Stages of Comedy Film Trailers and Their Functions
Implicit Promotional (dietetic information)
Prologue: In the example from Discourse Analysis: An Introduction, the prologue is described as the appetizer. According to the website, Literary Terms prologue is a short introductory section that gives background information or sets the stage for the story to come. In Superstar the prologue is at the beginning of the trailer when we are introduced to Molly Shannon's character as a child and what she wishes for when she grows up. In Office Christmas Party we are introduced to a few of the office cast first to get to know everyone's personality during work and understand there is an office Christmas party coming up.
Orientation: In the example from Discourse Analysis: An Introduction, Orientation is described as Contextualization. In the trailer for Superstar we are given an overall view of her life now, much older, and her day-to-day activities and interactions at her school. We are introduced to Will Ferrell's character whom Molly's character starts to obsess over. In the trailer for Office Christmas Party, we are given the context that they work in an office together that seems to be a law firm.
Complication: In the example from Discourse Analysis: An Introduction, Complication is described as the introduction of disruptive action. In Superstar is when Molly's character gets into trouble with the admin at school and starts to cause issues with the other students. The disruptive action to the story is In the trailer for Office Christmas Party when the boss played by Jennifer Aniston disapproves of the party although, they throw the party anyways.
Evaluation: In the example from Discourse Analysis: An Introduction, Evaluation is described as the interpretation of events/outcomes. In the trailer for Superstar Molly's character eventually becomes the "superstar" of the school and the boy she is obsessed with starts noticing her and chooses her over the popular girls. In the trailer for Office Christmas Party Jennifer's character eventually shows up at the party to bust them and ends up parting with her staff.
Explicit Promotional (non-diegetic and diegetic information)
Identification: In the example from Discourse Analysis: An Introduction, Identification refers to foregrounds meaning of film companies, directors, and actors. Superstar was produced by Lorne Michaels and paramount. It was directed by Bruce McCulloch in 1999 starring Molly Shannon and Will Ferrel. Office Christmas Party was produced by Permount as well. It was directed b Josh Gordon, and Will Speck and starred an ensemble cast including Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, T.J. Miller, Kate Mckinnon, Olivia Munn, Vanessa Bayer, and many more.
Recapitulation: In the example from Discourse Analysis: An Introduction, Recapitulation is referred to as introduces new orientive information from evaluative point of view. This section is not applicable for either trailer.
Recommendation: In the example from Discourse Analysis: An Introduction, Recommendation is referred to as it advises the viewers. I don't believe that either of these films fall under this category as the films are not set to pursue or recommend anything. The most likely thing is from the trailer of Office Christmas Party to not throw a party at work.
Interpretation: In the example from Discourse Analysis: An Introduction, Interpretation explains the possible impacts of film upon viewers. The impact of both trailers for viewers is to entertain and feel good and funny film.
Information: In the example from Discourse Analysis: An Introduction, Information introduces extra non-diegetic information about internet address, release dates, and so on. Superstar was released in 1999 and can now be viewed on amazon, Roku, youtube, paramount, and more It gained 30.6 million in the box office and was nominated for two awards. Office Christmas Party released in 2016 gained 114.5 million at the box office and was nominated for two awards.
Superstar and Office Christmas Party are similar in that they are both comedies surrounding a single place of events. Both trailers start off with a strong prologue and end with a strong happy ending. Both of these trailers are light-hearted and not to be taken so seriously. The stages of these trailers are almost in sync and very similar in their timeline and actions. I want to note these two films were produced by the same company, Paramount, and both starred actors that had high standings in the show Saturday Night Live. I was unaware of this fact while picking out and choosing these trailers and found it interesting that they both happened to have those similarities.
Superstar was filmed 17 years before Office Christmas Party so they do have some differences in the way they convey their films. Superstars' humor is much more blunt and direct and they film the trailer (and film) without much effects or editing. This trailer also relies heavily on a voice-over or narrator unlike in Office Christmas Party. In Office Christmas Party we are given a more fast pace action-type comedy. It is also important to note that superstar is about a high school student and a coming of age while Office Christmas Party is a trailer with adults throwing a party acting like children.
Reflection
When I first went about choosing comedy trailers to compare and analyze I wanted to choose some that had the same concept but were from different eras. I feel like comedy is constantly changing and evolving not just in regards to the context but the way we film it (angle, coloring, editing) as well. I looked at many trailers and decide on the 1999 Superstar classic and a not-so-classic film 2016 Office Christmas Party. I started by watching both trailers without the intention of anything to gather what emotions and thoughts come up naturally. I realized that they both had a similar rhythm to them in regards to the vocabulary we learned in class. I started to note the implicit and explicit information while rewatching them. I paused every time I felt like one topic was finished like the prologue to orientation and compared both trailers in what I saw above. This analysis helped me understand how interconnected multimode text is from one another no matter the era. Each is trying to convey a message or feeling and there are specific ways to do that for an audience. People now want the same entertainment and information but in a more modern way of filming.