During the production of my film trailer i felt an important factor in creating an effective piece of cinematography was the following of narrative theory. This makes it easy for the viewer to follow what is happening in the trailer as well as making it apply to the existing film market and make it common to existing film trailers such as Taken and Harry Brown. In particular my trailer follows the narrative theory of Todorov, this is the idea that during most stories/fairytales there are certain stages in which the society represented is peaceful, in a state of equilibrium, the equilibrium is disturbed, there is a power struggle to restore peace and peace is then restored. restored. Below are the stages which Todorov mentions in his theory but applied to my own trailer:
The initial state of equilibrium:
In relation to the storyline of the full film this initial shot would not be considered an initial state of equilibrium as, in some ways, this signals the beginning of the anarchy and the disturbance of peace. However, in terms of the short trailer itself this is the only stage in which there is a sense of peace and calm, however, the sound used throughout this scene gives the idea that there is soon to be an event which disturbs this peace. Todorov presents the idea that in stories/ fairytales this state of peace is what the characters strive for throughout, in relation to my film trailer, the characters are constantly seeking a solution to their conflict, in this case, it appears from the trailer that the characters resort to violence to settle the matter.
The event/ disturbance:
Todorov points out that this stage of a storyline is the most important in shaping the rest of the story. This stage is where the equilibrium is disturbed, Todorov talks of a particular ‘event’ which disturbs equilibrium within the story, above is a screenshot taken from a scene in my trailer which applies to this stage of Todorov’s theory. At this point in my trailer the villains become angry as it appears the antagonist has deceived them, peace is disturbed and conflict becomes the main focus of the story.
The Power struggle:
At this stage in Todorov’s theory he talks about the characters within the story attempting to restore equilibrium by searching for a solution to the conflict or lack of piece an din the scene which the above image is taken from, the two characters are seen planning to take revenge on another character, their solution to the conflict. In this stage of Todorov’s theory, he talks if to forces battling to restore equilibrium, above shows two sceenshots from my trailer showing this stage in practice, the two forces plotting or finding a solution to restore equilibrium.
Jordan Bell's media blog 