Comedy teaser trailer analysis #1!

Here is my textual analysis of a comedy teaser trailer



Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay was released on 30th May 2008, starring John Cho and Kal Penn. The genre of the film is adventure and comedy and it is a sequel. The trailer lasts for 58 seconds which is an average amount for a teaser trailer as full trailers last for around 2-3 minutes. The clip contains 30 frames; some are fairly quick whereas others last for much longer. I have noticed from comparing romantic teaser trailers to comedies that romantic trailers tend to have very quick frames which last for a few seconds; however comedies last for much longer and show more detail. The film is targeted at a mature audience and is rated R.

The clip begins with a screen telling the audience that the preview is approved for all audiences. This is often used in teaser trailers and I feel that in order to make our trailer realistic we should also show this, the frame lasts for 5 seconds. We are then shown the institution logo that is ‘New Line Cinema.’ This is also a common feature of many teaser trailers. Non-diegetic sound is heard during the institution logo that creates the atmosphere of an aeroplane. They have also edited the logo so that it is played in a quick burst like an aeroplane flying past. It then goes straight into a clip of the two main characters in medium shot so we can clearly see they are sitting on an aeroplane, this sets the scene. This clip is split into two frames as the second frame is a medium close up of one character, the shot lasts for 4 seconds. More non-diegetic sound is heard as the soundtrack follows with a short clip with text. The text, ‘Harold & Kumar are back,’ informs the audience that the film is a sequel. The text is in large bold white font which stands out against the orange background. The orange background also relates to the orange prisoner jumpsuits that the characters wear later on in the film. The teaser trailer contains 4 text clips, they don’t give much away about the film apart from the tagline which is shown on the poster and the year is it due to be released.

The following clips are very quick and most are filmed in either medium close ups or medium shots to show the mise-en-scene of the aeroplane. The shots are fast paced to relate to what is happening on the screen as people are running and screaming. A wipe transition is used to change scenes in the teaser trailer. They use a clip of the main characters about to be interrogated to push out the clip of a man tackling Harold to the ground, this helps involve the audience as it allows them to think how the character would be feeling. During these scenes we hear ambient sounds of Kumar tapping the microphone. The non-diegetic sound of the music changes in volume throughout the trailer, it becomes louder when an actor isn’t speaking and quieter when an actor is.
The final scene contains Harold and Kumar getting into a car and being introduced to another character. The dialogue, ‘gentleman, start your engines, it’s going to be a bumpy ride,’ leaves the trailer in a cliff-hanger as we are left with a medium shot of Harold and Kumar looking worried. This leaves the audience wanting to find out what is going to happen to them, therefore it keeps them interested. The teaser trailer only contains 3 different sceneries so that it does not give too much information away to the audience. It is also mostly filmed in close ups or medium shots.

The trailer has no narrator; the dialogue comes from the actors in the film. This could be as a result that the producers do not want to give much detail away about the storyline and want the audience to guess what it is about.