Dear John is a romantic drama-war film about the typical boy meets girl and they fall in love, however the boy is on leave from war so perhaps this is the worst timing to fall in love. In the trailer elements of romance and drama are displayed.
The film features an actor quite well known for his roles in films of the romantic genre (The Vow, She's the Man, Step Up). Channing Tatum, playing John, this information already allows the audience to know the type of film they are going to be watching. John is the immediate attention as the trailer begins with two faded camera shots of him surfing, this tells the audience he is a main character. His distinctive character type is usually quite heroic, from this trailer this idea is reinforced as Amanda Seyfried, playing Savannah, drops her bag in the water; and as the audience we assume that they don't know each other, but Tatum dives into the water to rescue the bag anyway. To this we could apply Vladmir Propp's Character Types Theory: John as the hero because it's assumed the film revolves around him from the opening camera shots as well as his masculinity, Savanah could possibly be the Heroine/Princess from Propp's Character Types because John potentially saved her belongings. The 'hero' has completed a quest - rescuing the bag - and the 'princess' acts as a reward for him by introducing herself.Another time Tatum is highlighted as the 'hero' is before punching a man and telling him to "get your hands off her", which is imagined to be about Savannah therefore he's likely to be protecting her. Working for the armed forces is an extremely valiant act, this is John's profession and can also have connotations of being a hero making his seem even more like a hero to the audience.
Throughout the trailer, after John and Savannah's meeting, the iconography of this romantic drama are typical for this type, for example there is a montage of when John is on 'leave' from the army and they do things a typical couple would in a typical romance film: visiting a beach, meeting each other's parents/friends, going to dinner. The montage shows them becoming fonder of each other and creating a close tenor with one another. This supports Savannah's voice over dialogue "Two weeks together, that's all it took. Two weeks for me to fall for you." However, this is disrupted when there is a sudden change in the music and we hear a voice over of John "I gotta go back" referring him going back to the war. This encounter could be a stage from Todrov's stages of a narrative. As this has interfered with John's and Savanah's lovestory it could be seen as the 'Disruption' in the stages because the story has taken a particular direction.
The lovers sending letters to one another is also classed as iconography because it At the begining of their montage showing their growing love over the two weeks in a short selection of shots, I noticed that the majority of shots are long or medium shots but as their love grows there are more close up shots of them, showing more emotion, up until John's complication where he is to go back and fight in the war, now the shots show more distance between them, being in different countries, by using medium shots and long shots again.
The non-diegetic sound of music throughout the trailer reflects upon the events too, at the start it's acoustic and quite soft and happy. The acoustic track stops when John and Savannah have had, what the audience will infer to be, their first kiss and we're left hearing only the-diegetic sound of rain. As the 'Disruption' occurs an emotional overwhelming piano piece begins to play, it begins soothing as though it is sympathetic but as John actually goes to war the speed of the music picks up and becomes more dramatic, perhaps showing how hard it is for the lovers to be separated. I have learnt that the piano piece playing is Snow Patrol, the lyrics from the song are removed from the trailer completely up until they're seen to be fitting and necessary to the plot of the story. The lyrics read " I'm miles from where you are..." which is completely relevant as the couple are in two total different countries.
Mise en scene during the trailer mostly relates to the events happening, John's costume at war is the typical armed forces camouflage uniform. Beside that, the costumes are mostly causal everyday clothing to represent an ordinary life that the audience could relate to in any ways. Unless you have seen the film you will be questioning whether John and Savanah stay together, whether John makes it out of war alive. As I have seen it numerous times it was harder for me to recognise binary oppositions however the questions that potentially arise through the audiences' minds I think that 'love vs hate' is a possibility. This is because we could assume he extends his tour like his co-worker does in the trailer, meaning he had the opportunity to go home and fight for Savanah, his love or fight for his country in the war, often caused by hate.
The film features an actor quite well known for his roles in films of the romantic genre (The Vow, She's the Man, Step Up). Channing Tatum, playing John, this information already allows the audience to know the type of film they are going to be watching. John is the immediate attention as the trailer begins with two faded camera shots of him surfing, this tells the audience he is a main character. His distinctive character type is usually quite heroic, from this trailer this idea is reinforced as Amanda Seyfried, playing Savannah, drops her bag in the water; and as the audience we assume that they don't know each other, but Tatum dives into the water to rescue the bag anyway. To this we could apply Vladmir Propp's Character Types Theory: John as the hero because it's assumed the film revolves around him from the opening camera shots as well as his masculinity, Savanah could possibly be the Heroine/Princess from Propp's Character Types because John potentially saved her belongings. The 'hero' has completed a quest - rescuing the bag - and the 'princess' acts as a reward for him by introducing herself.Another time Tatum is highlighted as the 'hero' is before punching a man and telling him to "get your hands off her", which is imagined to be about Savannah therefore he's likely to be protecting her. Working for the armed forces is an extremely valiant act, this is John's profession and can also have connotations of being a hero making his seem even more like a hero to the audience.
Throughout the trailer, after John and Savannah's meeting, the iconography of this romantic drama are typical for this type, for example there is a montage of when John is on 'leave' from the army and they do things a typical couple would in a typical romance film: visiting a beach, meeting each other's parents/friends, going to dinner. The montage shows them becoming fonder of each other and creating a close tenor with one another. This supports Savannah's voice over dialogue "Two weeks together, that's all it took. Two weeks for me to fall for you." However, this is disrupted when there is a sudden change in the music and we hear a voice over of John "I gotta go back" referring him going back to the war. This encounter could be a stage from Todrov's stages of a narrative. As this has interfered with John's and Savanah's lovestory it could be seen as the 'Disruption' in the stages because the story has taken a particular direction.
The lovers sending letters to one another is also classed as iconography because it At the begining of their montage showing their growing love over the two weeks in a short selection of shots, I noticed that the majority of shots are long or medium shots but as their love grows there are more close up shots of them, showing more emotion, up until John's complication where he is to go back and fight in the war, now the shots show more distance between them, being in different countries, by using medium shots and long shots again.
The non-diegetic sound of music throughout the trailer reflects upon the events too, at the start it's acoustic and quite soft and happy. The acoustic track stops when John and Savannah have had, what the audience will infer to be, their first kiss and we're left hearing only the-diegetic sound of rain. As the 'Disruption' occurs an emotional overwhelming piano piece begins to play, it begins soothing as though it is sympathetic but as John actually goes to war the speed of the music picks up and becomes more dramatic, perhaps showing how hard it is for the lovers to be separated. I have learnt that the piano piece playing is Snow Patrol, the lyrics from the song are removed from the trailer completely up until they're seen to be fitting and necessary to the plot of the story. The lyrics read " I'm miles from where you are..." which is completely relevant as the couple are in two total different countries.
Mise en scene during the trailer mostly relates to the events happening, John's costume at war is the typical armed forces camouflage uniform. Beside that, the costumes are mostly causal everyday clothing to represent an ordinary life that the audience could relate to in any ways. Unless you have seen the film you will be questioning whether John and Savanah stay together, whether John makes it out of war alive. As I have seen it numerous times it was harder for me to recognise binary oppositions however the questions that potentially arise through the audiences' minds I think that 'love vs hate' is a possibility. This is because we could assume he extends his tour like his co-worker does in the trailer, meaning he had the opportunity to go home and fight for Savanah, his love or fight for his country in the war, often caused by hate.
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