Katy Jackson

School of Rock Trailer Analysis

The trailer begins conventional with a message from the Motion
Picture Association of America telling the audience the
classification of the film (so that they are aware of people who
shouldnt be watching it). In this case it is a PG-13.
It then cuts to black, followed by a cut to the Paramount Pictures ident.
Interestingly, this ident is shown in inverted colours for a split second and
then returns to the usual, recognisable colours. As the ident appears nondiegetic rock music comes in which already adds to the atmosphere and
clearly states to the audience that this film is likely to be based on music
and rock themes. It is likely that the colours in the ident were first
inverted because it seems like a disobedient thing to do in an ident which
links in with the idea of rock involving rebellious people and icons.
A cut to a three-shot of three band members shows the geography of the area which looks as
though it is a tattered room although there are fairy lights in the background giving it a warmer
feel. The band members look like stereotypical
rock lovers as they are wearing tank tops,
jewellery and one of them has a tattoo. This gives
the preferred reading of them being bad and
rebellious however as they are adults and it is
clear they are in a band this image they are
currently giving off may not be how their
characters actually are.
A further cut reveals a medium close up of a slightly tubby
man with medium length brown hair and a beard. A couple
of seconds later it is revealed to the audience that this man is
also a musician as he is seen holding his guitar case. When
this man is shown kicking part of the drum kit the nondiegetic music also makes a loud sound to draw the
audiences attention to what he is doing.
The genre of this film is comedy and music and this has been established within the first 13
seconds of the trailer. This indicates to me that for a trailer to be effective the genre needs to be
established quickly so that consumers who enjoy that genre are engaged. I thought this trailer
may be interesting to analyse as music is one of the genres. For the rest of the analysis I will use
sub-headings.

Key Moments/Narrative
- Dewey gets kicked out of the band. (Jack Black, a famous actor is seen for the first time).
- Dewey asks his Ned to help him win a show but his friend refuses and tells him to maybe 'give
up those dreams'.
- Dewey pretends to be Ned and accepts the offer of being a teacher at a school.
- Dewey sees the students playing in music class, so he brings in his instruments and starts the
new class project 'rock band'.
- The class band is created, but the head teacher walks in and they have to quickly pack things
away (Dewey gets asked to 'stick to the curriculum').
-Dewey gets the head teacher drunk and is allowed to take the students to a school concert.

Katy Jackson

- The class band are shown performing at the gig.

- Summer says she can sing and she does so, but poorly. The trailer ends on Dewey as he turns
away and pulls a face in response to her singing.

Key Information
This trailer directly focuses on the film, never mind
who directed it, what awards it has won or the stars
involved (although it is very clear that Jack Black is
the protagonist and main actor involved). It tells the
audience all about the most important thing, the film.
The music element of it is really pushed to entice
people who enjoy music to watch the whole trailer.

Editing
Overall, montage editing has been used to capture moments in scenes of the film and put them all
together so that the audience can make sense of the film without knowing too much. There are
times when continuity editing is used to give the idea of time going by at the normal speed. This
allows the audience to see how some of the characters interact with each other. It is also one of
the key aspects to making a trailer make sense as a group of seemingly unconnected shots can be
hard for the audience to understand and engage with.

Sound
As one of the genres of this film is 'music' it is clear that music is an essential part of this trailer,
and the most effective at grabbing music fans attention. Recognisable songs (e.g. Schools Out Alice Cooper) are heard throughout as non-diegetic, incidental music. They reinforce the rock
element of the film and are effective in giving the trailer the right atmosphere. Various songs are
heard and they have been chosen well to suit with the action in shot at the time.
In addition to this the usual elements of sound are also included as with only non-diegetic music
the audience may become a little bored. Diegetic dialogue is one that is most frequently heard and
this matches up with what the audience sees on the screen. As the trailer comes nearer the end a
non-diegetic, typically low sounding voice over comes in saying things such as 'Paramount
Pictures Presents' and 'The story of a man who gave a class the power to break the rules'. both the
voice-over and dialogue are not heard at the same time as the audience wouldn't be able to listen
to what they were both saying.
The trailer ends on the final chord in a song. An effective way to end a trailer in a punchy, yet
still 'rocky' way.

Inter-titles
Very little inter-titles are shown in this trailer. This is unconventional as a lot of trailers have
inter-titles to split up events that occur in the film.
The main title, however, is conventionally right at the end. It is shown in illuminated letters on a
brick wall. This suits the music genre of the film as in some venues you would see signs like this
(illuminated), on a brick wall. The colour red is iconic for being a 'rebellious' colour, thus suiting

Katy Jackson

the genre 'rock' which is often associated with 'bad behaviour'. The image below on the right is
the final thing the audience sees in the trailer. It tells them the production company, names of
some of the people involved, the film's website and most importantly when it's out. The use of
words has been carefully selected to suit the themes in the film. 'CLASS STARTS THIS FALL' is
an interesting way of telling the audience when the film will be available to watch and it links in
with the idea of it partly being set at a school.