Love is a feeling we can all resonate with - a warm, happy and delightful feeling that is invisible, undetectable and unnoticeable with anything but our hearts. (CHANGE)
Many adolescents and woman are drawn towards romantic comedy movies. Movies that make them feel good whilst portraying a beautiful resolution to a deep, stereotypical problem. Examples of such movies include Friends with Benefits, Valentines Day and Crazy, Stupid, Love. All of which are based upon a traditional love story concept mixed with obstacles stopping the love from flourishing. (CHANGE)
I strongly believe that the best way to widen up the audience of the Perks of Being a Wallflower would be to transition the genre of the trailer from being drama mixed with elements of adult themes and romance to purely a romantic movie with comedic and educational elements, a romantic genre focused around the idea of Charlie transitioning from an endearing and naive outsider to society to now finding a fantastic group of friends, in particular his best friend, who eventually becomes his girlfriend - Sam, who accepts him and teaches him about the wonders of the ‘real world’ and how to live a life of a ‘normal’ teenager - a fun life of drinking, drugs and in his case, women. (CHANGE)
While the current trailer proved to be highly successful and combined a variety of important adolescent themes such as depression, sexual orientation and stereotypes that are being widely discussed in the media with regards to the age group of fifteen to nineteen, by slightly shifting the genre and themes of the proposed new trailer we could allow the film to be exposed to a much wider audience - not just this teenage age group but parents of teenagers and woman wanting a traditional love story with a twist. (CHANGE)
Instead of just showing parts of a film about a teenager with a variety of issues then a happy ending, the new trailer would provide a whole new, wider perspective to this successful storyline. The underlying theme and focal point of the trailer would be the romantic story between Charlie and Sam and how there relationship flourished as Charlie’s issues were exposed then addressed. (CHANGE)
A recent study conducted by IMDB on the popularity of move genres showed that on average, romantic movies, smashed drama movies in three key metrics - revenue, popularity and reviews. The proposed new trailer would contain a careful mix of the following three elements to ensure parents of teenagers and middle- aged woman would also be potential viewers: the game of love, adolescent issues and adult comedy. (CHANGE)
As mentioned earlier, love is something we can all connect with - regardless of age, demographic, knowledge base or even gender for some. Its something that appeals to everyone. The current trailer however is fixated upon portraying Charlie’s issues - while this is an important element to the overall storyline in the movie, it restricts the potential reach and audience of the film. The romantic story between Charlie and Sam coupled with Charlie’s issues as a secondary theme ensures the film will appeal to an expanded audience.
The first step to effectively transitioning the genre of the trailer is by establishing a new perspective. It is also important that we address the current scenes with regards to what can stay and what must be replaced.
The way in which I propose we do this is similar to the way in which the 2011, romantic comedy smash hit Friends with Benefits started off their trailer. Bright coloured titles were displayed shown before each scene in the trailer to act as a reference to the audience and keep the mood light when key, deep moments were shown. (CHANGE)
Take this scene for example - have a look at these two pictures. On the scale of 1-10 how serious does these two arguments look? (Question) Pretty serious doesn't it!
When the argument takes place between the two main characters and there former partners, thanks to the upbeat, fun music and fast paced camera angles the audience perceives this scene in a comedic and funny fashion. (CHANGE) In the feature film however, this is quite the opposite and this argument scene, instead of being combined with upbeat music, is combined with aggressive sounds to emphasise the deep and serious nature of the argument. (CHANGE)
In the proposed new trailer for Perks of Being a Wallflower, we’d model the Friends with Benefits trailer. The opening frame of the new trailer starts with a bright, visual title stating: “The Beginning”. This tagline, coupled with a passionate and joyful tune aims to establish the romantic and affectionate relationship forming between Charlie and Sam. (CHANGE) The visual component shows Sam dancing and Charlie ‘dancing’ outside of his comfort zone to join her on the dance floor. This particular scene ignites the first spark of curiosity within the audience as to how this romantic story will play out. Furthermore, the audience is now in a much better to identify who the the main character and for some teenagers, connect with, and model Charlie’s actions. (CHANGE) The music stops and the picture goes black for a few seconds. (CHANGE)
Suddenly, a second bright, visual title appears on the screen which states: “The Complications”. (CHANGE) The upbeat, light and passionate music restarts immediately when the camera is fully focused and an extended stop motion style clip begins with rapid cross- cutting footage as Charlie’s disturbing past (CHANGE) and present adolescent problems meld with the resolutions and solutions. The somber coloured background of each scene, combined with upbeat music acts as a vehicle to emphasise the message that Charlie is excluded from society and has also been struck with various issues throughout his childhood thus educating the newly widened audience on teenage issues, however, through the use of upbeat sounds once again, and cross- cutting scenes, the mood of the trailer remains very light and engaging. (CHANGE)
It is clear that there is no more effective way of demonstrating and educating the audience on Charlie’s problems while keeping the mood positive than by playing upbeat and passionate music, as can be heard in the clip. (CHANGE)
Fast forward a couple of scenes, the final visual title would be “The Happy Ending”. This particular scene would be compromised a very soft, thought provoking background tune and Sam asking Charlie: “Why do I, and everyone I love pick people who treat us like we are nothing?“ Charlie responds with “We accept the love we think we deserve”. (CHANGE) This short final scene then cuts directly to Charlie and Sam kissing to a passionate song that gets louder until the picture fades out black.
The proposed twist in the perception showed in the trailer will surely engage not only the existing target audience: teenagers, who will be far more engaged with the new lighter, comedic elements of the trailer but also parents of teenagers and middle- aged woman wanting a traditional romantic movie which this new trailer now portrays.
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