Comedy Trailer Analysis: The DUFF

Comedy Trailer Analysis

The DUFF

There is a quick shot of the distribution companies, which are the Lions Gate and CBS Films, they’re well known so the audience are likely to know about the film as they invest a lot on their promotion. This film has four trailers suggesting that they’re trying to encourage their target audience to watch it. It cuts to a long shot establishing the location which is a school building; there is a diegetic sound of a school bell that accompanies it, making it seem realistic. The audience can see that this is based in high school so the plot will feature the typical scenes of how the main protagonist will get through it. A long shot shows 3 characters that is making their way through the corridor, we can see that the protagonist is likely to be the one who is dressed casually as she stands out from her friends; she has no fashion sense suggesting that she will be targeted later on. There is high key lighting to emphasise that everything is going well because from the protagonist’s expression she looks happy. There is a voice over which sounds humorous suggesting that the genre is comedy, it states the release date in the beginning so it’s memorable for their target audience. The camera switches to the other two girls who are approaching them indicating that they’re antagonist, the character on the right seems bitchy. She invites that protagonist’s friends by giving them an invitation suggesting that the protagonist isn’t popular enough to join in however her friends stands by her, ripping her invitation and giving an half to the protagonist implying that they’re loyal friends.

The camera changes into a long shot of the party location, and then a caption appears implying that they’re going to introduce a new word which is the title of the film. As this film is targeted at teenagers this four letter word “Duff” may be included in their slang especially as its catchy and it’s relatable in a high school setting, engaging the audience. There is low key lighting to suggests that there is a party, the camera switches to a medium shot which introduces another characters which could suggests he’s the love interest as he’s good-looking. There is a shot reverse shot to show that they’re having a conversation, the male character calls her a “Duff” then she look at him with a confused expression as it’s a vocabulary that hasn’t been heard, to this the male character explains the acronym “Designated Ugly Fat Friend”, she seems very offended. There are a couple of scenes showing the examples of “Duff” in different friendship groups suggesting that she’s shouldn’t be offended. Then it cuts to a scene where the main protagonist walks toward the male character, picking his lunch and throws it at him suggesting that she’s angry at his comments. The scenes changes into a classroom as he explains to her that she’s should take it seriously, and then there is a long shot of the three friends walking out as the main protagonist confronts them about how they didn’t tell her that she was the “duff”. We can see that from the tone of the protagonist’s voice she’s annoyed at her friends because she trusted them, the friends also seems confused as it’s a new term. It cuts to another character which could be a teacher as he’s dressed formally the dialogue “Oh no I didn’t, yeah you did” to reply to the confused friends, this is done to make it humorous as he’s imitating a teenager. The non-diegetic music intensifies to suggest that at this moment the something going to change the protagonist’s character.

There is an extreme long shot revealing to the audience the whole surrounding of the location as its familiar to their target audience. We can see that the main protagonist is beginning to get closer; he conforms to the stereotypical male character because he’s masculine and showing off his muscles will attract the female audience to watch as he’s the ideal attractive guy. We see that the two characters have a deal together because the female protagonist doesn’t want to be labelled as a “Duff” this may lead to a relationship especially as they’re getting closer.

In the next few scenes there are medium shot of the bitchy female character as she walks down the corridor. The audience can see that the main protagonist is improving on herself because she changes her style of clothing, the female antagonist insults her by saying that “people like you don’t matter” this downgrades her as she implying that she has higher status than the main protagonist however the male character advises her to not listen. At the ending scene the female protagonist agrees that “she’s somebody duff and so is everybody” insulting the female antagonist which shows that she’s standing up for herself as she doesn’t care about her opinion on her. Finally there is a medium shot of the teachers of the school as they discuss on what’s occurring outside of their office which leave the audience wondering. Their conversation is witty to entertain the teenage audience as it includes jokes they know about. There is a voice over introducing the title; it’s bold and bright green which is a calming and refreshing colour and it ends with the release date.