Theories and Trailers

From research i have gathered various information for what makes a good trailer, there is a balance of elements which come together to produce a good trailer. If too much of the story is added to the trailer of a film then the audience will think there is no point to watch the film because they already have the plot and main scenes all in the trailer, however if too little of the story is given away the audience is left with a confused mind and question weather watching the movie is even going to be worth it.
Although we are not creating a full movie at the end to follow on from the trailer, these are the elements needed to create a good trailer regardless of weather its just a trailer or a movie is to follow.

Tzveta Todorovz's theory of narrative is worked around the idea of equilibrium, when things are at equilibrium they are balanced.
His theory goes:

• Equilibrium
• Disruption of the equilibrium
• Recognition of the disruption
• Attempt to repair the damage/disruption
• New equilibrium

Equilibrium, everything being okay at the beginning, you see a little bit into the character, his/her surroundings and personality.
Disruption of equilibrium, thing going wrong for the main character, for example hes a hero and hes challenged.
Recognition of the disruption, the character is over the reality that there has been a disruption and begins to look into and see what it is.
Attempt to repair the damage, comes up with a plan/scheme to fix what has happened, may have aquired a team or something for instance.
New equilibrium, the hero has solved the problem and everything has settled and the situation may be different then the beginning, for example some character may have died but things have gotten better and settled now.

Another theorist, Claude Levi Strausse had another media theory, this theory was of binary opposites, " a pair of opposites, thought by the Structuralists to powerfully form and organise human thought and culture."
Some of these opposites being the obvious, for instance, cold-hot, dark-light, although these are basic terms the way they are used and implied throughout media gives them allot more meaning, for example, you would have a gory horror scene set on a hot beach in broad daylight, the horror scene would be set in a dark forest where it gets cold and scary etc.

Another studied theorist in media is Roland Barthes, text in media is used on a wider level then in common vocabulary, text is used to describe images, actual text, film, basically the subject that you are working on, Barthes said texts where either "open or closed", his way of describing was that text is like lots of tangled threads, and he said that once those threads have been untangled it gives a whole range of potential meaning.
You can begin to look at a narrative from one perspective, however if you continue to break the narrative down with a different perspective you could come up with a complete different meaning. Barthes came up with 5 key codes which are found in any narrative.

• The Hermeneutic Code (HER)
• The Enigma/Proairetic (ACT)
• The Symbolic Code (SYM)
• The Cultural Code (REF)
• The Semantic Code (SEM)

The Hermeneutic Code: is the way the story avoids telling the truth or giving away all the facts, this is to cause mystery, this can be identified in horrors and many other films, the story only really begins to unravel itself halfway or even further through.
The Enigma/Proairetic: this is the buildup of tension and the effect of leaving the audience on edge and thinking what happens next..
The Symbolic Code: similar to the semantic code, it puts semantic meanings into bigger categories and sets of meanings, this is when there is antithesis, opposing and conflicting ideas.
The Cultural Code: morality and ideology, looks at the audiences wider cultural knowledge.
The Semantic Code: this code points to the particular elements in a text that suggest a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation. Connotation: cultural/underlining meaning, what it symbolises.

http://www.slideshare.net/alexdabriel/barthes-codes-theory