Genre Analysis

Genre Analysis:

Fantasy

Harry Potter, The Deathly Hallows Part 1 Trailer

The first thing that appears on the screen is The Warner Bros. Studios logo, but, not in their traditional colours: it is in a greyscale effect which creates the feeling that Harry Potter has almost made it more popular and that it doesn’t need to be in the traditional colours for the audience to recognise it. It also creates the dark, mysterious feeling right from the start of the trailer.

We are able to hear a dingy, drab sound/music which is non-diegetic and it is continuous throughout the whole trailer.

There is then a voice over of a man that as a husky sort of voice, this creates the impression that he is one of the main characters also it makes us aware that he is a popular character as we don’t have to see his face for us to recognise who it is.

The dull picturing of a landscape shot, which is the camera lens wide angle, lets the audience know where possible settings are, there is then a dim, cloudy long shot and you are able to see there are two figures in the distance but it is not clear who they are or their faces. There is a twin medium shot of who it is and of them both having a conversation, it then changes to close up shot, back to medium close up, long shot, medium close up and then it changes to quick speedy shots and scenes from the film its self.

There are short sentences spoken by characters which let the audience know that they will be the well known quotes of the film.

Date releases are shown from both part 1 and part 2. By also letting the audience know when part 2 will be release will promote part 2 even before its own trailer has come out.

Editing such as jump cuts are used to keep the audience ‘on the edge of their seats’ whilst watching the section of the intense fighting scenes.

By repeating “Harry Potter” it makes the audience question what will happen to him in this film without even realising it.

We are given the name of the film at the end of the trailer and the music changes to the theme tune of the first film so that the audience recognise it more as the Harry Potter films.

In this particular trailer of the film we are shown plenty of the CGI technology used, this shows the audience how much the films have improved over the years.

Camera movement is also used such as the speeded up shots throughout the trailer, they increase towards the end to show that the countdown for the film is nearing.

The fantasy film genre has seemed to become more popular over time because of technology improving drastically. Some people may not even realise they are watching fantasy films as the target audience is usually stereotyped as ‘geeks’ or people who fantasise over fictional characters. I would personally say that fantasy is not my favourite genre of films but I do enjoy specific films that fall in that category.