Teaser trailer analysis - Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Beauty and the Beast (2017) - Teaser

Genre: Fantasy, Musical and Romance 

Narrative: Follows the original plot of Beauty and the Beast (Belle is a girl who is dissatisfied with life in a small provincial French town, constantly trying to fend off the misplaced "affections" of conceited Gaston. The Beast is a prince who was placed under a spell because he could not love. A wrong turn taken by Maurice, Belle's father, causes the two meet. - IMDb)

Unique selling point: It's a live version of the story, features Emma Watson as Belle, familiarity e.g. the rose shown at the end of the trailer, which is a key symbol to the film. As well as casting Emma Watson, who is famously known for her role in the series of Harry Potter films. She is also an inspiration to the younger audience which can also link to the audience as they will be more intrigued to watch the film.

Target audience - kids and adults, due to the production company being Disney and the famous tale which links to the reasoning behind the adults. They are more likely to want to watch the film, as they've grown up with the tale so it allow them to reminisce on their childhood.
Music: The trailer begins with diegetic sound when the Disney castle is shown introducing the aspect of fantasy, the sound of the sound also fits into place with the surroundings. However, the diegetic shifts to a non-diegetic sound bridge of the piano that is shown in one of the shots which is played throughout the whole teaser, this also adds to the element of mystery. The music shifts again when the close up of the painting is shown and diegetic sound is used again to represent the sound of the scratch made on the painting which immediately relates to an animal, causing more suspicion onto the plot. The shifts of the music is intentionally done to show the different events that are unfolding and especially with simple sounds like the animal, which have been exaggerated to cause a reaction from the audience. 

Shot types/camera angles:

The trailer starts with an establishing shot of the castle, immediately setting the scene for the audience as it is portrayed to give an eerie and magical impression of the trailer. Especially, as it is a teaser trailer so the shots are short and snappy as they intentionally leave the audience with suspicion on what is going on.

From the establishing shot, it carries on to a low shot of the castle as the camera pans upwards so the audience can see the castle up close. Once again, as mentioned before this allows the scene to be set for the audience, especially for when the characters are introduced.

The main focus in this teaser trailer is on the location. They have purposely taken most of the screen time on the castle and the interior of it. Through the use of these wide shots, they have shown various different parts of the castle to build on the story. The whole point is to make the story familiar with the characters as it has been put into reality. Therefore by continuously showing the location rather than the characters, the audience are aware and can easily identify the story and the characters are left to be revealed further in the trailer.

In these two wide shots, the character of Emma Watson is slowly being introduced to the audience. This is because it is shown that someone has entered the castle through the focus on certain aspects of the castle such as the door. Then shown in the final wide shot, as by the door, very faintly a shadow can be seen to be entering the door. 

The use of close up's is to add emphasis on the scene that is currently unfolding in front of the audience. The first close up shows the image that has been scratched by a creature perhaps due to the vicious movement. This immediately creates enigma codes on why this has been done and who the person in the image is. As this is a teaser, none of those questions can be answered however it can easily be assumed due to the original tale. However, it still engages the audience and allows them to be intrigued to see the way Disney are going to present this film. 

Another close up is on the rose, which is the trademark symbol of Beauty and the Beast. The use of this close up shows the significance that the rose holds in the film. Thus, along with the introduction of the rose, it pans upwards to reveal the character of Watson who is playing Belle. This shows the connection between the character and the rose and the importance that both have in the film. 

This is the only form of inter-titles throughout the whole trailer, this may because it is a teaser trailer therefore they have to keep the focus on shots rather than the inter-titles. However, it could have also been done to further the enigma codes for the film as not a lot is revealed expect for the character of Belle played by Emma Watson. 

Pace: For a teaser trailer, the pace is surprisingly slow (ranges from only 5-6 scenes throughout the entire teaser). However, this allows the teaser to take the time to build up the surroundings and narrative of the story. The pace of the teaser also doesn't reveal much, this then leaves the audience with enigma codes as they question what or who could be featured.

Dialogue: Limited amount of dialogue, mainly non/ diegetic sound based. There is dialogue between the beast and the talking object in the castle e.g. 'Look a girl' 'Yes, I can see it's a girl, you fool' 'What if she is the one.' As well as the voice of Emma Watson as she says 'Hello?' when entering the castle for the first time. As mentioned, most of the dialogue is kept limited this is to continue on with the mystery and suspicion as not a lot is revealed to the audience intentionally. 

Special effects: The location, as it is a fantasy film many of the surroundings in the shot won't be real therefore they would have had to create the castle and the interior from the original story and their own imagination. 

For my film, I want to include include a variety of different shots of the location to introduce to the audience like the teaser did. Especially with the pace of the teaser also, it allows the audience to fully immerse themselves into the film within such a short amount of time. I also would aim to include the social media links that both films have incorporated as it shows that they accessible to hear the feedback from the audience. Furthermore, it enables the audience to keep up to date and gives a good impression of the film as they have involved themselves in the social media world where the majority of their audience can be easily targeted.