Detailed Analysis - The Descent

The official trailer for The Descent is 2 minutes and 5 seconds long.

The first screen the audience see is the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) a green background with white font telling the audience the film certificate), in this case it is rated R.

The next screen that appears is the film company logo 'Lionsgate', this screen fades in and stays on screen for about 2 seconds and quickly cuts.

Now actual scenes from the film are shown without any background music, the only sounds that can be heard is the dialogue by the characters and sound effects during the transitions. In these first few scenes the setting is being set, the main characters are being revealed and there is the use of long ad medium shots. At this stage the clips shown are in the daytime which gives a feeling of happiness and normality where a group of friends are in the middle of their road trip to somewhere.

The turning point in the trailer comes 25 seconds into it there is a loud sound effect to go along with the transition where the characters now go down into the cave. The scenes here get significantly darker and there a more close up shots of the girls making there way through the cave, there is only a small amount of light which is supplied by their flashlights. Between these scenes are a series of captions that consist of only a plain black background and small white font which fades in and is slightly blurry which coincides with the fact that they cannot see much down in the cave and there is only a small amount of light that their flashlight produces. The small font on the captions is done deliberately to increase the feel of claustrophobia, making the audience feel just as uncomfortable as the characters. Background music is still not used in these clips and the only sounds are the dialogue and heavy breathing. The duration of the clips is extended as the dialogue is an important factor for the audience to understand what is going on as they cannot see what is going on.

In the next caption a sound effect goes with it when the text fades onto the screen to give the impression that something bad is about to happen. In the next film clip the scene is being shown by a handheld camera which is being used by one of the characters, the creature is then revealed standing behind them, a sound effect goes with this to mark the start of the action.

In one of the next series of clips it shows a flashlight being dropped and the light from it going out showing things are getting worse. As more clips from the film are shown, short quotes from newpapers or magazines appear over the footage of the film. Now the scenes are quickly cut whereas at the start of the trailer there were slow faded transitions.

The last few clips shown bring the trailer to a cli max which relates to Freytag's triangle, these last few images have to be memorable and stick in the audiences mind and the last part will be what they remember most.

At the very end there is a last caption with text saying 'coming soon' which leaves the audience in suspense and gives them a general idea of when the film is expected to be released. Underneath this text is the official website address linked to the film.

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Grid of 9 - Alien vs Predator

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Freytag's Pyramid

According to Freytag, a drama is divided into five parts, or acts, which some refer to as a dramatic arc: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and dénouement. Although Freytag's analysis of dramatic structure is based on five-act plays, it can be applied (sometimes in a modified manner) to short stories and novels as well.

Exposition -
The exposition provides the background information needed to properly understand the story, such as the protagonist, the antagonist, the basic conflict, and the setting. It ends with the inciting moment, which is the incident without which there would be no story.

Rising Action
During rising action, the basic internal conflict is complicated by the introduction of related secondary conflicts, including various obstacles that frustrate the protagonist's attempt to reach his goal. Secondary conflicts can include adversaries of lesser importance than the story’s antagonist, who may work with the antagonist or separately, by and for themselves or actions unknown.

Climax
This marks a change, for the better or the worse, in the protagonist’s affairs. If the story is a comedy, things will have gone badly for the protagonist up to this point; now, the tide, so to speak, will turn, and things will begin to go well for him or her. If the story is a tragedy, the opposite state of affairs will ensue, with things going from good to bad for the protagonist.

Falling Action
This is the moment of reversal after the climax, the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels, with the protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist. The falling action might contain a moment of final suspense, during which the final outcome of the conflict is in doubt. Which is also the outcome of what happened in the rising action and the climax. Summary: The falling action is that part of the story were the main part (the climax) has finished and you're heading to the conclusion.

Dénouement, resolution, or catastrophe
This comprises events between the falling action and the actual end of the drama or narrative and thus serves as the conclusion of the story. Conflicts are resolved, creating normality for the characters and a sense of catharsis, or release of tension and anxiety, for the reader. Etymologically, the French word dénouement is derived from the Old French word denoer, "to untie", and from nodus, Latin for "knot." Simply put, dénouement is the unraveling or untying of the complexities of a plot.

Introduction

I'm Luke Howley and this is my blog for my A2 media coursework. For this years project we are working in groups and were given the choice of whether to create a movie trailer or a music video. In my group we have decided on making a movie trailer.