18 Film Trailers and Genre 2 (markers)

• You will investigate visual and technical codes from film trailer stills.

Key words: Iconography, temporal markers, geographical markers

Temporal markers: These are elements of a text that let the audience know when the narrative is set.
If we saw these items in a text we could guess that it was set in the 1980's

1980's

Task 1: 

Write when these temporal markers apply to and what you might expect from a text that includes them.

Geographical markers: These are elements of a text that let the audience know where the narrative is set. The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge tell us we are in Sydney. If this was shown in a film we could expect

Task 2: 

Write down what you think the following geographical markers tell us about location?

What sort of things would you expect if you saw these in a text, say the opening titles of a film?

Fig 1:

Fig 2:

Fig 3:

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A film trailer will appeal an audience in order to persuade them to pay to watch the whole film at the cinema or on DVD.
It sets the genre of the film and identifies the setting through the use of codes and  conventions. 
The equilibrium is also described, the main characters are introduced and the potential audience are engaged with attention grabbing footage. A trailer usually builds slowly from the beginning and builds up to an exciting end. Textual elements are also included such as the film title, credits, actor names and opening dates, these convey key information about the film.

Task 3 (Homework):
Write what you can tell about the genre of this film by analysing these stills from the trailer.
You should indicate if you are writing about visual codes or technical codes.
You need to state denotation and connotation and say how this would relate to genre for the target audience.

Fig 1

Fig 2

Fig 3

Fig 4

Fig 5

Fig 6

Image	Denotation	Connotation	Clue about genre
Fig 1
Fig 2
Fig 3
Fig 4
Fig 5
Fig 6

Year 10 Film trailer task

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Year 10 Written task success criteria
Knowledge of the concept of genre/narrative/representation
Awareness of relevant theories
Demonstrates knowledge of the convergent nature of contemporary media
Use of media terminology/key words
Quality of written communication