Analysing three film trailers: Chicken run, The tigger movie and Pokemon

I am going to look at and analyze three film trailers, Chicken run, The tigger movie and Pokemon. I will look at the trailer structure, its presentation devices and how they are used to persuade particular audiences. I will also look at the use of languages and literary devices.

Firstly the genre of all the films is the same, animation/cartoon comedy but the target audiences are different. Chicken Run’s target audience is adults and older children, Pokemons is children between7 and 13 and The tigger movie is for younger children but also has a secondary audience of Adults who remember Pooh Bear from their childhood

The colors used In the Chicken Run are dark reds greens and browns which is not as appealing to younger children therefore young children are not this trailers target audience, children tend to like bright colors. Adults may have heard of the big names in the film and may want to see the film for this reason, but children are unlikely to have heard of many of the Actors and actresses and may not therefore want to see the film for this reason. The animation used in chicken run is clay animation, it makes the characters look 3D and more real also the characters are given human features which makes them easier for older people to relate to. The overall atmosphere of the trailer is quite comical but it is an adult humor for the target audience.

I believe Pokemon appeals to children between age 7 and 13. The trailer is full of explosions and bright lights with the scenes changing very rapidly this appeals to all the children who are full of energy. Fighting scenes are used often which again creates violence. This trailer may appeal more to boys rather than girls because of the violence and there are not many girl characters shown in the trailer but the film still might be appealing to girls that don’t follow gender stereotype but it won’t appeal to many very young children. Fighting also creates suspense to who wins the goody baddy fight.

The animation used in Pokemon is unlike Chicken Run, Pokemon uses cartoon animation and all the characters are designed to be striking in appearance and many of them have sharp and pointy edges which make them seem violent again and will not appeal to a young audience. The tigger movie also uses cartoon animation but unlike Pokemon the tigger movies characters have rounded shapes and soft colors, which I believe is because there is a younger target audience and the characters seem friendly and happy. The trailer is happy and cute to persuade the target audience and the trailer tells you that the film is about family and friends, which is appealing to everyone because it is a social construction, we have been brought up with family and friends. This is especially appealing to young children because at that age the most important things in their lives are their family and friends.

The visual effects In the chicken run gives a prison like atmosphere with fences and barbed wire around the chickens which is a clue to the story line about the chickens escaping from their owners. The background is always gloomy, this builds up tension which will persuade the target audience to watch it but will not appeal to young children because they like bright colors.

There are lots of clues to the story line in pokemons visual effects more than the other trailers, this is very effective because although it gives away clues, it still leaves the children with some unanswered questions. The children see one of the characters crying and will want to know why, they will want to know who wins the goody baddy fight that is shown. In addition to this there is clues that the film is quite violent because of all the fighting scenes and the explosions and flashes of light.

The tigger movie trailer is also very effective in persuading its target audience, the characters are always smiling which lets you know that the film is very happy and nice. All the backgrounds are soft reds oranges and yellows they are very warm colors which makes everyone feel nice and happy. The clips of the film flow together nicely and are mainly slow moving apart from one clip at the beginning which sort of flashes on and off, this will get the audiences attention and make them interested in watching the rest of the trailer.

The sound effects in the chicken run are the least effective I think. The background music is army like and not very memorable but it does set the scene. The voice over tells us the story line, backs up the visual effects, fills in the gaps where music might have been and gives us information about the makers and the big names in the film.

The tigger movie uses two different types of music and they go very well with the visual effects, at first the music is very happy and up tempo again to get the audiences attention but then the music slows down to a ballad with lyrics that tell the story line. The voice over uses a very soft, melodic voice, which gets the children to pay attention

Pokemon starts off with no music just a voice over but a very effective voiceover, he has a very aggressive voice that creates tension and it tries to involve the audience by welcoming them “welcome to the stadium” and telling them to “bring all your skills.” This is the only film out of the three that has a soundtrack and during the trailer it uses a dance tune from the soundtrack that people may recognize. The dance tune is also very up beat and makes the trailer very exciting.

The chicken run uses lots of big name actors and producers to persuade the target audience to watch the film, because the target audience is adults and older children the audience will remember the actors from their favorite films and programs. If they hear that these actors are in this film it will be effective in making them go and see it. Mel Gibson is mentioned and because he has never been in a cartoon before people may want to see him do a different kind of film. It tells you that the producers of wallace and gromit made this movie and the wallace and gromit films are very popular so this is like using another film that people may have seen and enjoyed to persuade the target audience.

The Pokemon movie doesn’t use any big stars or producers to persuade the audience but the characters are quite well known by most of the target audience (children aged 7-13). If the children have watched the Pokemon on television and liked it then they will want to see a whole movie about them.

The characters in the Tigger movie are extremely famous worldwide and by most age groups this is obviously a big persuasion to all audiences not just the target audience. We are told that the tigger movie is made by Walt Disney, this too is a very famous name with a very good reputation for making good children’s films. People that will be taking the young children (the target audience) to see the film will be certain that the film will be well made.

The chicken run identifies a gender divide both ways, we see rocky, a male chicken coming to rescue all the female chickens from the farmers. We also see the opposite of the men being more capable than women stereotype because we see Mrs. Tweedy shouting at Mr. tweedy and bossing him around we also see him obeying her.

The Pokemon movie identifies a gender bias. All of the Pokemon creatures are male apart from 2 or 3 and all the Pokemon trainer we see are boys apart from one girl that is dressed like a boy. This trailer was obviously aimed at boys more than girls which could work against the makers of the film because girls wont want to see the film and therefore they have shortened their market.

The tigger movie identifies the importance of family and friendship, which is very persuasive to its target audience, because for young children family and friendship are the biggest things in their lives. Also the secondary audience of people that remember the characters from when they were young will remember that tigger didn’t have a family with a mum or brothers and sisters and will want to see the tigger family that is talked about in the trailer.

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