Research and Planning: Analysis of Trailers - 'We're the Millers'

Genre
Andrew Sarris has a theory which states that 'genre is the idea that it has a recognisable style that draws in an audience' I think that this theory applies in the 'we're the Millers' trailer because straight away from watching it we know that the film is a comedy because the whole trailer is a montage of small clips of the most hilarious scenes from the film. This has been done because the comedic parts of a film are obviously the most important in a comedy film. So the want to show the audience the funniest scenes to attract them to go and watch the film.

Representation
Laura Mulvey's (1977) theory named 'the male gaze' suggesting that the camera looks at things from a male point of view is apparent in this trailer because the film is mostly based around the protagonist character of the male drug dealer and there is also a few scenes where Jennifer Anistons character is giving a lap dance this scene reoccurs throughout the trailer and last longer than the other scenes in the trailer, there is also another clip of Jennifer Anistons character stripping, this clip again, lasts a lot longer than others and some parts of this clip is even in slow motion.
The stereotypes in this trailer are very conventional. The first character we are introduced to is a male drug dealer perhaps in his late 20's or early 30's, he looks quite scruffy and dirty a lot like he doesn't care about his appearance. The second character is a 'geeky' teenage boy with 'girl problems'. We also have a teenage girl who is quite moody and argues anything and lastly an attractive female neighbour unhappy in her work.

Narrative 
The protagonist in this film is the male drug dealer character. Who also plays the anti hero role because in the end he fixes everything but he doesn't look like your stereotypical hero. The plot conforms to Todorovs theory of equilibrium, disruption, equilibrium restored. We start off with the equilibrium being that he is a drug dealer doing well for himself. The the first disruption is that he is mugged by a group of teenagers when he tries to break up a fight, but the main disruption comes when he is forced by his boss to smuggle drugs from Mexico to the US. But of course the equilibrium is restored at the end of the film when he does the right thing and turns in the drugs. But there are many other disruptions along the way such as the camper van breaking down and having to camp out with another family they come across, and having to take a trip to the hospital as Kenny gets bitten by a tarantula.

Audience
I think to watch this trailer the audience have to be quite active as it is very fast paced so they will need to concentrate to watch and understand it. I think the right audience will enjoy the trailer and will see the comedic elements of it but I think some other people might take offence by it because many people obviously don't agree with drugs and because it is such a strong and important aspect of the film they wont like it. I think this trailer will appeal to both a male and female audience with the age ranging from around 16-30's because they have to be mature enough to understand some of the comedy.

Media Language
Throughout the trailer medium close ups and close ups are used to show the characters facial expressions, especially in the most comedic parts. Jump cuts as well as straight cuts are often used in this trailer to make it seem realistic and to make it run quickly which suits the plot of the actual film because it is quite hectic. All these shots and editing cuts are used within the Kuleshov method of montage which again helps the trailer run quickly but smoothly at the same time. The mise-en-scene of this trailer is very conventional clothing wise because at first the main character is dressed scruffy and dirty to look like a drug dealer and when they change into the family he has a very neat, perfect hairstyle as well as clean, smart clothes, they look like a very stereotypical happy, tourist family.