Monsters University Trailer- Textual Analysis

Here is the link to the Monsters University trailer on YouTube.

My Textual Analysis

Camera Angles/ Camera Shots

There are a variety of camera shots used in this trailer including; close ups, medium shots, longs shots and lots of quick transitioning edits. There are also tracking shots, slow pans and some extreme close ups to increase the intensity of a clip, as well as adding more detail. For example when Sully is given the 'dream journal' a close up of his hand and the book is used, to show the appearance of how exaggerated the cover is. Also a very long shot is used when nearly the whole university campus is on screen, to represent how large it is and the huge amount of monsters that go there. This makes the audience feel small compared to the sheer capacity of how the university is made to look.

Target Audience

The likely target audience for this type of film would be children and young teenagers, as it is an animation and uses child- friendly comedy. Also the fact that there was a previous film (Monster inc) would mean that the same type of viewers will be watching this newer film, as the first one was rated quite highly. A few intertexts of this film would be something like Toy Story and other Disney Pixar creations. Similar codes and conventions that are specifically found in pixar and animated films are; creative and imaginative story lines, animal and objects come to life, and often exaggerations of stereotypes. For example in this trailer all the characters used are fictional and is not a representation of real life, which is very conventional for an animated film.

Editing and Sound

Quick, sharp edits between clips are used to keep the audiences attention and to represent modern day technologies. A mixture of soundtracks are included in this trailer depending on the mood of the individual scenes/clips. At the start, the music is quite powerful and intense and then suddenly changes to a more upbeat, joyful soundtrack that connotes the comedic element of the film. These are all forms of non- diegetic sounds.

Lighting

The lighting is also quite dependant on the clip, however for the most part a natural-seeming light is used. Although there are also quite a few dimly lit shots, which connotes the night time or scenes of sadness.

Term of the day- Iconography
Objects and symbols in an image, e.g. iconography of a classroom would be: books, uniform, whiteboard, desks, etc.

Here is a screenshot of some feedback that was commented on my work, that was given to me by my peers. It is important to peer mark because it is very helpful to know other peoples opinions and they can also help by spotting spelling errors that you may have missed.