only hinted at. It could have been used instead of the ‘suspense’ or possibly ‘mystery’ section of the trailer. I would also replace the ‘general knowledge’ clip with a soundbyte of the Bridgekeeper asking King Arthur ‘what is the wind speed of an unladened swallow?’. This is a greater example of Pythonesque humour, rather than a straight quote from a comedy film. There could also be more soundbytes and straight out gags presented in the trailer. This would bring yet more emphasis onto the comedy nature of the film, enforced through the content of the voice over. Evaluation in terms of research synthesis: Length: The trailer fits in with the wider specifications indicated through my research in the. It is 2 minutes, 15 seconds in length an acceptable duration for a product of it’s nature and comparable with the standard in the market place. Information about the film: It clearly states the title of the film, which is an essential piece of information rarely overlooked by cinematic trailers and hints at a release date. The main general view arising out of research which is absent from the trailer is the slogan of the production company at the start and the blitz of information at the end. Content My research showed that trailers are very much genre based. This meaning that an action film should have action, humour should show funny parts etc. As noted before the humour elements could be played a bit more highly, mainly through soundbytes. The structure works well and is comparable to the trends established in the research. A slow start, quick edit section and a slower end. Although contradicting slightly the exact content of the research this is due to the lack of big name stars, with Monty Python being very much a six headed beast. Aimed at the British comedy market the name of this creature is recognisable and can exist by itself. Is the evidence of some ideas compatible with the humour associated with the Monty Python team. There’s room to eliminate a few technical problems (mainly sound) and a couple of content improvements. But it accurately renders and image of the film and appears to be in basic harmony with the demands required of trailers. |