My analysis of the 'She's the Man' film trailer

[Work done by me]

Here is the link to the trailer i have watched:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4OhwrMidSU

In terms of Mise-en-scene, the 'She's the Man' trailer shows teenage life at a high school in America. As it is set here, it shows how teenagers are percieved and how they are seen as behaving. Such characters as Monique and Olivia are shown at the beginning of the trailer as having blonde hair and blue eyes, which signifies that they are 'perfect' as they are sitting at a dinning table with other ladies dressed in fine clothes. This contrasts the character of Viola who is shown wearing a hoodie and a cap with props such as a football, which signifies she is a tom boy, unlike the other girls. Parts of the trailer show stereotypical American school life emelments such as cheerleaders wearing skimpy outfits and this represents this is important to school life for the teenagers and all the girls would like to be one. The characters are shown wearing trendy clothing which signifies their need to look their best all the time to keep up their social status and shows that they are vain.

At the beginning of the trailer, classical background music is used to refer to the 'perfect', well behaved girls as mentioned before. Again, the sound techniques used, contrast the different types of characters trying to be portrayed as the broken record sound effect is used to show Viola entering the room and she is the complete opposite the the other girls. The sound is used to show she this and doesn't really belong at the dinner with them. Ambient sounds such as the slapping sounds used to show the girls fighting, shows the literal fight between the different types of social status and between the two types of girls. This also signifies the girls as being violent and this therefore would refer to teenagers in general and this will be how they are percieved by others. The dialogue also refers to social status amoung teenagers as being important as Monique says 'girls with arses like mine, don't talk to boys with faces like yours' and this implies she is more important than them and wouldn't nomally give them the time of day. The fast paced background music, is used to show the confusing story line of the film as the plot is revealed. This refers to the comedy genre and it's funny that there is so much going on at one time and the fact that it is all going to happen at one time at some point. Non-diegetic sound is used e.g. voiceover, to give hints and clues as to what the film is about and help the audience see what is going on which is vital to this film as there is so much going on. It is also used to signify the importance of the confusing storyline as being funny and therefore the audience will want to go and see it.

Editing techniques such as Shot reverse shot are used to show the contrast of the 'perfect' blondes to Viola, the tom boy brunette. The shot starts by looking at the 'perfect' girls at the dinner table and then goes back to Viola who is eating rudely and is slouching in her chair. This implies the comedy genre of the film as this is very unlady-like. This editing technique is also used when Duke and Viola (who is Sabastian as this point) have a conversation about getting a girl. Viola momentarily forgets she is a boy and Duke is seen to be confused. The shot then returns to Viola who has to then quickly cover up the fact she is a girl without him noticing. This again refers to the comedy genre. Short takes are used to go from one take to another. In this trailer, this is used to show the confusion of the story line as each take lasts no more than a couple of seconds. It is hard for the audience to keep up with and therefore would encourage them to watch the film and find out what happens.

The shot types which are used throughout the trailer, are Close-ups and Mid-shots. For example, a close-up is used when Viola is seen eating at the dinner table with the other girls and when she enters the room. This enphasizes the fact that she unlike them as she finds it hard to open the door and keep her bag on her shoulder when she walks in and eats rudely whereas the other girls don't. This refers to the comedy genre as she is unlike the others ans therefore doesn't really belong there. There is a close-up used to show monique putting on her make-up in a compact mirror. This signifies that teenagers are vain and are constantly worried about their appearance. Yet another close-up is used after the dinner to show Viola in her normal clothes as she appears as a tom boy. This contrasts her to what she was wearing before but this style is seen to suit her personality better. Finally, a close-up is used is used to show Duke and Viola (Sebastian at this point) screaming when they see a spider. This obviously shows the comedy aspect of the film as this is stereotypically associated with woman and the men are meant to be masculine. A Mid-shot is used to show Duke and Viola (Sebastian) hugging. Viola gets a little carried away, forgetting she is a boy and this again shows the comedy aspect of the film as she has to hide her secret quickly. The camera is used to move up Viola body as she has undertaken the transformation from girl to boy. This shows the comedy aspect of the film once again as she over dressed and really isn't sure how to be a boy.

The contents of the trailer includes:
girl being forced into dinner she really doesn't want to go to
seeing the real side to the girl - love for football
girl turns into boy (supposed to be her brother) to play football
falls for boy
boy falls for another girl
girl has to stop them getting together
reveals her secret
girl and boy get together
other matches are made for other characters


Saussure, a representation theorist, came up with the idea that signs within media are forms of communication which stand for something to an audience. This applies to this trailer as the signifier is the fact that Viola is so clumsy and eats rudely compared to the other ladies which would then signify that she doesn't belong there and her personality is very different which is the sign. In this trailer, Dyers theory about stereotypes could apply as the males in the film come across as dominant over the females. This seen by the fact that Viola becomes a man in order to be able to play football and this would apply to real life and how males and females, see themselves. Tessa Perkins' theory on how stereotypes are not always false apply to this trailer as the fact that Monique speaks rudely to a boy 'beneath her' shows aspects of how different social classes are positioned in society and how they are looked upon by others. In this trailer, a male audience can be assumed as Viola can be seen in costumes such as a low cut red dress. This would create a 'Male Gaze' as Viola would looked at by a male audience as desirable and therefore this would create pleasurable viewing for that particular audience.

Levi-Strauss, a narrative theorist, came up with the idea of binary oppositions. This presents two very different things within the same media. In this trailer, for example, the social groups shown could be seen as a binary oppostion. Viola and the girls at the dinner table are compared and therefore show two very different kinds of female, the tom boy and the 'perfect' blonde. Propp believed that character funtions play a very important part in film. For example, in this trailer, Viola could be seen as the herione of the story, Duke as the princess, Monique the villian, etc. He believed that each of the eight types of function he came up with, would be present within a film. Todorov came up with the idea that narratives have a three part stucture of EDE (Equilibrium, Disequilibrium and Equilibrium). This applies to this trailer as everthing is in balance until Viola becomes a boy and has to keep everyone from finding out her secret. The story then goes back to an Equilibrium as when Viola tells the others about her secret, everything unfolds to be in everyones favour and the issue is resolved.

Steve Neale said that all things within a film, create a genre of which the audience can recognise. This trailer belongs to more than one genre as it is a Romentic Comedy. I got this from the fact that Viola has to become a boy in order to play football and becuase of all the situations she has to keep herself out of so she doesn't get found out. It is a romance becuase she eventually end up with Duke, who she has liked all along but could never tell him. As the trailer represents a Rom-Com, it means that the makers of the film would have had limited freedom when making it as this genre has to follow a conventional mould from other Rom-Coms. For example, a typical Rom-Com means that a couple want to be together but it isn't as simple as it looks so one or both of them have to over come certain obsticles in order to be together in the end, which creates the comedy aspect. This is known as a Generic Pattern and is seen in 'She's the Man'. Tom Ryall believed that Genre is a set of rules and guidelines which must be followed in order for the audience to fully understand the film. The 'She's the Man' trailer is an example of this as it follows the genre guidelines as said above. This particular genre relflects the complication of teenage love and shows social attitudes throughout, as Will Wright had predicted generally. The audience can then use this tell themselves about them and their society as they see the genre as having some truth to their actual lives.

Adorno came up with the idea that media reaches a mass audience and injects it's message into the audience. This would apply to this trailer as it would appeal to a wide teenage audience and inject the message of complicated teenage love which only they can really understand and relate to. There is a group shown in the trailer which influences it's audience. This is becuase each character has a different personality which a wide range of teenagers can relate to and therefore will influence a much bigger audience by having this group of people. Katz called this the 2-step flow. Culture is important in this trailer as it implies that it is for both male and females by the types of character shown and the majority of the characters follow a teenage age range. However, it's aimed more a white ethnicity group which will shape the audience's use of the media and determine which people will make sense of it. Finally, the different classes shown and the different tastes they have can be linked together to form a certain type of person which audience members can relate to as being one of the characters, sharing their tastes and class. This them forms a relationship for them to a character and creates pleasurable viewing for them.