Common And Different In The Tigger Movie And South Park
Trailer Comparisons
Having watched the trailers for The Tigger Movie and South Park, I can now watch trailers and obtain a lot more from them than I would have done previously.The Tigger Movie is an animated adventure film for kids, and it has a Universal certificate. It is based on the television series Winnie the Pooh and the characters from this series are the films USP(unique selling point).South Park, like The Tigger Movie, is animated but unlike The Tigger Movie its for adults and is more of a crude comedy. Its certificate shows that its more for adults because it is a 15. Its USP is also the characters from the television series South Park and the extra of Saddam Hussein. These two trailers would be seen by people watching television commercials, by people watching videos and by people watching films at the cinema. The companies who make the films and trailers - Walt Disney in the case of The Tigger Movie and Warner Brothers and Paramount in the case of South Park - would try to schedule the trailers to be shown before films of the same genre at the cinema and on videos and while the target audience for the film would be most likely to be watching television. Both these films were big blockbusters in the UK. In The Tigger Movie the language used by the characters, particularly Roo, emotively shows the nature of what is going on. For example to show that a specific scene is exciting, Roo says I wish I had a big brother like Tigger in a very jolly manner. When Rabbit says Its far too dangerous to go out there now this helps provide an atmosphere of adventure. Tigger is always happy and bouncing around with energy which suggests the film will be light-hearted.
The characters, which are the USP of the film, are exploited additionally at the end when the narrator says Join Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore and Pooh in their greatest adventure ever this is to draw childrens minds in. When Pooh is looking up at the bees nest dripping with honey and bees flying around it, the look in his eyes is intertextualising with people in other films looking out on a wonderful sunset or looking at a brilliant countryside view. The penultimate thing that the narrator says discover the adventure and believe in your imagination would probably have clicked perfectly in lots of kids minds and persuaded them to beg their parents to take them to see the film.In South Park the expressions on the main characters faces(Stan, Cartman, Kyle and Kenny) start out being happy like usual, turn serious for the middle of the trailer and happy again at the end. This shows the viewers that there will be an adventure aspect to the film but it will probably result in a happy ending. There is also lots of more adult humour in the film, for example Kyle is at the computer and Stan says I bet its Cartmans mum for a joke, then Cartman says Very funny in a sarcastic manner and Kyle replies It is Cartmans mum in a startled tone. This scene is aimed at more familiar viewers. There is also a scene where Saddam Hussein is with the Devil and the Devil says Is sex the only thing that matters to you? and Saddam comes out with the line I love you and the Devil looks towards you suprised. This shows that the film is showing Saddam Hussein as a humorous character not just a hostile enemy.
At the end of the trailer, Cartman says This film has warped my fragile little mind, the viewer has to guess whether he is referring to the Terence and Phillip Movie mentioned earlier on in the trailer or the actual South Park movie itself. I think that this is a clever idea from the writers of the trailer because it would stick in peoples minds wondering what he was referring to and they may want to go and find out at the cinema. This however wasnt the case for me as I went and saw the film without seeing the trailer. There is a lot of intertextuality in the trailer; in one of the scenes, it shows lots of planes at the top of the mise-en-scene, which are going to battle. This intertextuality is with the scene in the Dads Army theme of arrows flying across Europe and of most recent war films where armies fly to war and a camera shot is above the planes but with them still being at the top of the mise-en-scene. Nearer the start of the trailer, some adults say Did he say the F word? and did he say the S word? this may attract the pre- and early teen audience to try and see the movie on video because its a bit rude. Then a man with a silly voice, who I knew to be the eccentric school councillor says Did he say the Q word? mixing humour into the more serious scenes. Many of the aspects of these trailers are very similar as they are both animated and both aimed more at people under 18. Both trailers use diagetic sound for the most part and only have non-diagetic sound in the form of the music and the narrator.
Both trailers also have the narrators say the USP characters names, but in South Park, the names are put in the centre of the mise-en-scene on a black background. The music being played non-diagetically in both trailers adds atmosphere but the music adds different atmospheres for both trailers. The intertextualised theme music for South Park of De-De Der-Der has been used in many adventure and drama films which shows the viewers that the scene theyre watching is based around war. The music for The Tigger Movie is more gentle and is probably more enjoyable for kids.I think that both these trailers are taster trailers as the films are similar to the scenes in the trailers all the way through and the trailers dont show all the best parts. The trailers both take you on an emotional rollercoaster if you allow yourself to get involved with them and the music. They dont quite have the same effect when watching them for the 27th time though.
