On the 5th of June we on to Netflix as a class and we watched the trailer for Okja. Due to it being a Netflix original it was not released for cinematic screening. The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Festival 2017 but received huge amounts of controversy due to it being a film without a cinematic release.
Cinematic trailers are shown before cinematic screenings of films of a similar genre. Despite the fact that cinema managers protect the window in which films are screened the majority of money a cinema makes is from the food and drink served and not from the actual tickets.
Okja revolves around the conflict within the food industry and the debate of Animal Rights, as the film features themes of animal activism, corporate greed and scientific ethnics. A trailer needs to signal genre and narrative efficiently and rapidly in order to not lose the audiences attention and to keep audience retention.. From this trailer, it is clear that audiences are invited to sympathise with the small innocent girl who, along with her cherished animal, takes on the might of corporate greed, personified by Tilda Swinton's character.
For Stuart Hall, the meaning of the text resides in the interpretation of the viewer. For this film, the preferred reading would be on the side of animal rights (on the side of the protagonists) partly because the little girl and her giant pet pig are so adorable. The trailer depicts establishing shots that romanticize the countryside and its serene, peaceful setting. The song Dedicated to the One I Love plays throughout the trailer, and these words essentially capture the spirit of the relationship between the teenage protagonist and her giant pig due to its soft and loving lyrics.
In keeping with all trailers, there is very little dialogue, often consisting of one liners so that is easy for the audience to understand. This keeps the audiences' attention and ensures that they are not bored from long blocks of dialogue. Most marketing teams would rather show you what is happening and not tell you. Like all trailers the trailer ends with the title of the film as well as a release date (28th June).
Good. This trailer was brand new when we watched it in class. We identified its USP. You have paid attention to some aspects of audience theory, such as how audiences take meanings from texts.
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