Golden Trailer Awards

"Movie trailers play an increasingly important role in entertaining us and helping us determine where to spend our leisure time. The best trailers are works of art in their own right, expertly blending elements of cinema and advertising."

The Golden Trailer Awards is devoted to feature film previews, it celebrates the craftsmanship that goes into making these potent mini-epics,to recognize the creative people who make the trailers to show their unique art, in a gala award show. The awards occur every May awarding achievements in Motion Picture Marketing, the awards are given out for trailers, film posters and television advertisements. The awards are an open competition which is judged by film industry notables.

It lasts for 90mins and consists of 16 categories some of which include;

Best Comedy
Best Independent Trailer
Best Video Game Trailer
Trashiest Trailer
Best Foreign Action Trailer
Best Documentary Poster

Anaylsis Of Film Trailers

Movie Trailers first appeared in cinemas in 1913 with Nils Granlund's short promotional film "The Pleasure seekers". During the 1950's most trailers were created by the National Screen Service they were made up of big fonts loud music limited shots and stentorian voice overs advertising the film. An example of this is the origanl 1950's film trailer Cinderella.





The Inception trailers are made up of Medium Long Shots, Medium Shots, Close ups and montage shots. There is also alot of jump cuts to quicken the tempo of the trailer. The fade to black shot gives the trailer a more era feel.




The Inception teaser trailer was released for the film which is due to be realised soon. The idea of the trailer is to create enigmas about the film. This is done by using alot of jump cuts giving us as an audience a vague view of what the characters are like and key events. Usually in a teaser trailer dialogue isn’t generally used but a definite sound track is used in the background. When trying to define the genre from the trailer it is clear that there is a clear overlap of genres thriller, action adventure with a hint of science fiction.
The trailer starts off showing the Warner Bros Logo is portrayed as an ariel view of the city inside the outer rim of the logo, this could show that maybe the city is confined in our minds. We see an ariel shot of the city this could possibly be an establishing shot or a point of view shot, this shot could be important because it is the only shot with a readable sign on a building this being ‘Mitsui Garden Hotel’ this may be the hotel hallway that is shown later in the trailer. A class of water is shown on a wooden table this might not be significant apart from the fact that the table and class are completely still, but the water in the class is tilting to one side. This may be linking into the hallway fight we see next the idea of shifting properties. The text “YOUR MIND” is positioned in the centre of buildings which quickly rotates with the cityscape again the architecture is a big part in this scene. The next card we see says "IS THE SCENE OF THE CRIME" but here, the buildings actually seem to be moving, most evident at the tail of this shot. The hallway scenes seem as though the characters are falling the fight continues as the room's perspective shifts, taking them along the walls. This time the opponents seem to have changed, the cart in the background; it seems to be falling up. The trailer ends with the film title being shown its starts off as a skyline shot of a city before becoming the "Inception" logo. This again links in with my first idea that architecture plays a huge part in the film and that there may be an alternative reality within the human mind.



Here in the second trailer we start with the Warner Bros logo but this time it is portrayed as if we are going through the city this is further emphasis on the idea of the city as a maze. Again water plays a huge part in this trailer.As does aritexture the scene with the city curving over gives the implication that either the idea that the mind can effect the landscape around us. The interesting part about this scene is that when looking closely the even though the portion of the city that is curved the vehicles and people there are not adhering to the rules of gravity. The scene in the hotel tells also shows us that everything isn't as it seems we see three men fighting as in the teaser trailer the room's perspective shifts but this time instead of taking them along the walls they are falling down.

Research and Planning

When conducting my research and planning i looked at the Inception posters:

Poster one


Poster two


Poster three


In all three posters architecture is the main theme. The tall buildings give the image of the characters being closed in on, a sense of being trapped. The tagline is also recognisable in all three posters "your mind is the scene of the crime". The use of the word "EXPERIENCE" on all three draws the reader in. Also when looking at all three poster we can see in the middle a yellow light this gives me the idea of 'light at the end of the tunnel' that the characters are in trying to work towards something a way out. All three posters seem to have a blue screen over the original image, this is a common theme for Christopher Nolan's films.

The water shown in poster one is known as intertextuality, it seems out of place as though it is supposed to be somewhere else, it seems as though it should be in "The Day After Tomorrow". This poster seems familiar though it looks like the "Dark Knight" poster.



From looking at the inception, and the Dark Knight poster they are clear examples of intertextuality within Warner Brothers posters. This is potentially down to Auteur Theory with both films being directed by Christopher Nolan he has his own personal vision, thematic obsession and a signature style. when looking at all three posters (Inception, Dark Knight and Watchman) it is clear that they are all part of the Warner Bros production company. They all show the vast, wet cityscape. The figures (Cobb- Leonardo DiCaprio, The Joker- Heath Ledger Watchman-Jackie Earle Haley ) have their back to us, palming a weapon.





The Matrix poster is also another clear example of intertextuality, the 1999 "The Matrix" film poster shares a strong resemblance to the Inception poster. In both posters the characters are engulfed by the buildings, and both are emphasized by the vertical feature behind the characters, for the Matrix poster the beam of light and the Inception poster the road is shown as a curling wave.










I then looked at the Magazine fount covers.



Looking at both magazine covers as like the posters they have Incorporated the architecture as the main theme to their covers. Total film have gone that step further by changing the font "FILM" into buildings. Empire have given a birds eye view of the buildings. Although when you look at the Total Film cover it seems to be visually better the image of Leonardo Discaprio is of a higher standard on Empire's cover. When looking at Total Films image it is the same image as the poster where the characters are at different angles, (poster three) the image seems as though it has just been lifted onto the cover with a gun been photoshoped in.

I have recently recieved the brief for my media A2 coursework.
I have to produce a film trailer suitable for any audience which is to be released for the winter 2010.
I am to either:

Produce a 1 minute, 20 second trailer in length
or
Produce two 60 second trailers in length

Plus i have to:

Produce a film magazine cover
+
Produce a film poster

I have three months to meet my deadline.