Movie release date: April 28th, 2011 Director: Paul Feig

Genre: Comedy/Romance

AUDIENCE GENRE

The target audience for this film are for youngadults, in particular females. The film is intended toamuse the audience and make them laugh, mostmen wouldn’t be interested in films like this as it isknown as a ‘chick flick’ and the characters within thefilm are mainly women.

The genre of the film is a comedy and a romanceand this is hinted throughout the trailer, this ismainly done through the snippets of dialogue that isadded in. These snippets provide an insight into filmand makes the audience want to know more. Theact the whole film has the majority of femalecharacters along with the plot of the weddingimmediately highlights that the genre is also aromance.

The title Bridesmaid’s is straight to the point and this is effective as it isconforming to the genre. Other genres like horrors tend to have less revealingnames to keep the audience guessing, but by having such a blunt but true titlethe audience are intrigued to watch more. The whole films surrounds the storyof bridesmaids, the cover of the DVD also makes this quite clear.

Mise-en-sceneThroughout the trailer the lighting is bright and natural and this makes the film have a laidback approach allowing the audience to relax and enjoy the film. The print screen on my leftshows how the lighting is quite natural and there is nothing artificial about it, this is keptconstant throughout the trailer as shown in the picture on the airplane below. By using thislighting the trailer is conforming to the genre with all the light tones signifying the happinessof the film. On the other hand in horror films

The actresses used in ‘Bridesmaids’, Rebel Wilsonand Melissa McCarthy are both well knownactresses who have starred in a range of othercomedies conforming to the genre. Thereforeimmediately this means the audience have a highexpectation for the film and also will be moreenticed to go and watch it.

The settings in the film vary and this is away to reflect the conflict between themaid of honor and Helen, one of theBride’s other friend. The two charactershave opposing views about how thewedding will work, Helen is upper class,depicted through the costume she is inabove, where as the maid of honor is laidback, I feel the use of depicting this inthe setting makes the trailer moreamusing and comedic.

The costumes of the characters areused to show the divide in thebridesmaids that is evidently one of themain events of the film. Above is apicture of Helen, who is in a black ballgown for one of the wedding events. Bywearing this it shows how she wants todominate against the maid of honorand she feels superior, again bringing inthe comical aspects.

the lighting used has black and dark tonesagain as a way of signifying the mood.

CameraAt the start of the trailer an establishing shot is used and this is done so the audienceare aware of the setting, New York, therefore giving them a better understanding of thefilm before it has even begun. The shot has been taken during the day thereforemeaning that the atmosphere is immediately set as happy. Following this shot is apicture of the bride and her best friend, the maid of honor. This shot is a medium angleand is taking from a straight on angle, the effect of this is that we get the sense ofequality and how they are both so close to each other.

One of the most effective shots was the long shot of Helen, then closely followed by anextreme close up and I feel the effect of this was so the audience could tell she is amain character in the film. In the close up shot she is the only person in focus and thisinsinuates that she feels superior and craves all the attention. This opposes to the initialequality we got from the previous shot and shows the conflicting personality.

The camera movement throughout the trailer is smooth and this is due to the laid backapproach of the film, this is something typical of a comedy therefore the trailer isconforming to the genre. A lot of the moving is done by panning, and this creates asteady and smooth motion, this again has a calming effect and the movement is morenatural, therefore taking the focus away from the camera movement but more on theevents.

The shot below summaries the film, a group of girls on a journey and I feel that thissimple shots have substantial effect.

EditingThroughout the trailer the editing is slow paced and the cuts flowfrom one to the other, but as the music picks up there are anincrease in the action in the shots and this could be done to createexcitement. This editing synchronises with the music, known asanchorage. An example of this is when the cuts are in sync withthe strum of the guitar.

Transitions used include a downward swipe and this is when someof the text appears on the screen, this is fun and different suitingthe genre.

Below is a print screen of another editing technique used, fastmotion has been put on a list that tells Anna all of what she has todo in order to fulfill her role as the maid of honor. The fact it hasbeen edited to go fast reflects how Anna is under all the pressureand she doesn’t know where to start, therefore showing herconfusion.

The music starts and it is quite quiet and calm, butas the first snippet of dialogue is played the pacepicks up, this pace brings up the atmosphereconforming to the happiness and fun of a romanticcomedy. The song played within the trailer is called‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’ and the beatsynchronizes with the events going on in the song.Annie, the maid of honor, lacks effort andenthusiasm for the role and the song lyrics createirony. Most of the song is drum and guitar and thisfits in very well. The music, however, dies down atthe comedy moments and this results in theaudience paying full attention to the funny sections.

The narration of the film is done through the littlebits of dialogue and this is effective as the audienceget to see some of the film enticing them. Thecharacters perspective creates a sense ofverisimilitude, a similar technique done in thehorrors I have analysed.

There isn’t much added in non-diegetic sound otherthan the music and this is because the directorwants the audience to concentrate on the funnybits, again it makes the trailer easy to watch andthere is no disturbances.

Sound

Narrative theory

I think that you could link Bridesmaids to thenarrative theory of Levis Strauss who argues thatmedia texts can be broken down into opposites. Inthe trailer there is a lot of opposites in personalities,places, and ideas.

Within the move Helen is upper class and is veryposh, she wears formal clothing and takes pride inher appearance. While on the other hand Anna whois the maid of honor, has a more casual and laid backpersona that is also reflected in her clothing. Theseoppositions are one of the comical aspects of theplay and it is made clear throughout that these twocharacters are opposite.

Similarly to this the setting in the film contrast, someof their events are in a grubby restaurant where-asanother one is in a 5 star hotel. I feel theseopposites are what make the film diverse. .

TextsThe inter titles used throughout the trailer have a consistenthouse style that support the idea of a romantic comedy. Aspreviously mentioned the target audience for this film wouldbe women aged 15-24, so the titles being in pink reinforcesthis. The text used is bold and this makes it stand out andalmost forces the audience into reading it.

The background also has a tint to the color instead of beingplain white and this is a way of adding diversity to the trailer,this also sways the film towards women. Inter titles aresomething a lot of films use and the film I analysedpreviously, paranormal activity, used them. This suggests thatthe inter titles are typical in modern trailers and they are away of informing the audience more about the film. Howeverall the inter titles change depending on the genre becausethe titles have to conform to the genre and to the theme ofthe movie. These titles are fun and suggest to me that thefilm is uplifting.