The Stages of Comedy Film Trailers and Their Functions Framework -- DA #2

Comedy Film Trailers

Implicit Promotional

Prologue

The prologue can be defined as the “hook” of the trailer that contributes to the function of the beginning scenes (Paltridge 318).

Booksmart: In this case, the hook is illustrated as a conversation between two female characters discussing the problem of how Amy (one of the female characters) has never kissed a girl, despite her coming out about her sexuality two years prior. The conversation between these two girls is a short clip but gives the audience a general idea of the age they’re targeting, based on the subject of the problem mentioned and whom it relates to, while also introducing the viewers to the type of humor the characters utilize.

17 Again: The hook for this trailer immediately dives into a foil character outlining the issues currently facing the male main character. This prefaces the following actions that will prompt the main character to undergo the significant turning point of the story.

Orientation

Orientation is the film's contextualization that displays the story's situation (Paltridge 319).

Booksmart: Halfway through the trailer, included is a scene where the two female characters debate their lack of “partying” in high school because they were solely focused on their academic studies. This provides context as to what goal they will be trying to achieve during the film and why they find purpose or meaning in doing so. The goal is essentially for the two to attend a party before they graduate, and the meaning behind this accomplishment is to demonstrate to their peers that they are fun and can break rules, despite their school-oriented behavior.

17 Again: The hook simultaneously provides context for the viewers to understand the general status of the main character while also introducing other key personalities, such as his wife and kids. After familiarizing the audience with these individuals, the trailer sets the situation of the story by displaying a scene where the main male becomes seventeen years old again as a result of his wish to “do it all over again.” The storyline now focuses on the journey of the main male character navigating his life as a seventeen-year-old boy.

Complication

A complication is an introduction of a disruptive action that presents tension to make the story more interesting (Paltridge 319).

Booksmart: While it is not apparent of any overarching problem that shifts the plot of the story within the trailer, other than the central issue of the characters’ need to party, it does include a few clips from scenes that indicate small troubles the two characters run into during the pursuance of this intended goal. These scenes are placed sequentially after the contextualization is introduced to exemplify the film's entertaining and humorous aspects that contribute to achieving the goal. For example, this can be illustrated in the clipped scene where one of the female characters is handcuffed and forced into the back of a police car.

17 Again: The complication presented in this trailer can be understood as the moment where the character undergoes backward aging. While this event acts as an initial problem for the character, the trailer also portrays the situation as a possible second chance for the character to reverse the issues mentioned in the hook, followed by the humorous incidents that were additionally a result.

Evaluation

Evaluation is defined as the process of interpreting specific events or outcomes and how they apply to the context of culture (Paltridge 319).

Booksmart: The elements I’ve discussed above all act in unison to highlight the comedic aspects that make up the relatable, yet intriguing storyline to lock the intended audience's attention. The audience is most likely targeting young female adults who can personally connect with the orientation of the trailer, thus a demographic similar to that of the two main characters.

17 Again: These elements appear in order of each other, where one directly leads into or contributes to the next stage. The opening scenes seemingly aim to cater to a middle-aged audience, however, later shift to a younger high-school audience after the age reverse clip. The level of humor used and the various scenes illustrating the different experiences the main character must deal with maintain an appeal to both these age groups throughout the trailer.

Explicit Promotional

Promotional Identification

Promotional Identification can be defined as the foreground meaning of the film company, such as meaningfully crediting the directors and actors (Paltridge 319).

Booksmart: Included in the trailer were title screens labeled “from executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay” and “the directorial debut of Olivia Wilde” to highlight the contemporarily popular names that make up the production of the film.

17 Again: Towards the end of the trailer, the narrator highlights Zac Efron’s feature in the film by stating his name with an attached title text to a sole shot of the actor. This was purposefully structured to signify the starring of a well-known actor during this time who especially catered to the taste of their younger target audience.

Promotional Recapitulation

Promotional recapitulation introduces new orientation information from an evaluative point of view (Paltridge 319).

Booksmart: The scene that provides contextualization begins with one of the characters stating, “we have to go to a party tonight…nobody knows we’re fun,” to immediately highlight the goal the characters will pursue. Arriving to this point quickly thus informs the audience of the story basis while the trailer still has their attention. After stating the goal, the character proceeds to issue a rationale behind this goal that illustrates the behavior and identity these characters have.

17 Again: Directly following the hook, the narrator announces, “Mike O’Donnell is at an age when life seems to have passed him by.” The narrator forms these explicit context indicators throughout the trailer by explaining the scenes from an analytical perspective. Rather than restating exactly what is happening during the scenes, the narrator offers commentary to persuade the viewer to understand these clips' intended meaning and purpose.

Promotional Interpretation

Promotional interpretation explains the film's possible impacts on the viewers (Paltridge 319).

Booksmart: The social context of this film appears to fit within our current cultural environment, framing the scenes to cater relevancy most likely to Generation Z. Notable qualities of the trailer that contribute to its relatable targeting strategy includes the overall purpose behind the characters’ actions, the age-specific comedic jokes, the slang utilized, as well as the small complications the characters appear to face as young women. This may allow viewers to feel widely connected and accepted for facing similar issues to the main characters.

17 Again: This trailer reaches both younger and older audiences by connecting through relatable issues that these sectors face. In the last minute of the trailer, Zac Efron says the line “when you’re young everything feels like the end of the world, but it’s not, it’s just the beginning.” This line was included to relate with teens by acknowledging this common feeling that their age groups tend to dwell on, while also touching the older audience through the relatable reassurance that this is only the beginning compared to what will be faced later in life.

Promotional Recommendation

Promotional recommendation is a non-diegetic language that encourages the viewers to view the entire film (Paltridge 319).

Booksmart: While this trailer contained the method of name-dropping recognizable figures to promote the film's credibility, there was no additional language with a similar purpose.

17 Again: This trailer does not include any apparent non-diegetic information that promotes the full viewing of the film.

Promotional Information

Promotional information introduces extra non-diegetic information about how and where to navigationally access the film (Paltridge 319).

Booksmart: Appearing after the contextualization scene of the trailer is a title slide that reads “this summer” to notify the viewer of the broad time period when the film will be released. Located at the end of the trailer are four title slides presenting the film title, writer, and other attributed credits, and a set of text with the line “memorial day weekend,” to provide a narrower release date for the interested viewers.

17 Again: This trailer also does not include any specific non-diegetic navigational details that direct the viewer on how to access the full film.

Tentative Assertions About the Genre:
I noted multiple similarities when conducting both comedy film trailers' evaluations and promotional interpretations. Both trailers intend to appear relatable to their younger generational target audience through the inclusion of catered comedic jokes, issues this consumer segment personally understands, and the overall language choice utilized to adhere to a "coming of age" genre. The stage structure of these trailers is also similar in the way they first provide a brief insight into the characters’ personalities, emphasizing the context of the main characters’ issue at hand, and then following with scenes of the efforts they make to accommodate this issue and attain a goal. While both trailers maintain a similar audience, it is interesting to see how the different social and political environments contribute to the style of jokes and the increased maturity needed to understand modern-day comedy for this age group. In addition, the Booksmart trailer offered a more non-diegetic meaning that urged the viewers to interpret the meaning on their own, while the meaning behind the trailer for 17 Again was explicitly outlined by the narrator.

Reflection:
When choosing these comedy film trailers, I had the intention of highlighting one female-centric contemporary example in contrast to an older male-dominated example, however, both with similar target audiences. Due to the socially constructed gender dichotomy present in society, the stereotype that women are not funny is commonly discussed. These trailers were for films that I knew were both popularly successful and targeted young adults and their related issues, though released a decade apart and therefore in different social contexts. I was interested in exploring how these social contexts may affect the nature of the events contributing to the story's situation, as well as the language chosen to convey the comedy aspects. While I believe that the issues addressed in these trailers are applicable across both these time periods conversely, I think that Booksmart considered the value of inclusivity and political factors at a greater length than 17 Again due to the expectations of our current social climate.