Dear John Trailer

"Dear John" is a play on words that was used in the past for a woman to break up with their partner who would be at war. At the beginning of the trailer it tells the audience that it is made by the author of "the notebook", this is important because it was a successful film and gives the audience a guarantee that they will enjoy the film. Also, the actors used are well known and the female actor is known for her appearances in romance film such as this one. Channing Tatum stars in many films from Romantic comedies to syfy/action.

There are many genre codes in this trailer and mis-en-scene us used to show the letters that are sent by both characters. Also, the male is shown on a surfboard a couple of times along with the wooden house. The plot is that the male and female meet at a beech and become attached to one another. However, he has to leave to go to war, hence the reason they send letters. This beginning of this trailer is set on a beech which seems like a holiday destination and the trailer progresses to where the setting is the male at war and the female at home. The character played by Channing Tatum has a father who he has a distant relationship with and we see him get sick, this can be a convention for films like this to add suspense on the film. Character representation is important in the trailer because it shows us a flashback of the male character fighting when she mentions how people fear him. His past troubles him because he says how he is not the same person that he used to be. The two characters met by him retrieving her bag from the ocean and this matches the fact that he is a soldier, therefor he is presented as a 'hero'. The female character is a typical innocent woman who is in love. The iconography in this film is shown by the female dressing in a old fashioned way along with the male being a soldier. Not much technology is used in the location that it is set, whereas many films now include new technology throughout. 

The male and female are separated due to his job and so binary oppositions are used in this film. The stock characters/stereotypes are shows in this trailer by the male being a soldier even though the woman could have been a soldier. Also, the female character stays at home and is a stereotype to older wars where women stay at home. Flashbacks are used in this trailer showing what the relationship was like between the two character before they were separated. Another key point is that both characters narrate the trailer by quoting some of the phrases in the letters. This tells the audience how attached they are by showing them an example of the letters. Parallel narratives are used in this trailer by showing both perspectives of each character in their different situations. We see the female at home obsessed with the letters and we see the male in a war zone. Enigma codes show the male leaning on his sick father in the hospital and this can leave the audience asking questions. The fact that he goes to war allows the audience ask questions about his safety and the females emotions. 

There are also technical and audio codes used in this trailer. Non-diegetic are used by the music throughout the trailer which only the audience can hear, this music stops when a character says something humorous to show the audience the comedy side of the film. The music rapidly changes from when they meet to when they are separated, for example during the parallel narratives the music matches the characters emotions with slower music. Diegetic sounds are also involved and these include the waves at the beach to the characters talking to each other. Shot types are significant in this trailer by two shots and over the shoulder shots. This allows the audience to be apart of the characters scenarios and the audience are positioned with both characters when they read the letters so we get both perspectives.