The Lovely Bones teaser trailer analysis

The Lovely Bones was released in 2009 based on the best selling book 2000. The

film was directed by Peter Jackson and included a star-studded cast; Mark

Wahlberg and Rachael Weisz.The film was nominated for an Oscar,

BAFTA and Golden Globes. In total ‘The Lovely Bones’ won 13 awards at different

ceremonies. The film was PG-13 and given 6.7/10 by the

IMDB.

YouTube’s involvement

I used YouTube.com to analysis The Lovely Bones teaser trailer – *the black border around the clips is from the settings on

YouTube. YouTube is a reliable source for film

production teams to release trailers on as there is widespread usage of the website.

Viewers can share and like the trailers which helps to circulate the film as much

as possible.

The first clip in the trailer opens the shot by fading from a whole white background to a smaller white background with black text and border. The text

reads; ‘from academy award winning director Peter Jackson’, this tells the viewers details of the film which may attract niche audiences such as individuals

who follow this directors work. The fade in technique used in this shot helps create a peaceful opening similarly working alongside the use of non-diegetic sound; the audience are immediately exposed to a light, happy sound effect

which works nicely creating a sense of cheerfulness around this film.

The second shot is delivered through a jump cut; the audience can see two girls laughing while lying on the bed beside each other. This scene is emphasised through the use of dialogue – the girls can be heard laughing which increases the happy vibe to the teaser trailer. This shot lasts only 1 second; however, this is enough for desired

effect to be conveyed. This shot gives the audience the idea that the film is based around a family – the use of lighting, characters and sound imply to the audience that the family are cheerful

and content with their lives.

The next shot has more dialogue from the characters – the audience are given details into who each character is; a close up of the young girl allows viewers to realise her young vulnerable age, a teenager, she exclaims “Bye

dad”, which shows a close family bond. A pan out from the girls face to a long shot of the scene whereby the setting and other characters can be seen then

allows the audience to recognise the father, who exclaims back to his daughter; “Bye sweetie”.

The lighting in this shot drastically changes to a high contrast ratio between front and fill light – this creates an atmospheric almost unreal choice of

lighting. The camera zooms to a close up of the young girls face once again. The dialogue is spoken by this character; she explains her age to the

audience, fourteen years old.

This shot is then quickly jump cut to a video footage of the same young character riding a bike. The footage seems to have a retro filter which

suggests to the viewer that this film is set back in the 80s or 90s. The use of costume throughout this many shots also implies this as jumpers and jeans

that would have been popular back then are seen to be worn be the characters.

The lighting also turns dark and gloomy – low key lighting is used to create this effect. Immediately, viewers assume something bad has happened. This is confirmed by the use of dialogue which is continued from the previous shots “I was 14 years old... (two

shots later) when I was murdered”. This dialogue is upsetting for viewers as the character is so young, an emphasis has been put on her age because of this.

The atmospheric music significantly shifts from the upbeat sound before to a disturbed gathering of sounds that make up a creepy upbeat song.

The shaking camera movement adds to the panic and dismay created by the young girls death – making the audience feel involved in the unfortunate situation.

The audience are immediately effected by this clip as what looked like a happy family seems to have been destroyed by something terrible – the audience are keen to

identify the problem they are not facing.

This shot is an over the shoulder shot to emphasis the character involved and the object they’re looking at. The quiet fast paced music can still be heard

throughout this scene – the music implies a ghostly feel to the trailer which gives the viewer the impression that the film has a supernatural twist.

This scene has a mysterious impact on the audience whereby they can notice the candle flame is straight up however bent in the reflection. Immediately,

the audience are intrigued as to why this is; paranormal vibe is implied to the audience.

This clip illustrates a something very negative and frightening for the audience. The small silver bracelet we can assume belongs to the young

girl who was murdered. The audience assumes this as blood stains can be seen close it the piece of jewellery. By including this, the trailer shows the audience how something nice, the bracelet, is darken by evil, the murder

symbolised by the blood on the sink. The music continues to play throughout this scene – “things are not always” is heard repeatedly through a number of clips. The voice is whispering which gives the

impression of a mystery murder.

A pan is used in the following shot showing the same bracelet being thrown across a night sky and landing in water – this symbolises that the murder is not solved giving the audience the impression this is what the storyline is based on. Again, the dialogue during this clip lets the audience hear a girl scream; it sounds humbled and echoed which suggests the girl is locked

away or in a different place. The audience is inclined to know the whereabouts of the young girl. The clip puts an emphasis on the silver

bracelet.

This establishing shot invites the viewer into a different world – again the audience are given the impression of supernatural elements to the film. The girl is seen from a long shot standing in the middle of what seems to be the sky with clouds and a tree. The audience are accepting the fact of

the idea of an ‘afterlife’ during this scene. The light air and music creates a happiness for the female character who was murdered viciously at a

young age – the audience almost feel happy that she’s in a ‘better place’. The high key lighting creates purity onscreen for the audience.

A long shot is used in this clip to emphasis the male characters sorrow – the mise en scene included shows him clutching a bottle of whiskey into his chest. Immediately, the audience feel sorry for the man who is clearly

distraught over an issue. The dull lighting, a high contrast between key and fill light, is used once again

to create the intensive and grief stricken atmosphere. From this scene the audience witness a new emotion from the characters –

there was happiness in the beginning, a frightening time was also conveyed; and this scenes emphasises the sadness of the film.

A jump cut is used to emphasis this close up of another characters face – bright lighting is used to highlight his, somewhat, creepy facial features.

The glasses are used to convey the man as an older character while the fact the male character has a moustache creates the creepy appearance. At

once, the audience seem to have a hatred for this character blaming him for the grief and sorrow of the film.

The contrast of dark light ensures the viewer realises the man is hiding or ‘creeping’ somewhere emphasising the fact that he is the villain in the

storyline.The same atmospheric music continues to play throughout this scene.

This shot starts off as a mid-shot of the girl walking towards the camera lens – camera effects (FX) have been used to during this clip making it seem the

female character walked through the window – this creates a ghostly element to the film once again. The girl walks peaceful and so this suggests she has

accomplished what she has wanted. The dialogue further implies this; a conversation between the young character and

another female is heard saying; “Are you ready”, with her replying, “Almost”. This conversation conveys to the viewers that the storyline must include a cross-

over between worlds – the in-between world between life and death.

A birds eye view of the same creepy male character is seen is a orange filtered light – this emphasises wrong-doing by the character by the use of this filter. The audience can see the man getting rid of a heavy cabinet box.

The other rubbish around him conveys a dump site, an area where people go to dump old belongings however the earth hole suggests the dump site

is more permanent and so creates a panic in the viewer as he may be destroying something significant.

This is one of the ending shots; a jump cut is used to bring this shot into action. The bright white background is used that was used in the first shot. The title reads; “The Lovely Bones”, which is the title of the film giving the

audience a good introduction into the film.

The Lovely Bones teaser trailerThe overall quality of this teaser trailer seems old and home-movie-like which

suggest a different time era to the viewers. This will help the audience create an idea of what the attitudes and behaviours of the characters in the film will be as in the 1980s, to which this film appears to represent,

people thought a lot different and so this may be a cause of the problem – people were not as open minded.

This teaser trailer followed the codes and conventions of teaser trailers; the time limits were appropriate and the content of the storyline has intrigued

the audience. The Lovely Bones teaser trailer has used lighting, sound and mise en scene to

attract their target audience excellently and so the teaser trailer was successful in creating a buzz around the film.