The document analyzes and summarizes the key elements of a trailer for the television drama series "Downton Abbey". It discusses the effective use of music to reinforce the themes portrayed on screen. It also notes that dialogue is used to give the audience an idea of the drama's storyline and themes of "untold secrets". The genre of the drama is identified as a period piece based on cues like the manor house setting and costumes. The cinematography incorporates a variety of shots to showcase the diversity of action in the drama. There are no special effects due to the genre. The trailer opens with production company logos and credits the Oscar-winning writer to establish credibility for the series.

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Alternative trailer research
Downton Abbey

2. Music, sound, voice over
The music relates directly to the message that the
production team are trying to get across with the lyrics
"watching you" playing every time a clip of a character's
eyes is present. This has reinforced the fact to me that
music must have a good link to what is on screen. The
music sounds somewhat spooky, which could be linked to
the manor-house setting.
What can be noticed is that when the tempo quickens the
higher-action scenes appear on screen such as running,
fighting and horses cantering across a field.
The voice over is just dialogue between the characters
giving the perspective audience an idea of what the drama
series are about. It becomes clear it is about "unpublished
secrets" and "The English being curious about other
peoples lives". The use of dialogue, I have learnt is common

3. Genre and narrative
The genre is introduced at the beginning when the
equivalent to the Universal ident- the ITV drama ident tells
the audience that the trailer is advertising that of a drama. It
some becomes apparent that it is that of a period drama
due to the manor house setting and the costume worn by
actors. A little information is given about the storyline, which
is common in trailers, in this trailer through the
dialogue/speech between characters. It is this speech that
tells the audience that "untold secrets" are to be a key
theme of the drama.

4. Cinematography and special effects
The cinematography varies with both close up and long
shots as well as a variety of establishing shots, high angle
shots and extreme close ups. Showing a range of shots is
important in a trailer to show that the film/drama is diverse
and that action is always occurring. There are no special
effects in this trailer. This could be due to the genre,
whereby alien space ships and massive car crashes would
not be expected. Special effects and CGI may be used
simply to neaten up shots somehow rather than to create
any sci-fi scenes, for example.

5. Selection of titles
Like most trailers it opens with the production companies
ident, in this case ITV and is followed by crediting the writer,
and the fact that she is an Oscar award winning writer. This
is similar to The Great Gatsby, where awards are
mentioned. This could give the drama credibility of being a
good television series. It later goes on to display the series
title at the very end, along with the release date. The
structure of this trailer for a television drama series, in fact is
not much different from that of a film.