Film Title: The Duff (2015) Trailer Length: 1:35 Director: Ari Sandall Release Date: 6th April 2015 Certificate: PG Genre: Chick Flick Production company: CBS Distribution Company: Universal Pictures Budget: $8,500,000 Opening Weekend: $10,809,149 Gross: $34,017,854 The trailer begins with the green coloured plate of the MPAA (Motion Picture of American Association) that has been ‘APPROVED for APPROPRIATE AUDIENCES’, which is conventional of a film trailer. However, significantly it is not a red band preview, this would mean the film has a restricted audience, possibly due to violence or bad language, both which are not common in the genre of chick flick, and therefore having a green band supports the common themes within this genre.
After this, the films production compny is shown ‘CBS’. CBS is commonoly associated with independent films, and so the audience can expect the film tp be of a lower budget, possibly to focus on narrative and character development rather than attracing audiences through A-list stars and SFX as the film doesn’t have the finsncial support to invest in such things. However, the film regulayl uses a close up of star bella Thorne, highlight audience’s attention to the A-list star, and may surprise audiences to see such a well known star in an independent film. This could increase potential audiences as Fans of Bella Thorne may watch the film due to her starring in it, and through uses and gratfications of personal idnentifty, whereby fans may watch the film to feel they personally know the star on a one to one level, reinforced trough the regular close ups within the film whereby the star uses direct mode of address, looking into the camera, as thorugh looking at audience members personally. However, although having such a big star may subvert the conventions of a typical independent film trailer, it does support the genre of chick flick’s, and in many ways the audience may expect to see a star such as Bella as she is commonly known for starring in ‘Pitch Perfect’, also a chic flick / musical and so is often associated with this genre, therefore making it clear to audiences that the genre could be chic flick through Richard Dyers Star Persona. The film then introduces the characters through the use of a voiceover, labelling the different individuals in the high school as ‘jock, geek, rocker and mean girls’. It is firstly conventional of a chick flick to include these stereotypical groups within a school. In addition, introducing the characters is a common theme in all trailers and also supports the it being an independent film in that they heavily focus on characters and narrative, rather than SFX for example to attract audiences. Alongside this non-diegetic dialogue, the labels of these characters are written by the individual, written in a pink text. The colour pink is regularly used in trailer credits and text in chick flick’s, and so supports the genre. The colour is also the colour of universal love of oneself and of others, which the main theme of the narrative of the film as the main protagonist is told she is the ‘DUFF’, and the trailer then shows her attempt to change this. Pink is regularly shown during this journey, for example there is a long shot in the trailer of a shop, in the main protagonists attempt to buy new clothes and change her look. The long shot allows the audience to see the colours of the walls are pink, and so again reinforces the main protagonists desire to love herself, and supports the narrative of the film.
The use of a voiceover again supports uses and gratifications of personal identity as it is said by the main protagonist, and so the audience see the world through her thought and feelings, feeling as though they personally know her and may watch the film to support her as though a friend or family member that they know well. The trailer then tries to show the audience a view from other chharacters, using a tilt up of the main protagonist, from feet up to chest, as though looking her up and own. This suggests the theme of feeling judged within a high school, as the audience are almost judging her choice of clothing (dungarees), which varies to the other charcaters within the play ho choose more feminine clothing such as skirts and dresses. The audience also experience different levels during the tilt, starting from below the main protagonist, being of a lower level, until almost equal with her as they gain power in getting higher up to eye level. This is also to represent the different levels within a high school, the stereotypical levels of popularity that are often shown wihin achick flick as many are set in school locations such as in ‘The DUFF’.
Thrghout the trailer, non – diegetic, upbeat music is played, which is common music of a chick flick, and contrasts to other genres such as horror that I have found tend to use more dark, sinister and eerie music. At the end of the trailer, the film shows the release time ‘THIS SUMMER’. This helps the audience know when the film will be released so they can begi to make plans over summer. It also creates a level of enigma as the audience may choose to keep engaged with the film, regularly checking closer to the time to find out the exact release date. This is made possible through the film also showing the website ‘www.theduffmovie.com’ and twitter hashtag ‘#theduff’, giving the audience a platform to search for the film after the trailer to check for updates on the release date. Further engaging the audience will increase their interest in the film, and may lead to a larger possible audience than if the exact release date was told in the trailer as there would be no questions the audience would want to find the answer to, meaning they may not be intrigued to further explore the film online, possibly loosing interest / forgetting about the film.