Trailer Treatment

The trailer commences with an extreme zoom, showing a map of England, accompanied by the non-diagetic music that is connotative of American ‘Honky Tonk’, which was our initial intention. We aimed to create a sense of mystery with the establishing shot, by showing a small part of the subject to create an enigma for the audience. As the shot begins to slowly zoom out, a non-diagetic voice over states that this is the ‘small town of Bell Buckle, Tennessee’ thus, along with the close up of England, forebodes of the plot to the audience, suggesting that they are presently in America but will end up in England. As the slow zoom brings the shot into focus and becomes a bird’s eye mid shot, we see that the extreme close up was of a globe, connoting travel. Furthermore, the soft voice over informs us that ‘two young girls’ are about to make ‘the biggest decision of their lives…it was time for a change’ as the scene dissolves to a mid to close up of the globe. After a brief pause, a hand comes into the shot and spins the globe, informing the audience that there are people present. The shot slowly zooms out again and becomes an over the shoulder shot of a female character sat spinning the globe. The mise-en-scene is bright and colourful thus connotes happiness and fun.
Continuity editing brings another mid shot into scene via slide transition, which now shows two female characters. The two shot shows an over the shoulder view of the globe being pointed at, suggesting to the audience that the two girls are planning on going to wherever they may be pointing. This idea is reinforced by the diagetic dialogue as one of the protagonists states that they are ‘going to England’. The shot then jumps to another mid shot that shows the protagonists jumping up in excitement and high fiving, thus demonstrates to the audience that this is an adventure. There is then a freeze, where edited text appears that displays the character’s names, thus helping to establish the connection with the audience. Meanwhile the voice over informs us that they are ‘two best friends’ and we gather that the film will include some fun highlights about friendship.
After the text has faded out and the scene jumps back into motion, there is a jump to a shot of the sky with the diagetic sound of a plane flying over head during a short pause in the music, therefore helping to show that the two girls have flown to their destination. The music commences again as the plane noise fades out and the scene slides to a mid shot of a nice wooded area with light pleasantly shining through the leaves. Parallel to this, we hear narrative from one of the protagonists exclaiming ‘Ain’t it perdy!’ As the next shot slides in we see a darker wood, with over grown vegetation that is accompanied by a transactional response from the other protagonist who states ‘Are you kidding me?’ This helps to reiterate the comedy genre as it suggests that the protagonists are to stay in the wilder wood, rather than the one portrayed in the brochure. There is then a revolving transition to symbolise the movement of the camera to now show the two protagonists from a low angled shot, thus reinforcing that the previous shot was a point of view. Furthermore, we can now see that they are holding a picture of the beautiful wood and their disappointed facial expressions inform us that they have been tricked by false photography of the campsite.
As the shot revolves again we get a long to mid shot of the two protagonists standing over what appears to be a pile of fabric, with one of the characters stating ‘Right then’ as they bend down and start to rearrange the fabric which we assume to be a tent. The mise-en-scene is connoting of stereotypical English weather and the costumes of both characters suggest that they were not expecting the cold weather. Furthermore, the narrative implies that to put up the tent is going to be a comedic struggle and to reinforce this, the voice over states that they will face ‘many obstacles’. The scene then fades into a mid shot of the protagonists standing by a poorly set up tent. The composition appears darker, connoting that it has taken them a while to put the tent together. As the music climaxes again, we see the tent fall down in the wind, as one of the girls states ‘I think we did it wrong’, thus adding to the comedy.
The scene fades out and up on a mid shot of the poorly erected tent, with the dark composition it implies that the protagonists are inside the tent. This is further supported by the fade to a close up of the two girls inside the tent from a high angled shot, saying ‘Good Night’ to one another. Following this is a worm’s eye of the moon, accompanied with the diagetic sound of an owl hooting to connote the dead of night to the audience. The shot transitions into another high angled shot of the two protagonists in the tent, with a brighter composition to illustrate that it is now morning. As it does so, diagetic sound fades in that elicits parallel action as it is not coming from the two characters in shot. The narrative finds Charlene asking Brandene ‘What is that noise?’ to which she responds ‘I don’t know’. The shot jumps to a mid shot of the female protagonist peering out of their tent, looking at something that the audience are no privy to, thus creating suspense. After this there is a transition to a mid shot of woman dancing and singing ‘save the trees’, the narrative, along with the mise-en-scene portray the woman as a stereotypical hippy. Her bright costume is connotative of happiness, thus fitting with the conventions of the comedy genre. To stress the action genre, there is a slide to a close up of man who, down to the narrative, we learn is German. Due to his negative face and voice we interpret that he will cause some conflict within the film, thus action. At this, the shot slides back to the hippy that raises her fingers in the symbolic reference of peace and runs away. In the mean time, the voice over has been further enforcing the action comedy genre by stating that the girls will meet some ‘fruitful characters…or just crazy’.
The scene then fades to a long shot of the two protagonists walking through the forest, heading toward the camera. The mise-en-scene connotes a dreary place, creating comedy as it greatly contrasts with the protagonist’s bright costumes. As the characters near the camera, they stop making it a mid shot, there is then diagetic dialogue as Charlene states ‘Brandene, I didn’t bring no pants’, thus adding to the comedy genre. To further the comedy of being in summery clothes in a cold place, there is a worm’s eye shot of the dark sky. The scene then transitions to a long shot of a man walking through a forest, with one of the female protagonists out of focus at the side of the shot. The connotations of this shot are that the protagonists are hiding from this man and, as the shot pans to follow the man walking along; we see that he is also looking around, hinting at action in the trailer. Following this is a high angled mid shot of the protagonists crouching down behind the bush then planning to run, as they stand up and run past the camera, it slightly tracks them before fading to a close up of the two girls smiling with a microphone in the forefront. The two shot helps to connote a happy ending, as the diagetic sound states ‘And here we meet our foreign heroes’.
There is then a cut to a low angled two shot of the protagonists with their backs to the camera, facing the woods. The mise-en-scene, showing them with their bags on their backs implies to the audience that they are about to travel home, this is reinforced by the dialogue as Charlene states ‘Brandene, I don’t wana go home’. The scene fades to the title, which is connotative of travel due to the canvas the text is written on. The music slowly fades as the voice over states the title.
The scene fades back to a mid shot of four characters hugging, in a brightly coloured setting. This implies that they are in a warm place, furthermore the dialogue of the characters hears one warning ‘Be careful’, to which Charlene replies ‘Oh we will momma’, leading us to believe that they are at home and that this is an analeptic shot from before they went to England. Charlene then persists to turn and leave but suddenly falls out of shot, to which we hear a diagetic thud and assume she has fell over. This helps to finally enforce the comedy genre before fading to another canvas of text stating the release date as the music fades back in then climaxes.