Thomas Allison; 0051
Samantha Grant; 0081
This is an analysis of the radio advert for ‘Tell No One’ (Guillaume Canet, 2006). There are a number of codes and conventions directly related to the radio advertisements for films which I will analyse in this case study. This film is a thriller that was originally based on a novel and the advert runs for 30 seconds which matches the brief for our advert. Being a radio advertisement it is pre-recorded and therefore editing has clearly occurred. Acoustic treatment is evident as the recordings are of high quality which is one of the main codes for pre-recorded radio such as an advertisement unlike live-links on the radio which often lowers the quality of the acoustics in order to raise the verisimilitude of the piece.
There is a mixture of diegetic sound (DS) and non-diegetic (NDS) sound within the trailer with the NDS running as the main sound and the DS as a sort of undertone. Some of the main features within a film’s radio advert which are clearly referenced here are the film’s title, the date of release (in this case it is already in cinemas), the age classification of the film, the mode of release (e.g. cinema, DVD etc.) and occasionally the director’s name is used though not in this case.
These details are then usually mixed in with the DS which consists of audio clips usually from the film’s trailer. Using clips from the trailer shows consistency across the campaign which means the audience will be able to link the different forms of the campaign they may have been exposed to and are thus more likely to remember the film.
The codes and conventions of a thriller also must be analysed with regards to the advert. Though there are no visual cues for the audience to draw meaning from such as dark colour schemes and the non-verbal communication (NVC) of the actors, plenty of meaning can be drawn from sound. The tone of the announcer’s voice for example is noticeably deeper in a thriller radio advert than most other genres. This seriousness is essential for allowing the idea of fear to be developed throughout the advert. The DS used is really just a mix of a few screams and shouts from the film. This serves two main purposes, the first being to instill a state of fear within the audience as is part of the thriller codes. Second it is used to enhance the announcer’s dialogue. In the first half of the advert the announcer is saying the film’s tagline “8 years ago, Alex’s wife was murdered…today she e-mailed him”. A woman’s scream was played just after the announcer said ‘Alex’s wife was murdered’ this helps create extra visualization for the audience and is used because there are no visual cues.
Another of the most important aspects of an advert for a film in any media form is that it creates an enigma. It give away enough of the film’s narrative to capture the audience’s interest, but not so much that it gives away the plot. In the ‘Tell No One’ advert the audience only has the tagline and screams/shouts to work from. The tagline is clearly where the enigma is created as it seems to say that Alex’s wife has come back from the dead. If the advert was successful this should have got the audience wondering how this is possible and gotten them to go and watch the film to find out
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