Trailer influence - I'm Not There

I'm Not There

Genre: Biographical / music

Narrative: Several different actors portray Bob Dylan at different stages of his personal life and career.

Unique selling point: I love the combination of black and white and colour. I think it makes a very unusual and striking juxtaposition, and allows two different moods to be portrayed within one film. I also like the way the film is put together; the different actors allow there to be separate narratives rather than one meta-narrative. Certain parts of the film are quite dreamlike, another aspect which I think is very unusual and intruiging, e.g. where Dylan is floating, tied to a rope, at 1.36.

Target audience: 15s and over

Music: Begins with 'Cold Irons Bound' before going into 'Like a Rolling Stone', both by Bob Dylan. 

Shot types / camera angles: One particular shot I like is of a bird eye view of Blanchett sat on the bed, surrounded by magazines (0.16). Another is the opening image; a silhouette of Dylan's profile with his famous curly hair. I also like the quick shots of Dylan's characters (0.33) - the shots are less than a second long to look like camera flashes. 

Pace: Begins slowly and slightly sinister, building up a basic theme with a voiceover before moving on to become jovial and more colourful - the pace becomes faster.

Dialogue: There is one line from each of Dylan's characters throughout the trailer; they are seemingly random lines with no particular significance. I like this as it is poetic and ambiguous rather than informing the audience of the literal storyline like a conventional trailer would.

Voiceover: The voiceover at the start does a similar thing. It is ambiguous and speaks of freedom and change (of character, mood etc). This merely hints at the themes throughout the film, and does not give the audience a clear understanding of the narrative. Again, I love this as it leaves the trailer to the viewer's own imagination and interpretation. It is creative, poetic and slightly abstract.

Special effects: The giraffe (1.22) is probably CGI, and the shot of Blanchett tied to the rope (1.36).

Credits and inter-titles: They have been put on a pale brown background with an picture outline of each actor. I don't like this, as I think it is slightly corny and doesn't match the ambiguity of the rest of the trailer.