Trailer Analysis

What techniques does this trailer use to persuade an audience to see the film?

There are many techniques that the Footloose trailer uses to persuade the audience to see the film.
As the first technique is semiotics, as from the institution logo at the beginning of the trailer we see “Mtv films” being shown. Which triggers a sense of expectations in the audiences as mind as “Mtv” is associated with music and youth as previously they have done films such as “Freedom Writers” and “Dance flick” which were both youth centric , and one of them were about music and dancing. As also brand loyal audiences of Mtv will be attracted to watch the movie.

Furthermore for the non-diegetic sound. we see at that the original soundtrack of Footloose is used at the beginning of the trailer and also the old fashioned beetle car. Which tells the audience it’s a remake and also shows a sense of nostalgia. As older audiences will be attracted to see the movie as they might have seen the original one encouraging them to see the new remake and “relive the moment” as they also use scenes from the older version e.g angry dance, train scene. However later in the trailer we see more contemporary music used as this helps for them persuade a younger audience to see the movie, as even though it’s a remake it has a “new modern twist” to it, helping them identify with the lifestyle.

Another way they use to persuade the audience to see the movie is through, the religious view and also the parental concern. As in the trailer we see the main protagonists in a church and even them talking to a reverend. Reflecting conservative and religious view on topics. Also we see a group of teenagers being killed and later parents talking about their children’s safety. Which helps parents and typical nuclear families identify with these values of being constantly concerned on their child’s safety and also a more conservative American audience will be able to identify with these values e.g nuclear families, Sunday church, family dinner. Such as “traditionalists” who like to follow traditional values and behaviours and a sense of “fear of the other” as how the main protagonist comes from another town and wants to change the “laws”. However there is a sense of binary opposition as young vs. old values as later in the trailer we see how the young people fight back and fight for their rights, which persuade the younger audience to watch the movie as they feel they can identify with the behaviour and also “innovators” who are risk takers and who want to achieve targets will be able to identify as in the movie the kids talk about “overcoming the dance ban” showing how they want to achieve the target.

They also use things such as cross media, as at the end we see how you can go on twitter and hash tag footloose reflecting social integrative needs as it helps people interact with each other and talk about the movie, increasing the “hype” of the movie and showing a sense of viral marketing which keeps the movie on their mind and persuading them to see it. Also we see them using editing as to reflect the mood of the trailer as for example the dance at the beginning quick editing but for the sad funeral scene fade in’s, as we also see in the trailer Todorov’s narrative theory being used as at the beginning everyone’s happy dancing but then we see death and the law on no dancing, but then Ren coming to change that.