Forrest Gump Trailer Analysis

Forrest Gump is a comedy drama that follows the difficult life of the protagonist, Forrest, who has obvious intellectual disabilities.The trailer makes it clear that the story followed is a happy one, and that most viewers of any age will not be disturbed by the plot or story-line. It gives insight into the genre of the trailer and film, which I would describe as a drama, comedy as well as romance due to the inclusion of a heroin (Jenny).  In terms of the demographic of this trailer, I feel it would be aimed at any age group due to the very uplifting ‘feel good’ tone.

Genre
This trailer is incredibly conventional for the genre drama as iconography can be seen throughout and a number of themes are used. It is a perfect example of 'an honest story of human struggles' as Forrest had many human struggles in which he had to overcome. Many relationships are established (Forrest and his mother, Forrest and Jenny, etc.) which are emotional and real. These relationships develop and with that Forrest himself does too.

Narrative
The trailer hints that the film will follow Todorov's 5 step theory of equilibrium. The first minute and half of the trailer shows the first stage of the theory, which is the state of equilibrium. Although it is clear Forrest never had an easy childhood, we can see that he was still happy and had strong bonds with his mum and best friend Jenny. After this, when Forrest says 'college was hard for me' we see the disruption stage starting as we watch Forrest observe Jenny kissing another boy in a car, followed by a shot of Forrest being handed a leaflet about joining the army. It is clear that Forrest and Jenny are about to go their separate ways and some disruption in the equilibrium is soon to occur. The recognition stage starts as we see Forrest tell Jenny that he's going to fight Vietnam and she emotionally tells him to be safe, The fourth stage of the damage being repaired is then shown when we see Forrest and Jenny reunited when he is delivering a speech, and we realise that there is still hope for Forrest to return to his original life with Jenny. The fifth stage of restoration is not shown, which is conventional of a trailer as otherwise it would tell you too much information and not leave the audience intrigued enough to see the actual whole film.

Editing
1. Typography

The trailer begins with the Paramount Pictures ident. This is a conventional feature of trailers as it gives the company credit and is a good way to let the audience know a trailer is coming so that they know what they are about to watch, as well as giving the audience an insight into the quality of the film, as a bigger company is likely to make a better film.

The typography throughout the trailer is very basic and lacks variation, there is also a lack of typography as a whole shown throughout. When they it is shown the shot cuts to black and the blue text fades in. The next shot is then cut to. 

2. Cuts
The first shot shown is a long, three shot of Forrest on a bench with two other people, followed by a cut to Forrest as a young  boy, which takes the narrative has gone back into the past by using a flashback. Montage editing is used a lot to show how Forrest and Jenny's relationship developed over time. Mixing this in with the cut between them growing up and Forrest talking on the bench makes for a complicated but attention-grabbing editing pattern which intrigues the audience watching. In many clips there is often a prop that links to the cutting of the scene. For example there is an over-the-shoulder shot of Forrest looking at a leaflet for the army which then cuts to a medium close up two shot of Forrest and a Drill Sergeant which implies that Forrest joined the army. The technique of foreshadowing what the shot will cut to seems to be quite a typical one as it spoon feeds the audience information about what will happen, such as the leaflet shows that Forrest will join the army.

Mise-en-Scene and Camera
The camera work used at the beginning of the trailer consists of a rule of third to begin with, showing Forrest offer chocolate to some pensioners on the bench and two shots of him with his mother and good friend Jenny.

The locations in this trailer are very conventional of drama films as they are normal, day to day locations such as a local shop. The first shot shown is an establishing shot which immediately tells the audience the location of the film (a suburban area). The shot has clearly been graded to have more of a warm, orange filter, therefore makes the location seem warmer. The locations are shown from a good perspective, showing how Forrest enjoyed/enjoys his life and how he sees the world from an innocent/childlike view.

A long shot of Forrest and Jenny sitting on a branch shows the sunset of Savannah in its best light, this is an incredibly romantic location and emphasizes the theme of romance.

Further on the trailer cuts to a low perspective long shot of a ball (in the game of American football) followed later by some black and white footage of Forrest with the president. This suggests we are watching what would have been broadcast on TV, making the audience realize how successful Forrest has already been.

The location then differs completely after Forrest joins the army. There is an over the shoulder close up of Forrest's looking at the scenery in front of him, which is a massive crowd in front looking up to him. Due to the facts that 1) Forrest is physically foregrounded, and the audience are back-grounded and and 2) the amount of people that are listening to him talk suggests he was of significance in the army. This is followed by an establishing shot of a large house in the countryside which implies to the audience that Forrest has or is thinking of settling down. This gives the audience the impression that Forrest is happy with what he has achieved and feels ready to focus on a family instead.

An extensive amount of camera shot, angles and movements are used. This is essential for drama films as it allows the audience to focus on certain things in different ways (close up, long shot, etc.) which makes the trailer more appealing for this target audience who will want to not be seeing various things/events in a similar way.

Sound
Non-diegetic music and diegetic dialogue both come in as the Paramount Pictures ident is being shown. The non-diegetic incidental music is heard throughout the whole trailer, maintaining the curious, innocent, light-hearted tone of the film. Ambient sounds are heard throughout, particularly on exterior shots. For example when Forrest's Mother tells Forrest he is 'no different' the audience can hear natural sounds (birds singing, etc.). Foley sounds are used (added in post-production) to emphasize certain sounds, e.g. Forrest runs too far during American football and hitting into some of the band. This sound would have been re-created in a studio to get a high quality recording of it. This is appropriate for trailers with the genre of drama as the demographic for these films like and expect to hear exaggerated sounds with the attempt of making the source of the sound more noticeable. At points in the trailer we hear Forrest's voice, as if it were a voice over, explaining the events taking place and justifying to the audience the reason they link together. This is a voice over when other shots are being shown, however, as it cuts to Forrest on the bench, the audience can see he is the one talking which then changes the voice-over to diegetic dialogue.