Analysis- The Vow (trailer)

The Vow is a relatively run of the mill Romance film, with a generic, happy couple at the start acting as the equilibrium, then, like in all Romance films, a jarring event happens to disrupt this, in this case the event is amnesia, this is essentially a model example of Todorov's theory. It starts at a wedding with no music, the lack of sound may be used to accentuate the delicacy of the moment. As soon as they say there vows, the music starts, this may be used in order to highlight the importance of the moment.

The narrative of the trailer are typical "deep" quotes about love and romance, leading the audience to believe that the film is more complex and in depth than it actually is. When the couple get hit by a truck, the music abruptly stops, this is also effective in making the  event seem more shocking, as it is the equilibrium-shattering event of the film. The truck is also showed to slow motion so the viewer has  time to digest the collision of the truck, however the shot cuts away as soon as the truck hits, it means the characters are left with their dignity as the audience do not see their injuries.

When the woman is in the hospital bed the music is somewhat slow and tense, to build up momentum for the "unexpected" twist of the film. When the woman says that she does not remember her own husband, new music suddenly starts, this is another indicator of the sudden shift to the plot, the new music is a romantic song sung by an emotional female voice, this is trying to portray to the audience that from this point on the film will have substance and profanity. The credits then come on screen with the faces of the characters they play, while this a good way to introduce the actors, the technique is completely exhausted and over used, it comes off as tacky and amateurish

The shots in some of the more tense scenes are shaky jump cuts in between the main characters, at first this gives the desired effect of building a tension filled atmosphere but after the first few seconds the effect backfires and the effect begins to get tired and confusing.

All in all I do not feel that this trailer is particularly well done, it does use the conventions of the genre quite frequently, however it has been used far too much, making the finished piece look very cheesy, generic and generally looking as if no real effort was put into it.