'Super Size Me' Trailer

'Super Size Me' Trailer

      I watched the trailer for the documentary 'Super Size Me', before watching the documentary itself. This gave me an idea of how this particular company has used the trailer to draw the audience in, and make them want to watch the documentary, as well as how they appeal to their target audience. The target audience for this particular documentary is likely to be a mass market, as it looks into the affects fast food restaurants (focusing on McDonalds), has on the body. Fast food restaurants are extremely popular amoung our culture, particularly in America, (where this documentary is set), with 1 in 4 Americans visiting a fast food restaurant a day, according to statistics on the 'Super Size Me' website. This could be an indication of one of the reasons why this documentary is so popular, as it appeals to people of all ages and from all walks of life.

The trailer begins by setting down what the documentary is about and showing the conductor of the McDonalds experiment ordering a super size meal. This immediately tells the audience the basic outlines of what is going to happen in the documentary.

Throughout the trailer a close-up image of this clown (assumingly representing McDonald's mascot Ronald McDonald), flashes up on screen. It represents the idea that McDonalds is not as welcoming and family-friendly as the company makes it seem, and adds a sinister edge to the trailer, as it is teamed with a short piece of music which resembles the 'Jaws' theme tune. It immediately tells the audience there are secret truths about the takeaway restaurant restaurant they thought they knew so well, and makes them intrigued to watch the documentary to find out what this sinister clown character is really representing.

At this point in the trailer, the doctor is examining the main man the documentary is based around and saying, "you're gonna die, you'll die," which is immediately before the man saying, "I want more, more, more, more."

This choice of editing the dialogue makes the situation seem more severe than it perhaps seems after watching the actual documentary, as the doctor merely suggests he is harming his body by partaking in the McDonalds experiment, rather than telling him he is actually going to die. However, by pairing this with the man's dialogue saying he wants more, it draws the audience in, as he sounds like he is addicted to something which is killing him, which many Americans can relate to due to the popularity of McDonalds and other fast food restaurants.

The trailer shows short clips of obese people, which is likely to attract the attention of people of similar shapes, as it is showing something for them to worry about. The clips are also of average American citizens who did not know they were being filmed which could make an obese person relate and show interest in the documentary as it is referring to people like themselves and could make them think 'that could've been me.'

The last clip in the trailer is of the man close to vomiting after eating a super size meal, which tells the audience that the documentary is likely to tell the graphic truth about McDonald's food and the effect it has on the body, which may interest an audience who want to know the truth about the food they are choosing to eat, and how the 'fun', 'happy' exterior of McDonalds could be hiding the horrific consequences fast food can have on your body.

'Super size Me' has its own theme song which is upbeat and catchy, meaning it sticks in people's heads. It relates to the documentary and has lyrics such as 'getting fat, getting broke, either way you're going to pay.' The lyrics relate to the documentary, and may also help put people off buying fast food. The juxtaposition of the lyrics to the catchy, upbeat melody of the song makes it even more memorable.

• Watching this trailer helped me gain more of an understanding of how to draw an audience in and give them a basic outline of what the documentary is about without giving too much away. The example of slight exaggeration within the trailer also shows how one can attract an audience's attention using clever editing techniques.
• The pace of this trailer is fairly fast-moving as it only lasts a minute. The main ideas of the entire documentary are compressed down into a few key points and ideas which are shown in short clips of video and dialogue. The dialogue would have to be carefully selected to catch the audience's attention about an issue which hadn't before been confronted, which is a part of a majority of people's everyday life.