Teaser trailer analysis - Blue Valentine (2010)

Genre: Drama, Romance

Narrative: The relationship of a contemporary married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods. – IMDb

Unique Selling Point: The actors, as the main two are Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, they are both success in their previous films and very well known. For example Gosling as in films such as The Notebook and Crazy, Stupid, Love, Williams has been in films such as Oz the Great and Powerful and My Week with Marilyn.

Target audience: Despite the film being in the drama and romance genre, it is quite an alternative version to the genre, therefore the audience would be aimed at sixteen and above. The film could stretch until to young adults and perhaps even further, but what might cap older audiences such as adults to watch it is because it is an indie film but it still holds the aspect of the traditional love storyline which makes it fall into the drama and romance category.

Music and dialogue: As it is a teaser trailer, the shots and sound are really limited. However, especially for this teaser, they have limited the music. The trailer starts with diegetic sound of the dialogue of the characters, ‘Have you got any talents?’ ‘Like hidden talents?’ Although, from the beginning of the trailer, the dialogue is heard before the audience see the characters therefore for a brief few seconds it is almost like a voiceover. But not for a long, as soon afterwards the scene is shown to the audience and the dialogue fits, this is until various different scenes from the film are shown while the dialogue is still happening. There is limited dialogue before the character of Gosling, Dean begins to sing ‘You Always Hurt The One You Love’ by The Mills Brothers and play his ukulele which is the diegetic sound that is then used as a sound bridge for the scenes shown afterwards from the film. As mentioned in the narrative, the film cross cuts from scenes of the couple when they were younger and as they are currently therefore the scenes being seen are then varied and can tell the difference in how the characters look. Then at 1:11, the dialogue picks up again while the ukulele is still being played and the sound of Dean and Cindy giving each other a high five is heard as the trailer ends. 

Camera angles/shots:

 The trailer begins with a wide shot showing both the characters. It is an instant beginning and the enigma codes have already been created as the audience are left in complete suspense into how the two characters are linked. There is no introduction to the audience, they are immediately placed into the film and the two characters. The wide shot shown however allows the audience to familiarise themselves with the characters' and their surrounding. They are standing outside a wedding dress shop which could be foreshadowing the future events of the characters and does allow the audience to begin to understand the relationship between the two. 

 As shown above, there are many close up/ extreme close up's of both characters. This is an example as shown from an over the shoulder point of view from both characters. This has been done to show the progression of the relationship between the two, throughout the trailer it quickly shows the intensity of their relationship as it is discovered that they are together. The trailer is in non-chronological order therefore the scenes are varied between time and as an example, in these shots it shows the couple young and in love. The close up's of their faces shows enough for the audience to understand that the feeling is mutual between them and it represents the idea of young love which are then questioned further along in the trailer.

 They use close up's frequently throughout as mentioned before to get the audience familiar with the characters and make them more prominent. They have included them into the two shots, these shots make show the relationship clearly. It also as previously shown presents the youth in comparison to the scenes later in the film. As well as the representation of youth love which also is shown to have changed as most of the shots are mainly of the couple when they were younger. Therefore this could be an indication to the audience by the fact that there are less intimate shots as their relationship isn't as what it was in the present as it was in the past. 

These shots are in comparison to the previous shots shown. This shows the cross cutting between the couple when they were younger and how they are now in the present. They have constantly used close up's and for these shots, they have been done intentionally to show the audience emotions of the character. By showing them so up close, it also indicates the personal aspect from the character to the audience so they are given the idea like they are watching into the life of the character's. Therefore they are able to relate with the characters' storyline as the film progresses and they continue to see the insight of the lives of the pair. 

Inter-titles:

 The use of these particular inter-titles is show the unique selling point of the film which is the actor/actress. They have presented them highly as they have added 'Academy Award Nominee', therefore they are trying to engage the audience through the success of the pair. Despite that, the inter-titles overall in the trailer are very simple as they have let the scenes in the trailer be the main focus for the audience. The font they have used is serif, this could be done intentionally to relate to the genre of the film as it is a romance. Furthermore, by adding more of a feminine element to the font it ties in with the main focus of attracting their target audience that constants mainly of females.

However, the inter-titles in comparison to the final title are different. The final title is in the sans serif font, it is bolded and used to come across as a statement to the audience. The use of the colours black and white are powerful yet also show the sophistication of the titles. The main attraction for the audience is the storyline and the scenes so the titles have then been played down so they are not over exaggerated to bring the attention away from the film itself. The titles have been chosen though to continue the theme of simplicity as the film itself seems to be portrayed as quite easy going and light.

Overall, although this trailer isn't theatrical and is a teaser which is the opposite to what we are going for, I included it in my research as it was a low budget film. The main success of the film was from film festivals as they have shown in the beginning of the trailer, therefore I wanted to use a trailer that I knew I could relate and research into the production companies. Although, the trailer is a lot shorter than mine will be, I really liked the variation of shots they had which I hope to include. There were different shots and angles to show the different times in the characters' lives which I hope to recreate for my main character as similar to the pair in the film, her film changes dramatically too and I want to show that in my trailer as they have done here.