RESEARCH AND PLANNING - White Orleander Trailer

White Oleander was produced in 2002, it was based of a book by Janet Fitch and it stars
Michelle Pfeiffer, Renée Zellweger, Robin Wright Penn, and Alison Lohman as its main actresses. I have chosen to analyse this film because of it's complex story line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An6T_66uHLI

Above is a link to the trailer.

The trailer starts with the diagetic sound of cars going past and then the non diagetic sound of piano music. There is a quick shot of an American high way, this could be trying to show how much Astrid (Alison Lohman) will be moved around throughout the film. There is then a shot of a road sign on the high way with says 'Los Angeles', this tells the audience where the film is set, the shot is filmed as if someone is looking up at the sign as they drive past. There is then a shot of the city, this also looks like it is filmed from a car as it drives past. The shots are not very long but the editing is relaxed as does not seem frantic. There is a fade to black and a voice over begins, Astrid is the only who is speaking "My mother was the most beautiful women I'd ever seen" During this voice over there is a shot of Astrid's mother, Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer) sitting on the roof of their house in the middle of the night, Astrid walks up behind her, it then cuts to a mid shot of them both and Ingrid is hugging Astrid and stroking her hair - she is being very motherly. it then cuts to Ingrid at work, she smiles cheekily at, I assume Astrid. The voice over continues, "She was also the most dangerous" There is a shot of Ingrid with Astrid sitting to her left (right side of the screen) Ingrid turns around from looking at Astrid to look at the person the her right (left side of the screen) who is barely visible on camera, she looks very threateningly towards that person. The women is the background are wearing prison outfits and Ingrid is to, this shows the audience that she is very dangerous as she ends up in prison. There is another fade to black and when the images re appear they are of a kitchen table with scissors, flowers and someone pouring some milk into a glass. the camera pans up to show that Ingrid is pouring the milk. She talks about love and how horrible it is, the trailer then cuts to Astrid's face as she watches her mother, she looks confused and slightly scared by her mothers words. The trailer then cuts to a mid-long shot of Ingrid and a man having breakfast in a cafe, they both look happy and Ingrid is laughing. Astrid's voice over starts up again "When she fell in love, she fell hard" the shots which the voice over is over are shots of Ingrid walking up to a house, a man answers and Ingrid tries to act seductive and the man puts his arm on her shoulder. All these shots are long shots and the tracking shots of Ingrid walking are as if someone is watching her (I know from seeing the film that this is Astrid from their car). Astrid's voice over continues, "And when it ended" There is a mid shot of Ingrid and then a quick cut to the man she was having breakfast with smashing one of their windows, then there is a shot reverse of Astrid gasping, she looks terrified then it goes back to the man who smashed their window, he looks very angry, it is night outside with shows the danger of the situation. All of the other shots apart from the first 2 have been in day light. Astrid's voice over continues "It ended badly" The trailer then cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Ingrid cutting flowers of a bush in the garden, a different voice over begins, this is a mans voice "White Oleander's poisonous" the trailer then cuts back to the kitchen and Ingrid puts white flowers into the glass of milk, the voice over continues but after a couple of seconds its cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Astrid talking to a man who is giving her the information about white oleanders, he is gardening at the time to it is assumed that he knows what he is talking about; "I don't know why people grow it" There is then a white flash transition and there is a very loud knocking which wakings up Astrid as she had been asleep. The piano music stops at this point in the trailer.

The editing is faster in this section of the trailer, Astrid rushes down the hall, there are a lot of voices down stairs and it becomes clear that her mother is being arrested. When she reaches the top of the stairs there is a shot reverse shot of her looking down at her mother and her mother looking up at her. Her mother tells her that she will be back in an hour as she is lead out by multiple police officers and while she is being read her rights. It then cuts to Astrid's confused face and then there is a fade to black which is longer than the other ones have been as it fades to black there is the sound of a door closing. A women starts to speak over the black screen as it fades to images again, she tells Astrid that she is from children's services and that her mother is not coming back, she has a police officer with her and the shot is filmed over Astrid's shoulder as she opens the door to them. During this shot a new soundtrack starts, this one is guitar music. After the women says that Astrid's mother is not coming back there is the non diagetic sound of someone fast forwarding or rewinding a tape, during this there are extremely quick images of her and her mum, the last image of her mother lasts a little bit longer than the rest then screen the fades to black. On the black screen a caption appears which says 'from the acclaimed novel' this caption remains on the screen as the images return, there are shots someone looking up at tree's moving past as if someone was in a car again, and then a shot of Astrid sitting in the car as a women tells her about a family she will be living with, the caption disappears. The trailer the cuts to Astrid walking towards a women (Star played by Robin Wright Penn) and Star hugs Astrid and welcomes her to her new home. It then cuts to Astrid and Star shopping together and shots of both of them in the car, it is clear from these shots that Star is a stronger Christain. There is now a voice over of Ingrid speaking as the shots quicken on Star and her family; "I raised you, not some bible thumping trailer trash" it then cuts to Ingrid talking to Astrid in prison, the camera does not show Astrid's face as Ingrid continues speaking 'I will not lose you' There is then a CU of Astrid as she looks up from her lap to look at her mother, she looks torn and confused. The screen the fades to black and when the image returns it is an over the should shot of Astrid talking to an important looking women. The women tells Astrid that she knows she has been through a 'terrible ordeal' there is then a close up of Astrid outside looking again innocent and confused. There is then a voice over of the important women saying "three foster homes in three years" this gives the audience an idea of what Astrid will have to go through as the film processes. There is then shots of a new couple hugging which then cuts to a women (Claire played by Renee Zellweger) saying how much her and her husband love looking after Astrid when she is talking to Ingrid in prison. It then cuts to Ingrid's reaction, she looks at Claire menacingly. There is then a voice over of Ingrid over the top of shots of Astrid and Claire running along a beach and laughing; "She must be a great comfort to you" the trailer then cuts back to Ingrid talking to Claire in prison, she continues by saying that Claire can have no children of the own. It then cuts to Claire's hurt facial expression. There is another fade to black and Astrid's voice over starts up again "What did you say to her?" There is a shot of Ingrid through a wired fence as she shouts after Astrid 'I'm only trying to protect you from those people' there is then a shot of Claire sitting with Astrid at a table, they are holding hands, Clarie is being very motherly. The it cuts to Astrid turning around to face her mother and she shouts back 'these people are not the enemy mother' at this point a voice starts singing in the background along with the guitars. The audience can see that Astrid's appearance has changed, her hair is a lot shorter than it was. There is then a close up of Ingrid looking very dangerous in the prison yard.

There is a long shot of Claire and Astrid running on the beach this fades to Astrid outside looking almost straight towards the camera this fades to trees when also fade to Astrid getting baptised in a swimming pool, it then cuts top her shouting and knocking over a bed side table. The next shot is of Astrid looking very angry but frightened, she is holding a gun, there is a flash cut to her at a dinning room table and there is a prolonged sound of a gun shot, it then cuts to her and her mother hugging and smiling. It then cuts to Astrid looking in the mirror and cutting her long blond hair with a knife, there is then a shot reverse shot her her with very short hair smiling at a boy and he smiles at her. There is a mid shot of the drawing together and he shows her what he has drawn, as this shot ends Astrid's voice over starts again; "You look at me and you don't like what you see" during this there is a shot of Astrid and the boy kissing there are two flashes, like lightning, it then cuts to Astrid smoking and she is dressed a little bit like a goth, the voice over continues "But this is the price mother" There is a CU of her new look before cutting to her mother walking towards her, she looks shocked and not very pleased. There is the a mid shot of Astrid, she has died her hair dark brown and is stressed like a goth, she continues speaking 'the price of belonging to you' This then cuts to an angry Ingrid telling Astrid that she made her and that she is in her blood, during this their are shots of Astrid's new life. The trailer fades to black and there is a voice over by Ingrid and she says "you don't go any where until i let you go" There is a shot reverse shot of Astrid and her mother and Astrid says 'then let me go'. The trailer cuts back to Ingrid as she starts to cry, the trailer then cuts to a black screen with a small box in it that has a shot of Astrid next to this it says the actresses name, this the cuts to the same type of shot of Star, Ingrid and Clarie all pictures of them are in black and white by they have a slight blue tint also between each slide there is a bright white flash transitions. Over Claire's slide there is a voice over of Claire speaking "What was the best day of your life?" there is a shot of Astrid outside smiling looking how she did in the beginning of the film, there is a flash transition but it cuts back to the same shot, Astrid starts to laugh, the screen fades to white as there is a voice over of Astrid saying "Today". There is a flash of the words 'White Oleander' in black writing the screen then flashes between black and white before staying black and the words 'White Oleander' appear in white writing, they get bigger as if they are moving towards the screen. The trailer then cuts to the credits and after then it has black screen with the words 'Fall 2002' on it. This shows that this is an American trailer as very few is any other countries describe 'fall' as a season.

Rach.