The amazing Spiderman

Task 3: Media products and their audiences.

The amazing spider man -

By Lucy Storrie

I chose the film trailer The Amazing Spiderman which is classed in the Action/Adventure genre. This gives you a sense that the trailer is going to be fast paced. Action genres are normally target at males who enjoy the thrill of it all; it will also be targeted at the Marvel franchise as the comics and original are widely popular. However with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone taking the leading roles it can attract many female audiences that wouldn’t have thought of watching the film before. The Amazing Spiderman gathers a mass audience rather than a niche one as it has already gathered a fan base before the movie was made from the comics and the original.  Because it gathers mass audiences it will also the psychographic group of mainstreamers, of people who follow the crowd as if their friends will go they will most likely go even if they haven’t heard of the film. It will also gather the socio-economic groups of C1/C2-E as it gathers working class societies who like the simple action movies rather than having to think about what’s going on.

The trailer shows you teasers following the life of Peter Parker in a single strand narrative, where it follows only him, instead of breaking off onto multiple characters.  It starts off showing us an overview of New York, showing a very upper class living for an ordinary family, New York creates the sense of a high class life as it known among some of the most popular cities of the world.
Some of the iconography in the trailer includes the iconic things such as the Spiderman symbol, webs, for Spiderman fans as these are symbols connected with Spiderman and are instantly recognisable. Along with police, guns etc... However there are two that seem to contrast each other, the high school and Peter’s normal life where he doesn’t seem to fit in, instead he is bullied. Then the science lab where he is accepted and his work is praised by those who are considered greater than him. This tells the audience that he isn’t just your typical teenager; instead he is trying to find his past.
In the trailer there is diagetic and non diagetic sounds such as the music is non diagetic, the music builds with the pace of the trailer, as we see his life changing and more happening the music becomes more intense, this builds on the action genre it is under as if it was slow paced and uplifting their audience would be put off, however in some cases it can create tension.
The diagetic sounds are the acting and noises that were already in the scene for example sirens and gun shots that are kept in under the music. This helps set the atmosphere for the audience and to create a sense of realism.

As the trailer continuous there is a shot of Peter as a child looking into a window, it then flashes to present day stood in the same way. This enigma could have many different meanings such as the fact he is still that little boy that has unanswered questions, along with the audience watching the trailer.  It also draws the audience in and leaves them thinking what happened, and what’s changed?

Other enigmas in the opening trailer are things such as he is mentioned to live with his uncle and auntie, then he find belongings of his dads, leaving the audience to wonder where his actual parents are and what happened? These enigmas draw audiences’ in and make them want to watch the whole film. They are like teasers there to reel the audience in revealing only half a secret.
Propps theory can also draw audiences in as many like the Hero v Villain style of action movies, who end up saving the princess from some disaster, which is a binary opposition. These stock characters are what some audiences look for in movies, so when they are shown in the trailer for example Spiderman being the hero and Gwen Stacey being the princess who also in the trailer seems to be a bit of a helper, being the only one to know Spiderman’s secret. Then The Lizard is seen as Spiderman’s villain. These are all aspects that can draw an audience in as they look for these specific characters in an action. There are also lots of quick cuts back and forth between scenes.
 

The trailer starts off rather calm but as most is revealed the trailers pace speeds up. They also included text in the trailer; sometimes text can capture more attention from audiences as it means they have to be fixed to it rather than just skimming through the trailer. It also breaks down the drama that’s happening and helps the confusion that could occur if we didn’t get hints of what was going on. For example the ‘his past was kept from him’ is something that bits are shown in the trailer but without the text the audience might not have been able to piece it together.  Trailers also tend to show the producers of the movie for example in The Amazing Spider Man near the start of the trailer it shows the Columbia logo, then it says from Columbia Pictures, mentioning the production company can sometimes assure the audience that the movie is going to be of high standards. 

 

During the trailer there are many shots where it is very dark, darkness tends to lead to the unknown, this is as the audience doesn’t know the full story. This lighting always seems to be dark when Spiderman is around sensing the dark side to this ordinary boy is coming out when he’s in his costume/mask. His childhood is also always shown in black and white, suggesting it is a time he does not want to remember, but for reasons that’s are still unknown to the audience.