Analysing Teaser Trailers - The Social Network

Camera angle, movement, position
There is barely any camera movement in this trailer because it is mostly titles. The only camera movement could be counted as the pixel appearing on screen, getting smaller as each title appears as the camera zooms out from the picture. At the end of the trailer the camera zooms right out revealing more and more of the image as the pixels become clearer, revealing the picture on the actor playing Mark Zukerberg. First we see the eye as the titles still appear, until the face becomes clearer and clearer.

Sound
This teaser trailer almost relies completely on sound. There is a voice over from clips of the movie playing over the titles as they appear. They are paired with appropriate titles to give higher impact and suggest the story line. There is also a loud droning that hits every time a title appears. All the people speaking have American accents so we can tell this is an American film.The first noise we hear is of the first voice over of a man, the screen still blank "we have an idea we'd like to talk to you about". With the loud drone PUNK appears on screen, drawing the audience in. There is then the sound of typing on a keyboard as PUNK remains on screen "it's gonna be online any second" we hear in another man's voice. The audience puts these words and the sound of the keyboard together, telling them it's going to be something to do with technology and the internet. At this point the pixels start appearing on screen. We then hear the same man speaking "this is gonna be new" and then another man replying immediately afterwards "so who shall we send it to first?" The other man then speaks again "first it's just gonna be a couple of people, question is, who are they going to send it to?" When the next titles fades in GENIUS the drone hits again. This time we hear a woman's voice "they say it got 2200 hits within two hours". The man's voice we heard before buts in quickly "thousand. 22000." He sounds stern and serious as he corrects her. The use of figures lures the audience in even further as they begin to wonder what they are talking about. The next title fades in with another drone PROPHET. Another man's voice is then heard, it is difficult to determine who is speaking, apart from the man who speaks the most and corrected the girl. He says "They don't want you they want your idea." Straight after we hear another man speak "We don't know what it can be, we don't know what it will be, we know that it is cool." More and more is revealed as the people speak, drawing the audience further and further in, making them want to hear more. The next title fades in with another drone "TRAITOR". We then hear a man shouting, he is very angry "We'll SUE him in federal court". The next voice is then heard, again immediately after "If you guys were the inventors of facebook -" another man cuts in "we invented facebook" he says quietley and angrily, as if through clenched teeth. The other man then speaks again "is there anything you need to tell me?". The BILLIONAIRE fades in with the drone and we hear a man's voice we haven't heard yet "A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? A billion dollars." This relates directley to the title appears. Another man who's voice we heard before speaks again "I can't wait to stand over your shoulder and watch you write us a cheque." Again this is relating to the title showing about money. Once the title fades a man shouts furiously "MARK!" and then the next title "YOU DON'T GET TO 500 MILLION FIRENDS" appears with the same drone. This is where the image starts to become clearer, as I mentioned before. The next title then appears with another drone "WITHOUT MAKING A FEW ENEMIES" . We then hear another man speak, very seriously "Mr Zukerberg, do I have your full attention?". The title fades out. The droning has continued throughout this, one very second. This sound is building tension as more and more of the image is revealed. The audience now know the voice they have been hearing is Mark Zukaberg so when he replies "No" to the other voice, they can tell what sort of character he is. There is then one final drone the drags out once the picture is revealed, allowing us to reflect on who it is. This sound signifies the climax within the trailer, as we can see the image and there is one final noise. This drone continues quietley as the moive title appears with the release date and institutional references.

Mise en Scene

The mise-en-scene of this trailer makes it very serious, the audience can feel the tension building throughout. By us only being able to see the titles and hear voices, it makes it very mysterious and keeps us guessing what is going to happen. I think this simplicity is particulary effective. The background remains black with some pixels appearing with each title, making the trailer appear very dark and serious. The drone we hear with each title also adds to this sincerity and also gives a higher impact on each word that appears on screen. We can hear from the tone of the voices at the beggining that something amazing is happening in the film, and then as the voice grows sterner and angrier we can tell there is an issue. This anger builds until someone shouts "MARK!", creating the first climax. The voices then return to calm and the character Mark Zukaberg is then revealing, but the droning in the background is still building tension until there is a second more dramatic climax as the picture is revealed. This slow reveal again creates mystery throughout, but creates excitment for the audience as they see the picture and hear his name.

Editing

The editing of this trailer is particulary simplistic, but definitley effective. The titles have been editied to fade on to the screen in synch with the drone to create impact. The titles have also been paired with speech that supports them or conradicts them, for example, TRAITOR appears on screen and we hear a man say "we'll SUE him in federal court." This is effective because again, it is giving impact to the title appearing, but it also reveals some of the plot, but not enough for the audience to know what it's about right until the end. This draws the audience in and makes them listen, putting the title and voice together. The pixels get smaller with each title appearing, suggesting they are revealing more each time, but at first the audience can't tell at all what they are. This theme of reveal and the image of the actor playing mark Zukaberg being revealed suggests the film revolves around him. This titles which are adjectives tell the audience they are about a person and makes them wonder who it is, and then there is the reveal at the end of who it is, someone nearly everyone would recognise.

Narrative
The narritive of this trailer and film is based on the true story of how facebook was created. The trailer follows the narratvie of the film through clips of sound from the film. The voices then lead the audience through the story, without giving too much away. It is a story most people will know, so once it is revealed what the film is about, the audience can put all the voices they have heard together. The first voice we hear says "We have an idea..." Facebook started with an idea, so it is clear to the audience this is the point where the actual film is going to start. The tension and excitement then starts to build as the voices discuss who to send it to, then we hear the woman and man talking about how many hits it got. The audience can tell at this point it is about something online. The titles appearing with these voices are also revealing some of the narrative. the voices then start getting angry as they talk about sueing him, and we can tell the thing they are talking about is getting bigger and bigger as they begin to discuss a billion dollars. The voices are revealing that this person the titles are describing is getting sued, and has done something very wrong. The title "YOU DONT GET TO 500 MILLION FRIENDS....WITHOUT MAKING A FEW ENIMIES" sums up the narrative, and then it is revealed what the film is about when mark Zukaberg's name is mentioned.

Character representations
The main character representation throughout the trailer is of Mark Zukaberg. This is mainly through the titles, although the audience aren't quite sure what they are about until the end. The titles are single adjectives, perhaps things people have called him "PUNK" "GENIUS" "PROPHET" "TRAITOR" "BILLIONAIRE". The order of these titles suggest a development of character throughout the trailer. Zukaberg starts as a punk, then people see him as a genius, then a prophet as "his" creation gets bigger, and then a traitor as he betrays two men and his friend, and then billionaire explains his success, telling the audience what he made it to. Mark Zukaberg is made to seem very clever, but also a bad person, as from the voices we can hear people are angry at him. he also seems quite arrogant and cocky as at the end a man sounding official asks "Mr Zukaberg, do I have your full attention" and he replies with a straight "No."

Titles
The titles are a very importamnt part of the trailer alon with the sound. As I mentioned before, they are paired with voices to tell significant parts of the story and create impact. The first title that appears is "PUNK"  in capitals and a bold sans serif font in white. The white makes it stand out against the black background. The word "punk" is what you would call someone young, a trouble maker perhaps. This is suggesting what mark Zukaberg started out as. This is paired with typing sound and "it's gonna be online any second" and then them talking about this "thing" going online and developing. This tells the audience this is from the start of the film, so the title tells them how the character was at the start. The next title is "GENIUS" in the same colour and type face as before. This is paired with "they say it got 2200 hits within two hours" and the voice of Zukaberg cutting in "Thousand. 22000." These figures support the title "GENIUS" and tells the audience that something is developing. The next title is "PROPHET" again in the same type face and colour. The word "prophet" suggests a savour, teacher, as if he was sent from God. It suggests he is gifted and inspiring. At this point the audience think of the character in a very good light. However, the voice over contradicts this title "they don't want you they want your idea." This tells the audience clearly that people want this "prophet's" ideas. After the audience seeing the character the titles are describing in a good light, the next title shows them badly "TRAITOR". This suggest people turned against the person, or they weren't who people thought they were. This is supported by the voice over "we'll SUE him in federal court." The next title "BILLIONAIRE" tells the audience this person made a success out of being a "traitor". The voice over directley supports this title due to the mention of "a billion dollars." The last few titles show the phrase that represents the film, which is also included on the poster as you can see above. The first part of the phrase appears " YOU DON'T GET TO 500 MILLION FRIENDS". The use of italics on 500 million makes the audiecne read this part of the title in an exaggerated way, creating a higher impact on this figure. The audience starts to put together the clues because of the mention of "friends" and perhaps starts to think it is about facebook. The next title then appears "WITHOUT MAKING A FEW ENEMIES". This juxtaposes with the previous title in every way. "A few" is a much smaller figure then "500 million" and "enemies" is the complete opposite of "friends". This makes the enemies sound more important, because surely anyone with 500 million friends cant be close with every one of them. This is true as the 500 million friends if refferring to facebook friends, so it is just people who have got facebook and become "friends" with the creator and have probably never even met him. This reminds me of the saying "keep your friends close and enemies closer" as we can tell from the voice overs "I can't wait to stand over your shoulder" that his enemies are closer than any of his friends. The next title is the film title "the social network" which appears aginst a black background after the image is shown. It is made to look exactly like the facbook logo, the same font and graphics. This makes it very clear to the audience what the film is about, as they have already heard "Mr Zukaberg". This title then cuts to the title "OCTOBER" in the usual type face and colours. The website is also under this title 500millionfirends.com which obviously relates to the representative phrase. The 500 and firends are in blue and million and .com are in white, perhaps to highlight certain words.
Institutional references and logos
At the last shot where the release date and website are shown, there are also some institutional references included here. The logos of SONY and Columbia Pictures are included in white to fit in white the colour scheme and also allow them to be clearly visible against the black background.

Number of shots
This trailer has 10 shots, all of them titles apart from the 8th shot where the camera zooms out to reveal the picture of "Mark Zukaberg". The shots are reasonably short, but lon enough for us to take in the title and reflect on the voice overs. The shots fade between each other, building gradual tension. When the image of mark Zukarberg is visible, this shot doesn't fade to the title of the film, it cuts sharply, and then again to the release date, website and institutional refernces.