Trailer Analysis

Rachel Getting Married

This trailer starts off with no non-diegetic music and with a speech from a guest at the wedding/ practice dinner.  The speech is about Love taking us into the action with a warm feeling and making us think that this is just a romantic film. It then carries on into further footage and music is applied which is supplied from what we think is the wedding band the music then cuts out after seeing a woman light a cigarette and the girl working in the shop comments that she saw the woman in a ‘Cops’ episode, this now applies a more of a thug like atmosphere to the trailer making its audience think that this trailer has more to it than just being a part of the romantic genre.

Some non-diegetic then cuts in over the top of the action when we discover the thug is actually related to the bride and this non-diegetic music carries on throughout the trailer. The music is quite speedy to keep with the action and later on in the trailer we see the sisters fighting and there is an emotional uproar. The lyrics to the song later come in and we are introduced to the actors playing each part and as it carries on we see another emotional breakdown with Kim, the Bride’s sister, who is driving while crying her eyes out and she heads straight towards a sign post and the woods as though she has a death wish, however while this is happening the music is still playing over the top which is cheery and comforting implying that this film will have a heart wrenching ending. There is an ending quote said from one of the groom’s relatives and she says “We are one all of us, and this is how it is in heaven, just like this” from this quote we understand that the characters even out their differences and by the end of the film have a good relationship with one another, and that Kim has sorted through her troubles and is now accepted properly into her family.

From the footage at the beginning we see a happy atmosphere with friends and family having drinks and a nice toast to the bride and groom. It then cuts to hand held footage of a band and then inter titles start cutting in and out of the action and all of the inter titles together say ‘The perfect weekend for a wedding’  ‘But the storm’ ‘is coming’ ‘from acclaimed director Jonathan Demme’ ‘Comes a story’ ‘About all the drama’ ‘This is not your family’ ‘But this is your family’, all of these inter titles help build on the storyline of the film and they implicate more of what happens throughout the film as well as what they are trying to portray and what messages they wish to put across to its audience.

They also put the actors’ names over the top of the action with the characters they are playing and throughout the footage we see so many different emotions letting the audience know what is included and what will feature in the film.

Unique selling points may include things like Jonathan Demme, the director, for he has directed many films throughout the years and is known for ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, ‘The Manchurian Candidate’, ‘Philadelphia’ as well as ‘Rachel Getting Married’.

Another unique selling point would be Anne Hathaway, a well-known actress for films such as ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, ‘The Princess Diaries’, ‘Brokeback Mountain’, ‘Becoming Jane’, and more recently ‘Get Smart’, ‘Bride Wars’, ‘Love and Other Drugs’ and coming up ‘The Dark Night Rises’ with the role of Catwoman.