Looking at music in exsisting recent trailers

Here, I have posted two of the trailers for the new series of 'Skins' where music plays a huge part in making the trailers a success. I have also provided two links to youtube videos of trailers for 'Skins'.

From researching existing trailers for programmes, I am hoping to provide myself and the rest of the group with a better understanding of how music works with the rest of the trailer.

These trailers give an insight into how exsisting programmes use music within their trailers. When played without music, the trailers do not make much sense, however, the music makes the trailer run smoothly and adds to the tension building up throughout which makes the audience constantly want more. This is an effect we must have within our trailer, in order to make our soap appealing to our audience. I think, as music research within trailers, the first trailer is the best. I think, the effect they were trying to create is the excitment that this is where the characters are finishing school and thisis going to be the last series for this set of characters, so this is it- enjoy them while they are here. But also, that what we have been waiting for is here- we can finally watch what happenes to the characters and the music builds up the tension.



This first trailer uses a song by Passion Pit called The Reeling bubblegum remix, whilst any other noise in the trailer is muted so that the music dominates the trailer together with the artistic creativity and how the trailer is created. It looks like the producers of 'Skins' took a lot of time to film this triler bit by bit, ripping paper and sketches or editing clips of their footage to make it look like this. The effect is extremly exciting and fun to watch because this astistic style emphasises the youthfulness and trouble-making nature of the characters within the drama. The song itself adds tension as it builds up to the point where the camera is cutting to each character second by second and showing a small clip of what happenes to them in the up-coming drama. Showing up-coming action like this envites the audience in in itself automatically because this is what the audiences of 'Skins' have been waiting for- the point where 'Skins' returns to the television for its fourth series. The graphic design also adds to the effect of the trailer as the motion drawings reflect each characters' personality and their moods within the series and how they are feelins and what it going on with their life. Thsi is important, and it engages the viwer. The overall effect of the trailer excites the viewer and wants them want to watch the series to see what happens to the characters. We could use this kind of trailer technique for introducing another series, once our audiences know about Liberty and are waiting for the new series to begin. I think this kind of trailer would definetly work in drawing in our audiences.



This second trailer is introducing Cook's episode, rather than the new series as a whole. This episode is about the character James Cook, and this trailer shows what he gets up to in this episode. The music is used in a different way. Instead of building up excitment, it brings out the feeling of depression, and we can tell that Cook is going to be in trouble again. The way the clips are shown in black and white instead of colour, and with blood splattered on top of them shows us that Cook is feeling broken inside- probablly because he cannot have the girl he loves, and that he is going to be causing trouble because he has a rebel kind of personality. It is good to look at this kind of trailer because it shows us how there are so many ways of engaging the viewer.

I uploaded these trailers from Youtube because, although it was possible to embed the codes from the Skins website itself, when I tried this, the videos turned out being too big and it was difficult to make them smaller. So I embeded the code from Youtube instead, and when the video was too big again, all I had to do was edit the html slightly changing the digits from 640 to 440- which fits perfectly. Learning this has helped with all my videos because it means I can make sure that the videos fit.

To follow any of the links below, hold down the CTRL button and click on the link.

Skins New Series Trailer E4

The link above is to a trailer on youtube showing what the characters got up to during the summer. It shows them entering a pub in slow motion. The sound is muted, and the music is taking over again. The music emphasizes them acting like animals. This is how naughty the characters are when they get drunk, and it kind of makes the viwer shake their head at the televison screen, but at the same time, it communicates their persoanlitites, and the audience therefore love them for what they are doing and resect their bravery and cheekiness.

Skins Series 4 E4

The above trailer is different from all the ones above. The sound is not muted for once, and we can hear what the characters are saying to each other. This gives the audience a taster of the storylines they will be watching and they become interested in what is happening to the characters and therefore want to watch the series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mEUuVpjTzM

This last link above is a 'Gossip Girl' trailer and shows how they use music in a different way. Unlike all the trailers above, they use diagetic music, using the music the band in the soap is playing throughout the whole trailer a stheir only music. We hear the speech of the characters bit by bit, as we see clips from the upcoming episodes, and then the camera cuts back to the band playing, singing 'I'm a bitch' over and over again, which communicates to the audience the kinds of personalities the characters have in the soap. It is basically telling us that the girls in this programme are 'bitches' and are mean to each other behind each other's back. But this is a feature which makes 'Gossip Girl' what it is and ensures that it gets its audience, because the audience wants to see what the characters will be doing to each other next.