Alice in Wonderland Trailer Analysis

Alice in Wonderland is a 2010 American fantasy adventure film directed by Tim Burton, who is known for his dark, gothic, eccentric and quirky fantasy films, from a screenplay written by Linda Woolverton. The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and shot in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The non-diegetic soundtrack starts just before the production companies logo appears. Long-time Burton collaborator Danny Elfman's score was released March 2, 2010. This soundtrack music is played over an animated movie logo for the Walt Disney Studios, this animated logo contains fireworks and as they go off they are accompanied with diegetic firework explosion sounds.

The camera then goes to a low angle shot, almost a worms view shot, of down a hole in a tree root looking up as Alice looks down the whole framing her in the holes entrance. This suggests something is down the hole, then Alice crouches down to look into the hole closer, and the non-diegetic sound reaches a slight peak when she slips and falls straight into the hole. The tempo and pace of this music starts to increase and become a lot more frightening and energetic; this creates the sense of worry and craziness as she is whirling down the tree’s hole.

The use of cuts is used to provide the viewer with a sense of what is going on. The cuts only provide snippets of the action so therefore ensures that the story isn’t completely given away, which is important for a trailer.

There is then the first shot of the main character; she is walking through an arch into the mess of people. We know this is Alice as she fits the description of the previous 'Alice in Wonderland' cartoon movie; she has blonde hair which connotes a character that is naive and innocent. When we hear diegetic sounds the non-diegetic soundtrack goes quiet, this makes sure that the dialogue can be clearly heard. We then see a long shot of her running through the wood towards an old, large twisted looking tree. Woods are a close connotation of fantasy movies as many films which are of this genre are often set in the woods as they add an element of mystery and unknowing to a film.

Next is a title screens showing "From Director Tim Burton". The title is placed on a red background with gold writing which makes it stand out. There is then another word credit; it contains the name "Johnny Depp" who the actor is playing the mad. Johnny Depp is a very well-known Hollywood actor. This means that he has a lot of fans which would watch a movie purely because he is in the film. As well as using Johnny Depp to promote the film, the director Tim Burton is also very well known for making successful films and the production company Disney. Disney is an extremely well known media conglomerate and thus has a reputation for creating high quality, family friendly, movies. It not only attracts an audience who have watched other Disney movies and wish to watch this one but it also makes it clear who the target audience of the movie is, a family audience.