RESEARCH: OKJA TRAILER

On the 5th June, we viewed the trailer for Netflix original film Okja. As it is a Netflix Original it is not released for cinematic screening. The film was nominated for a Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival 2017, but caused controversy for its selection because it is a film without a cinematic release, with reports of both cheering and booing coming from the audience at the screening.
Cinematic trailers appear in front of films that are already being shown in order to attract a similar target audience. Cinema managers often jealously protect the window in which films are screened in order to make more money from ticket and food sales.
Okja revolves around the conflict within the food industry and the debate of Animal Rights, as the film features themes of animal activism, corporate greed and scientific ethnics.
A trailer needs to signal genre and narrative efficiently and rapidly. It may use a variety of narrative frameworks to do this, such as binary oppositions. For Claude Levi-Strauss, texts usually have examples of binary opposition that display contrasts, such between good and evil. From this trailer, it is clear that audiences are invited to sympathise with the small innocent girl who, along with her cherished animal, takes on the might of corporate greed, personified by Tilda Swinton's character.
For Stuart Hall, the meaning of the text resides in the interpretation of the viewer. For this film, the preferred reading would be on the side of animal rights (on the side of the protagonists) partly because the little girl and her giant pet pig are so adorable. The trailer depicts establishing shots that romanticize the countryside and its serene, peaceful setting. The song Dedicated to the One I Love plays throughout the trailer, and these words essentially capture the spirit of the relationship between the teenage protagonist and her giant pig due to its soft and loving lyrics. Narration is also used to oppose this with the voice and footage of Tilda Swinton's character, who talks about the importance of the animal 'tasting good'. A motivated edit then takes the protagonist to an empty shed, signifying that the animal has been kidnapped. The protagonist is often featured centre frame in the shots to signify her god qualities and importance to the story, but is shown to carry fierce love to her pet despite her timid appearance.
In keeping with all trailers, there is very little dialogue, often consisting of one liners so that is easy for the audience to understand. At one point in the trailer, Tilda Swinton grins with an evil smile, and says "its a shame we had to tell all those little white lies". Earlier, the spokeman for the animal activists tells the protagonist "we're going to Okja back". Trailers often need to build up to an explosive end. A series of hard cuts help to achieve this by quickening the pace of the trailer which is also signified by the action depicted becoming more intense and exciting, channeling action scenes in the final film. We are literally made to put our hands together for "the one, the only", with the trailer then ending and showcasing the title of the film.