Trailer Analysis #3

Jennifer's Body Trailer.

The film trailer opens up with an extreme long shot from a high angle of a lake. There is a beautiful girl swimming naked, you cannot see any bikini straps on her shoulders. The lake is very big, and has no one else in it apart from the girl. It looks very early in the morning as its quite dark and the sun hasn’t come up yet. We get a match-on-action of the girl swimming; it starts off from an extreme long shot, the shot then fades and cuts in to a medium close up of the girl from the side angle, and then the camera cuts onto a front angle medium close up of the girl swimming towards the camera. She has wet, long, black hair slick back. The whole place is clearly very isolated and empty; there is no one around except for girl who is Jennifer in the film. The trailer introduces her first, as the sexy, popular school girl. But soon the trailer will show who she ‘really is’.  The scene was shot with weak ambient lighting coming from the early morning sky. Whilst Jennifer is swimming we can hear the simple synchronous sound of water strokes she is making whilst swimming, but also when the trailer starts we hear an eerie, low vibrating base note playing continuously followed by an eerie swooshing sound before an electric guitar note is hit. All this is done for a quirky, modern and contemporary effect; it brings in the right target audience as the film trailer is presented in a way that grabs young adults’ attention.

The screen then fades onto a strap of ‘IN EVERY SCHOOL’, it then fades onto a medium long shot of Jennifer posing as the ‘it girl’ of the school. She is the center of attention to the audience as well as the characters in the film, because of the fact that she wearing a bright pink cardigan, with pink earring and jeans makes her stand out from the crowd in the corridor as everyone else is wearing black and dark colours making them blend into the background. The electric guitar gets louder and Jennifer is walking through the school corridor with a girly smile and bouncy walk closer to the camera. The camera fades from shot to shot of Jennifer getting closer to the camera, it starts off with a long shot, to a medium long shot and then a close up of Jenifer. She is walking in a way that makes her not only stand out, but look quite cocky. She knows she’s fabulous and popular and you can tell by the way she carries herself. She flicks her hair and walks with her hips swaying side to side. All this tells the audience that she is ‘the’ girl of the school. The lighting used for this shot is top lighting, almost like a spot light being pointed at just at Jennifer, making the rest of the students around her blend into the background and keeping the main focus on her. The next strap tells us this.

The screen fades onto the next strap, which reads ‘THERE’S ONE GIRL’, clearly talking about Jennifer, which is something the audience would have already picked up on. The strap then fades onto a close up of Jennifer looking into a small mirror, the camera is placed behind, and over her shoulder so that we see her reflection in the mirror. She has a big smile on, brushing her hand through her fringe. The little mirror is decorated in little diamonds and flowers. All this signals the audience that she is very girly and feminine but also vein and stuck up. By this point the audience would have guessed exactly who Jennifer is, the ‘evil it girl’. The lighting in this shot is dim, making Jennifer look a little more 'sexy'.  The camera cuts onto the next strap 'EVERY GIRL WANTS TO BE FRIENDS WITH', the camera then fades onto a medium close up of Jennifer leaning on her locker and she says 'you and me are going out tonight', by the way Jennifer doesn't ask to go out, but kind of demands it shows that she has the upper hand and she is in control. 


Camera then cuts to a medium close up to 'Needy', Jennifers closest friend, who is the opposite of Jennifer, she has big glasses on, her hair tied up and an old cardigan on telling the audience she's the 'non sexy' friend. 'wear something cute okay?' says Jennifer with a cutesy and sexy voice, with her finger on her lip. Camera cuts to a medium close up of Needy's boyfriend who says 'you always do what Jennifer tells you to do', camera cuts to a medium shot of Jennifer and Needy in a bar, Jennifer has a huge grin on her face, she looks excited, and Needy is looking at her with a smile. We hear Needy saying 'it's just that I like the same things that she likes', camera cuts to a close up of Needy smiling at Jennifer whilst Jennifer is looking ahead. By this point the audience sees that Needy and Jennifer really are not similar in any shape or form but Needy is convinced that they do, she is like Jennifer's puppy that follows her around. The lighting is still very dim, creating a night time sort of feeling, which goes perfectly of with the genre as it's horror and light is normally kept to a minimum.

We hear a 'swoosh' as the camera cuts to a strap 'AND EVERY GUY', we hear one heavy beat, sort of like a heart beat, and then we hear a boy saying 'Hey Jennifer, you look really pretty today', camera cuts to an over shoulder shot of a boy walking backwards talking to Jennifer, camera cuts again to a medium shot of Jennifer walking through the hall way and looking very confident and standing out.

The audience are now in the know that Jennifer is just the 'IT' girl, the most popular girl in the school.  A strap appears on the screen, we hear a stab, the strap says 'WOULD DIE FOR', camera cuts to a medium shot of Jennifer in the school hallway saying 'why don't you just come by my place' camera cuts to the boy who she is saying this to. He is the opposite of what you would expect to see Jennifer being interested in, he is like the 'goth' of the school, we see his facial expression which is a big smile, he looks pleased with himself. Camera cuts to Needy saying 'that was random!' whilst Jennifer is standing there looking ahead, almost like she isn't paying attention to her. This all signals that Jennifer does what she wants, that she hardly ever pays attention to what Needy has to say and she never really looks at her when Needy speaks and the fact that she invited a guy that isn't a 'Joc' to her house signals that something bad is about to happen. Camera cuts to a close up of Jennifer smiling to herself.

The music playing is very current, its rock music and half of the music played in the trailer is by popular bands which we will find out who later on.

Camera cuts to a black screen, we hear the boy saying 'this isn't really your house is it?', camera cuts to a bird eye view of a long street in the night, then cuts to a medium shot of the boy standing in a very dark room with the only light coming from candles, he has a nervous smile on his face. Camera cuts to a medium shot of Jennifer unzipping her top saying 'we can play mummy and daddy', shes being very up front and intimidating, camera then cuts to an extreme close up of her eyes, which turn yellow and black, we hear a weird snake sounds when her eyes turn yellow, the camera cuts to a close up of the boy who slowly says 'no way'.  We hear a loud stab, camera cuts to a medium shot of Jennifer gritting her teeth, cuts again to a medium shot of the boy screaming at Jennifer by the looks of it is breaking his bones, the whole shot turns red, camera cuts to a worm eye, close up of Jennifer's face, her mouth is open and we hear an aggressive roar, the shot is still bright red, signalling bloody and dangerous. Shot goes black, then cuts to a back lit silhouette side shot of some sort of monster creature that Jennifer has turned into, we hear a loud scream and see the creature put his head down like he is about to eat, 'ON SEPTEMBER 18th' appears on the screen.


Now the audience know that Jennifer is a monster hypothetically speaking and literally.

Camera cuts to a long shot of Jennifer sitting in the middle of a double bed and Needy standing up looking at her, Jennifer says 'we always share a bed when we have slumber parties', here we see a match on action where the same shot is shown from different angles, here the camera cuts to a medium shot of Jennifer, then back to the long shot, here Jennifer stands on her knees, gets closer to Needy, the next shot we see is an extreme close up of Needy's and Jennifer's lips just an inch away from each other, Jennifer puts her finger on Needy's lip. Now here we can see that Jennifer is very commanding, she can get whatever she wants and can even get Needy to do anything she wants without even trying, but by the looks of Needy is a smart girl and sometimes can take control.

In this scene we also see that Jennifer is wearing a sports top and her knickers with her down and Needy is completely opposite, she is standing in long pajama bottoms and a plain vest, with her hair up and her glasses still on showing the audience again that Jennifer is the sexy one and Needy is probably the smart and sensible one. The lighting in the room is very dim, the only light they have is coming from the two bed side lamps and the fairy lights above the bed, keeping a 'sexy' and 'spooky' atmosphere.

Camera then cuts to a long shot of Needy sitting at school with her boyfriend, the drum beating music is still playing but its quieter, we hear Needy say 'Jennifer is evil', her boyfriend replies with 'I know', Needy replies with 'No, I mean she's actually evil, not high school evil', here we sense a little humor coming from the film. Camera cuts to a medium shot of Jennifer on the phone looking in the mirror, holding a lighting that she is burning her tongue with, she looks very relaxed like she cannot even feel anything. The music is building up whilst her tongue is burning, camera cuts to a closer shot of her, the beat stops when she lets go of the lighting, the tip of her tongue is black, she puts her tongue in a little, then sticks it back out and it's back to normal without a burn in sight. Here we can see that Jennifer has some sort of special power, she is also evil in many ways. Screen goes blank and the strap 'MEGAN FOX' appears on the screen, this could lure the audience in as Megan is seen as a very high sex icon and a lot of the male target audience will most likely watch the film just because she is in it and the female target audience will aspire to be like her.

Camera cuts to a medium shot of Chip (Needy's boyfriend), walking out in the dark look
ing behind him, we hear the rock music beat start to get louder, we hear Jennifer say 'Chip is looking really cute to me lately', camera cuts to a long shot of Jennifer looking in the mirror on the phone, with her finger in her mouth and wiggling her bum looking at it. Camera cuts to the shot of Chip walking, he looks in front of him and Jennifer is standing in front of him with a smile of her face, he jumps. 'how is he tasting these days?' a medium shot of Jennifer's body comes on the screen with her unzipping her top. This quote means that Jennifer want's to eat him, not in a sexual way but literally eat him and kill him. Camera cuts to a close up of Jennifer leaning towards Chip to kiss him, camera cuts to Needy on the phone saying 'you were never a good friend, you could have anyone you want' Camera cuts to Jennifer in her bedroom looking in the mirror on the phone to Needy, camera cuts back to the medium shot of Needy saying 'why Chip?' with confusion on her face. Camera cuts to a quick shot of Jennifer biting someone, then quickly cuts to a shot of the Chip being dragged by something and him screaming and trying to grab onto something on the floor, we hear the monstrous roar of Jennifer. Screen goes black and the name 'AMANDA SEYFRIED' appears on the screen, this will lure in audiences as she is a popular and famous actress.

Camera cuts to a medium shot of Needy standing in a car park and a car exploding behind her, camera cuts to a close up of Needy whispering 'you're killing people!', camera cuts to a medium shot of Jennifer saying 'Noo, I'm killing boys', her voice lowers into a whisper after the 'No'.  Camera then cuts to an extreme close up of Jennifer whispering into Needy's ear 'are you scared?' camera cuts to reaction shot of Needy nodding her head and crying, camera cuts to a long shot of Jennifer shoving Needy into the wall. It's really dark and by the looks of it Jennifer has started to envy Needy.

Camera cuts to a long shot of Jennifer standing in a dark old swimming pool room, she is wearing a white prom dress and is all wet, we hear needy say 'I thought you only murder boys', camera cuts onto a shot of Needy walking backwards away from Jennifer, she is covered in dirt, camera cuts to a close up of Jennifer tilt her head and said 'I go both ways'.

Audiences now know that Jennifer kills pretty much anyone who she wants and has turned to her closest friend.
Camera cuts to a higher angle view shot of a back of a car window and Jennifer jumping on it and smashing it, camera cuts to a close up of Needy screaming. The music gets loud again, screen goes black and 'JENNIFER'S BODY', the title of the film appears on the screen.


 Camera cuts to a close up of Needy saying 'I will finish you if I have to', camera cuts to a reaction shot of Jennifer, music stops and Jennifer says 'Kay, you can barely finish gym class', which is another humorous part of the film, camera cuts to a long shot of Needy in an orange jump suit kicking a woman in the stomach, music starts again, camera cuts to a medium shot of Jennifer walking towards the camera, it speeds up and her mouth opens into a massive monster mouth, making it look like she is about to bite the camera.  Camera cuts onto a black screen with names of the soundtrack bands in the film, all which are very popular and famous like 'Panic at the Disco', 'White Lies', 'All Time Low' and 'Little Boots'. The trailer ends with the titles of the film back on the screen and the date that it is released.

I believe the target audience for this film are teens from the age of 15-21 because of the music featured and the type of humor that is used in this film, also because it's set around teenagers and a high school which most teens can relate to.

I believe it's a successful trailer as it includes funny parts of the movie and leaves all the scary parts in the film, it doesn't give too much away and I myself have seen the film and really enjoyed it.
Thinking a little bit about the mise-en-scene of the film, the costumes used on Jennifer are all very 'sexy high school girl' types of clothing, Needy on the other hand had more sensible clothes on, the fact that Jennifer wears a more 'cute' clothes makes her more appealing to the opposite sex, which will lure in a bigger male audience.

The locations used in the trailer are most of the time dark, as it's a horror film that makes sense, and at the humor parts there was more light, again making sense.