1. Titles in trailers
When analysing other film trailers, I made note
on the use of titles and decided to look further
into the use of them throughout
trailers, specifically my main inspirations.

2. Black Swan
1. Title explaining the film has been shown at a prestigious festival
2. Title pointing out the famous director. 3. Followed by examples of some of the director’s famous work
4. Title of the film 5. One of the title actresses with note to previous award nominations
6. Titles after the film showing the producers, in association with, director, cast and score.

3. Black Swan continued…
7. Other film details
8. Last film details, with logos of film productions and
distributors
This titles are ones used in feature length trailers of films, the ones that show the most footage and
therefore need to explain directors, actors and other creators. These titles are over black, which is
usual for titles however the black is art or an image of black feathers. A point I have made in
previous research into psychological thriller icons.

4. Donnie Darko
1/2/3 – A small tagline for the film, increasing in size and relating to the theme and plot of the film.
4. Title of the film (which is a mix of the tagline for the film.
5/6 – Actors from the film’s names. These titles appear after a shot of their character in the film.

5. 7. The film’s details such as titles, names from the film’s
production, distributors, producers and so on…
These titles are very simple. The use of the words 'dark, darkest, darko' are used like a
tagline, as a part of the film. The alliteration emphasises the character's name and the
threatening tone of the psychological thriller.

6. The Machinist
1. This trailer uses a quote from a review, to show that the film has been well received but most
importantly, the show what this critic was comparing the film to. This is to intrigue audiences who
may have liked the mentioned directors.
2. /3
A tagline is used in between various clips. The question is a part of psychological thrillers, because it
asks audiences and they, most likely, do not know the answer and will not unless they see the film. It
also works as an obvious example of Barthes Hermeneutic Code because it rouses suspicion and
questions for audiences to want to answer.

7. 4. The trailer then shows the protagonist of the film's actor…
5. ...followed by the film's title
6. Ending on titles of the film's other information.

8. My analysis
All of the above titles are over black screens, which is typical of psychological thrillers as opposed to
comedies or adventures where the titles would be over white, browns or other bright colours. Black is
very simple as well as dark and threatening. The blue font in the Donnie Darko trailer is part of the
film's theme of blue, but it also shows the slight science-fiction edge in the genre. The white font in
the Black Swan and The Machinst trailer makes the titles very clear to see, but also the black against
white scenario is part of Levi Strauss' Binary opposition theory.
The Binary opposite theory says that there are always two opposites in texts. For example, hero vs
villian, good vs evil, black vs white, rational vs irrational and so on. First of all, audiences need to
recognise the differences between these opposites and once they do, they can understand the bigger
picture of a film. The black against white sceanario is a bit of Stauss' theory, because they are
opposites. The opposites could connotate to the minds of the protagonist in each film.