Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
This film comes under the action, adventure, sci-fi and thriller genres. Conventions of these genres are all found in this trailer. As this film is a sequel, the audience are likely to already be familiar with the characters shown in the trailer. However, if the audience hasn't seen the previous film, they are likely to be familiar with the actors anyway as they are well known (e.g. Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox).
In the first clip, it makes the audience aware that Sam (Shia LeBeouf) is going to college and not bringing Bumble Bee (the robot), revealing part of the storyline. This clip is also humorous as the robot dances to music, but this sound is diegetic- it hasn't been edited in to the film. The non-diegetic music does not begin until the production company, Dreamworks, appears on the screen. The Dreamworks clip has not been edited in any way to suit the film visually, but this institution is very recognisable to the audience as it has produced many other well-known films such as War Of The Worlds and Shrek. Then the second production company is shown, Paramount, which is also recognisable to the audience due to films such as Sweeney Todd and I Love You, Man. The trailer then shows a establishing shot, showing the university, and this introduces one of the film's settings to the audience. The dialogue from his mother in this clip continues throughout three shots, conveying the significance of the clip for setting the scene. This dialogue is also seen as humorous when Sam's father responds to his mother and at this point the music suddenly ends to create a dramatic effect. Then different music begins as the trailer switches to another setting featuring Sam's girlfriend, Mikaela (Megan Fox), another main character. She is lying in a position on a motorbike that males would find sexy, appealing to a male target audience, especially seeming as she is wearing revealing clothing. Dialogue from a different scene also plays over this clip, conveying that she is his girlfriend. This dialogue continues throughout multiple clips of Mikaela (at a motorbike shop) and Sam (at college), showing the audience that they are apart. Then in the last clip in this sequence, the music and the dialogue stops as a small metal shard hits the ground, conveying the significance of this shard to the film. This metal shard also has a close-up shot adding to the importance of it as it catches the audience's attention. When the metal shard lands, a glowing effect is edited into the clip and robotic noises are played, adding to the sci-fi genre and the theme of robots. As Sam examines this shard, flashback effects are used to create a mysterious vibe and the camera zooms up close to his eye suddenly revealing a robot and ancient textual markings inside which has clearly been edited. Robotic sounds are played again. This also gives an insight into significant parts of the film's storyline whilst not revealing much about it. In the next set of clips when Sam thinks he is going mental, the same mysterious text is seen glowing above his book which has been edited in, and dialogue about what is going on in his head is playing over the shots revealing more of the storyline. More science-fiction conventions then begin to be shown when you see the clip of stars shooting in space and the clip of the main robot, Optimus Prime. This is the first time he is introduced in the trailer and there is a voiceover to make it appear that the robot is speaking. The size of the robot is conveyed in the first shot of Optimus Prime as it is a low angle shot, making the robot appear much larger than Sam. This also makes Sam appear small and weak compared to Optimus Prime. More edited clips are shown when the stars and a robot fly through buildings and boats with appropriate sound effects, making the film's action and thriller genres clear. No music is played, only sound effects, which adds suspense to the clips. As the trailer goes on, more of the storyline is revealed and it progresses, using more establishing shots to show more settings of the film and there are dramatic drumming noises which are conventions of the action genre. More and more clips of the robots are shown, conveying that robots play a significant role in this film. As this film is sci-fi, the majority of these clips have been edited to make them appear to be realistic.
Just over half way through the trailer, the trailer acknowledges Michael Bay, the director. This has been edited in and the font of the writing is metallic, adding to the robot theme of the film. Then many short clips are used parallel to each other with no transition effects, creating a dramatic effect. The amount of settings in this film are also conveyed. Then the trailer acknowledges the executive producer, Steven Spielberg, a very well known producer who produced films such as E.T and Back To The Future. His name is also shown in robotic font. More clips are shown with dramatic non-diegetic music but this ends when Sam shouts "OPTIMUS!", then a flashing transition effect is used, and a clip of Optimus Prime crashing to the ground is shown. The music ending and Sam shouting create a dramatic effect for Optimus Prime's fall, a convention of the thriller genre. Then a significant quote of dialogue by Optimus Prime is played over two clips that are also of importance to the film's storyline with no music played, drawing attention to the quote. After this, many action-themed clips are shown with flashback transitions between each clip and the change of clips gets faster and faster with a high pitched sound (often found in the thriller genre) getting higher and higher which builds a lot of suspense. The final film clip shows a huge robot sucking up lots of the desert while humans hide from it for protection. The extravagant editing of this clip creates an intense ending, especially when a robot is about to be taken into the bigger robot's mouth- this leaves the audience in suspense as they will want to know what happens next. Before the audience get the chance to see the robot get destroyed, the title of the film appears in metallic font, building itself like the way the robots transform in the film and metal-themed sound effects play. 'REVENGE OF THE FALLEN' then appears under 'TRANSFORMERS' in a smaller font, conveying that this film is a sequel. Then this text explodes and the Transformers logo appears, also appearing like it is made of metal. At the end of the trailer, some other details of the film's production are shown but they only flash up quickly, conveying that the audience does not need to know this information as the important people (Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay) have already been acknowledged previously. All this text matches all the other text used previously; a metallic font conveying the robot theme.
I think this trailer is effective because it reveals just enough of the storyline to make the audience interested, and the extravagant editing which has been done is exciting and realistic. Conventions of all the genres are conveyed and all the main characters are acknowledged so the audience will understand what type of film this is and who the important characters are. I think this film would appeal to males because the action, adventure, sci-fi and thriller genres are usually aimed at males and the Mikaela is attractive so the males would want to see more of her. The ending of the trailer creates suspense and as some of the storyline has already been revealed, the audience would want to know how the film ends. The well-known producers acknowledged in the trailer would also appeal to an audience because they would expect the film to be good due to the familiar names.
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