Term 3 Trailer Prep

AMERICAN SNIPER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99k3u9ay1gs

BLUE VALENTINE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oiY7W7nDeE

Your task is to explain how the trailer has achieved the film-maker’s goal

•What is the goal?

•To persuade us to go and see the film

•To build tension

•To build intrigue

•To give us a clear idea of the narrative

•To make us feel on the side of certain characters

Term 3 Film Trailer Exam prep - Example Essay

67% Crit A
67% Crit D

The film-maker cuts to a point-of-view shot through the scope of the gun. Not only does this position us in his shoes – proving that it is a very difficult job, but we are focused only on the potential enemies. We are shocked when the young boy and woman appear. The confusion and indecision is confirmed with the sniper’s facial expression. He is clearly struggling to make the decision.  We are persuaded to watch the film because we want a resolution to this issue and to find out whether he shoots or not as well as the consequences of this decision. The final shot of the extreme close up on the trigger hints at the decision we realise will have massive consequences mentally.

The uses of the flash-back technique to highlight his life also make us feel on the side of the sniper. We can determine that he has a wife at home and a young child. These close-up shots of the birth of his child coincide with the decision of whether to shoot this mother and child in the war zone. This reinforces the feeling of tension and fear for the sniper. There is clear distress at home with the shots of his wife in tears and the fearful expression on his face when he is holding his own child.

The pace of shots speeds up in the second half of the trailer. This happens at the same time as a heavy heart beat sound effect increases in tempo. These non-diegetic sounds, combined with the rapid images of him visiting someone in hospital, travelling back on a plane surrounded by coffins and enjoying normal family time at home all create the feeling that he will face difficult decisions in the film and we as the audience want a resolution.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

The shot of the sniper travelling home on the plane includes the framing of the coffins covered with the American flag. This appears to be very patriotic and we understand that it will be a proud, nationalistic movie. Furthermore, the lighting is such that we just see the outline silhouette of his head as his face is in darkness. This could represent the darkness he feels having made the decision.

The peaceful quiet before the mother and son appear through the POV shot could highlight how quickly the war can turn. This shows that it will be an exciting film as we do not know what will happen next. It seems to be unpredictable which is important for a movie about war.

The mixture of shots showing his normal life back home and his life as a soldier reinforce the idea that we need to empathise with this character. We see the dreadful effect that war can have when you return from war. Through the simultaneous shots of his own son and the son he may well have to kill we understand how impossible the situation really is and how troublesome the results could be for an individual. We may want to go and see the film to gain an understanding of how to deal with these situations. 

Structures for Film/Book Analysis exam

• During this part of the film…
• This relates to _______ in chapter ______
• It appears that…
• Through the use of ____(film term)____
• The filmmaker gives us the impression that…
• The writer gives us a (similar/different/slightly more/less/ more romantic) presentation/description.
• It is clear to see that the characters at this point in the film…
• The presentation of these characters in the novel is …
• The relationship is portrayed as being…
• The interaction between ______ and _____ is more/less…
• The idea that _______ is ________ is backed up/support further in the novel/film by….
• The audience/reader is given the impression that…
• This makes us feel…
• Having read the book/ film, this portrayal of characters goes against/ backs up our stance/viewpoint because… _____(important to prove your point). Quote the text and explain the film (mise-en-scene)

Practice: Stair Climb in The Shining

Film Clip

Extract from novel

Six steps up she had to rest, her head down, her blond hair coiled on and over

the banister. Air whistled painfully through her throat, as if it had grown

barbs. Her right side was a swollen, hot mass.

 (Come on Wendy come on old girl get a locked door behind you and then look at

the damage thirteen more to go not so bad. And when you get to the upstairs

corridor you can crawl. I give my permission.)

 She drew in as much breath as her broken ribs would allow and half-pulled,

half-fell up another riser. And another.

 She was on the ninth, almost halfway up, when Jack's voice came from behind

and below her. He said thickly: "You bitch. You killed me."

 Terror as black as midnight swept through her. She looked over her shoulder

and saw Jack getting slowly to his feet.

 His back was bowed over, and she could see the handle of the kitchen knife

sticking out of it. His eyes seemed to have contracted, almost to have lost

themselves in the pale, sagging folds of the skin around them. He was grasping

the rogue mallet loosely in his left hand. The end of it was bloody. A scrap of

her pink terrycloth robe stuck almost in the centre.

 "I'll give you your medicine," he whispered, and began to stagger toward the

stairs.

 Whimpering with fear, she began to pull herself upward again. Ten steps, a

dozen, a baker's dozen. But still the first-floor hallway looked as far above

her as an unattainable mountain peak. She was panting now, her side shrieking in

protest. Her hair swung wildly back and forth in front of her face. Sweat stung

her eyes. The ticking of the doomed clock in the ballroom seemed to fill her

cars, and counterpointing it, Jack's panting, agonized gasps as he began to

mount the stairs.

Film Vocab for Assessment

Film Fridays VOCAB for analyses

Key word tranformation

Revise these for a test on Monday 4th May 

Reported speech

http://www.autoenglish.org/FCEUse/ReportedSpeechTransformations.htm

Passive voice

http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/fce/students/strategy/transfrm/passive2.htm

Third conditional

http://www.autoenglish.org/tenses/thirdconditional.htm

Phrasal verbs

http://www.autoenglish.org/FCEUse/PhrasalVerbTransformations.htm

Exercises for the test...

https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/reported-speech/exercises?04

http://www.autoenglish.org/FCEUse/ReportedSpeechTransformations.htm

http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/fce/students/strategy/transfrm/passive2.htm

https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/reported-speech/exercises?03

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/reported_speech/backshift.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/active_passive/sentences_simple_past.htm

Gerunds and Infinitives TEST 2

http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/

Vocab Test on Monday

Corrections - OMAM


Poetry Exam Mistakes


We will have a vocab test on Monday for these mistakes and errors from Term 2. 
These vocab tests in T3 will count for AIE and an average grade for Crit D.