MULTIMODAL RESOURCES IN FILM TRAILERS
A Thesis
Submitted to the English Applied Linguistics Study Program in
Partial Fulfillment at the Requirements for the Degrees of
Magister Humaniora
By:
Rosna Kuara
Registration Number : 8126112029
ENGLISH APPLIED LINGUISTICS STUDY PROGRAM
POST GRADUATE SCHOOL
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
ABSTRACT
Kuara, Rosna. Multimodal Resources in Film Trailers. Thesis. English Applied Linguistics Study Program. Post Graduate School. State University of Medan 2014.
The aims of this study are to find out what type of multimodal resources are employed in the action film trailers and how they communicate the promotional purpose. Besides, it also describes why the resources are not employed similarly in all action film trailers. The subjects of this study are taken from three action film trailers, two from action thriller trailers, and one taken from action war trailer. Descriptive qualitative research and the integrative approach are used, and the research instrument in this analysis is observation. The data are gathered by downloading from YouTube. Then they are analyzed based on the structure of meaning-making resources and the three metafunctions, namely representation, orientation, and organization. In the data analysis, it is found that 1) there are three resources that are involved in making meaning in action film trailers, namely the verbal, visual, and oral mode. 2) by combining the verbal, visual, and aural aspects in action film trailers, the promotional purpose is achieved. 3) multimodal resources are employed differently in all action film trailers. Some trailers use more captions in telling the plot of the story while some focus on utilizing the voiceover narrator. From these findings, it can be concluded that the multimodal resources that constitute the action film trailers are used to enhance the promotional purpose, and they are made by combining the verbal, visual, and aural aspect. Multimodal resources are not used chronologically or systematically in all trailers, and they employed differently in all action film trailers because different producers will have different ways and purposes in promoting their film.
ABSTRAK
Kuara, Rosna. Multimodal Resources in Film Trailers (Unsur-unsur multimodal yang terdapat dalam film trailer). Thesis. Program Studi Linguistik Terapan Bahasa Inggris. Sekolah Pasca Sarjana Universitas Negeri Medan 2014.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
With the blessing and the grace of the Almighty God upon the writer’s study, she
has been able to complete her thesis as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Magister Humaniora in the English Applied Linguistic Study Program
Postgraduate School in the State University of Medan.
At this time opportunity, the writer would like to thank those who have helped
make this work possible for her to complete. Her deepest gratitude would have to go to
her first and second advisers, Prof. Amrin Saragih, M.A., Ph.D., and Prof. Dr. T. Silvana
Sinar, M.A., Ph.D., respectively, for their valuable time in giving suggestions, comments,
and criticisms on this thesis.
Her sincerest gratitude is also expressed to Prof. Dr. Busmin Gurning, M.Pd., Dr.
Sri Minda Murni, M.S., and Prof. Dr. Berlin Sibarani, M.Pd., for their constructive
comments and suggestions for the improvement of this study. Her best regards also go to
all the dearest lecturers who have shared their knowledge and skill with her during her
academic years in the State University of Medan.
Last but not least, she would also like to extend her heartiest gratitude to her
beloved family, her parents, husband, and her two children for having given endless
support, care, and pray during the writing of this thesis. Her appreciation also goes to the
principals and teachers in W.R. Supratman 1 and Methodist 2 who have been encouraging
enough in many different ways to make all this complete.
Though the writer has tried her very best effort in writing this thesis, she realizes
constructive comments from the readers intended to improve the work will be warmly
welcomed and highly appreciated.
Medan, 28 Maret 2014
3.2 Data Sources and the Data ... 24
3.3 Techniques of data collection... 25
3.4 Techniques of data analysis ... 26
3.5 Trustworthiness ... 27
CHAPTER IV : DATA ANALYSIS 4.1 The Multimodal Resources Employed in Action Film Trailers… .... 30
4.1.1 Visual Resources ... 30
4.1.2 Verbal Resources. ... 33
4.1.3 Aural Resources.... ... 37
4.2 Ways in which Multimodal Resources Communicating Promotional Purposes ... 38
4.3 Reasons for Action Film Trailers to Apply the Multimodal Resources Differently..…….. ... 40
4.4 Findings ... ... 41
4.5 Discussions ... 43
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 Conclusions ... 45
5.2 Suggestions ... 46
LIST OF TABLES
Pages
Table 1 ………..13
LIST OF APPENDICES
Pages
Appendix 1 ………. 49
Appendix 2 ………. 51
C H A P T E R 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1
The Background of the Study
Language has commonly been conceived as the central building block to meaning
making and to communication. Today, whichever way we turn, our senses are assailed by
an array of signs and visual modes of communication, from mobile phone to the internet,
advertising, graphic novels and cinema. Technological advances force language to take a
back seat in favor of images and sounds, and results the division between form and
expression of meaning.
The emergence of digital technologies has changed the design of texts and our
literate practices so that we now interpret and construct texts which have verbal, visual,
audio and spatial dimensions for making meaning, that is, multimodal texts. Multimodal
texts are defined as texts which communicate their message using more than one semiotic
resource, or channel of communication. Examples are magazine articles, which use words
and pictures, websites which contain audio clips alongside the words, or films (included
the film trailers) which uses words, music, sound effects and moving images.Newspapers
and magazines, computers, and mass media in general have articulated multimodal texts
(combinations of video, audio, written text, etc.) that aim to reinforce, render more
complex, or produce different meanings.
Anstey & Bull (2010) define multimodal text as a text which combines two or
more semiotic systems. According to them, there are five semiotic systems in total: 1.
oral and written language, 2. Visual: comprising aspects such as color, vectors and
viewpoint in still and moving images, 3. Audio: comprising aspects such as volume, pitch
and rhythm of music and sound effects, 4. Gestural: comprising aspects such as
movement, speed and stillness in facial expression and body language, 5. Spatial:
comprising aspects such as proximity, direction, position of layout and organization of
objects in space.
In analyzing a text which has verbal and visual dimensions in making meaning, a
multimodal analysis should be conducted. Jones (2012) states that multimodal analysis is
an approach which focuses on how meaning is made through the use of multiple modes
of communication as opposed to just language. According to Halloran and Smith (2010),
multimodal analysis includes the analysis of communication in all its forms, but is
particularly concerned with texts which contain the interaction and integration of two or
more semiotic resources – or ‘modes’ of communication – in order to achieve the
communicative functions of the text.
By extending Halliday’s theory of language as social semiotic in order to include
other semiotic modes besides language (Halliday : 1978), Kress and Van Leeuwen (1996,
2001) have been influential in showing how meanings are produced not only through
different modes, but also through their interaction and intersection with each other. They
clarify that the ways in which the different semiotic resources integrate and combine,
make meaning; that is the experiential meaning, the interpersonal, and the logical
meaning, which belong to Halliday’s concept. In the analysis of moving images,
Iedema’s (2001) three metafunctions, namely representational, orientational, and
Multimodal text analysis has become a crucial part of research, teaching and
practice for a wide of academic and practical disciplines. A variety of techniques,
theoretical frameworks and methodologies have therefore evolved for such analysis. The
complex ways in which meaning-making resources are orchestrated have been explored
in various multimodal texts by numerous researchers such as Van Leeuwen (1998),
Lemke (1998), Baldry (2005), Kress (2000), Thibault (2000), and Kress and Jewitt
(2003). Besides these, in its use in various disciplines and professions, a variety of
disciplines and theoretical approaches can be used to explore different aspects of the
multimodal landscape – in anthropology (Goodwin, 2006), in psychology (Ainsworth.
2008); theories from those disciplines are brought to multimodal issues in the respective
field of work. Anthropological theories and interests could be applied to examine how
communities use multimodal conventions to mark and maintain identities. Psychological
theories can be applied to look at how people perceive different modes or to understand
the impact of one mode over another on memory, for example. As a consequence,
multimodality is embedded in distinct approaches and shaped by them. Much of this has
emphasized the ways that specific modes realize meaning.
There are several principle communicative components of multimodal texts,
namely: written or spoken language, intonation, images (photographs, diagrams,
drawings), and aspects of images such as color, sharpness of focus, spatial composition,
etc, also other visuals such as logos, shop or road signs, gestures, facial movements,
action (movement in film, for example). The study of multimodality involves looking at
combination. Components of multimodal texts often take on new meanings, or
connotations, when they interact in a complete text.
Multimodal texts make meanings by integrating resources from multiple modes of
an organized set of resources for meaning-making. In line with the characteristics of
multimodal texts, this study takes the data research from film trailer. There are several
reasons that support film trailers to be chosen as the data. The first reason is due to the
fact that multimodal refers to texts which use a range of language modes; and film trailer
itself, is the combination of the visual, verbal, and other modes of communication.
Maiers (2009) agrees to that and gives opinion that film trailers are multimodal texts in
what several semiotic modes are combined and parts of texts created for other purposes
are transferred, rearranged, and supplemented in order to attain a promotional purpose
(Maier 2009 : 159).
academic research. Last but not least, film trailer is the product of modern technology in
information and communication, besides, the analysis on multimodal has become
worldwide trend nowadays in analysing text. All these reasons strengthened and made up
In her study on the visual evaluation in film trailers, Maier (2009:163) states that
in the last decade, multimodality has proven to be extremely influential in demonstrating
how each semiotic mode is dynamically organized and transformed to make meaning in
complex texts. Most linguistic analysts nowadays have developed new trends in
analyzing a text; they tend to use integrative approach, which means they do not only
analyze the text verbally, but also visually. The lattest is commonly known as visual
representation aspect in text. But the reality is, there has been little work that specifically
targets the nature of the intersemiotic semantic relationships between the visual and
verbal modes, to explain just what features make multimodal text visually–verbally
coherent.
Originally, trailers were very slowly edited and simple, with hardly any narration
and just words all over the screen whereas nowadays film trailers are bursting with
sounds, images and footage from the film that they are advertising. This is caused by
heavy competition that film producers face, as new, more challenging films constantly
seek to gain audience’s attention. Over the last decade, film trailers have become one of
the most important advertisements to promote a coming film, thus, larger amounts of
money assigned to the making of film trailers. Film producers in this case are compelled
to search for the best way to achieve their goals, so there is an increasing complexity of
editing strategies and special effects that characterize the structure of film trailers.
In film trailers, film producers promote their coming film by employing a
different and complex interplay of multimodal resources in order to build up the
audience’s curiosity to watch the film. Among the different film trailers, some of them
voice-over narration as a fundamental source of information, and some others use the
combination of the shots from the film and the voice-over narration to expand the
promotional purpose of a film trailer as a whole.
From the background above, the writer tries to study what type of multimodal
resources are employed in the action film trailers, how these resources communicate the
promotional purpose, and why the multimodal resources are not employed similarly in all
trailers.
1.2 The Problems of the Study
Based on the background, the problems are formulated as follows:
1. What type of multimodal resources are employed in the action film trailers?
2. How do these resources communicate the promotional purpose?
3. Why are the resources employed differently in all the action film trailers?
1.3 The Objectives of the Study
Based on the background of the study, the objectives of the research are:
1. To find out the type of multimodal resources employed in action film trailers.
2. To find out how the multimodal resources communicate the promotional purpose.
3. To describe why the resources are employed differently in the action film trailers.
1.4 The Scope of the Study
In this study, the writer will choose to analyze Hollywood action film trailers in
sub-genres, namely action horror, superhero action, action thriller, action war, etc, thus the
writer will just pick up two from action thriller trailers and one from action war trailers.
The trailers are from the official film trailers released from the year 1990 up to around
2010. The different structure of context in trailers and the general structure of
meaning-making resources will become the data of the analysis. The writer will not go into detail
with every aspect of the trailers. For instance, she will not analyze every single utterance
that was produced from the conversation among the characters in the trailers, but instead
she will analyze how the verbal mode interacts with the visual mode. Neither will she
employ reception analysis, because she will not discuss audience perception towards the
coming film.
practice for a wide range of academic and practical disciplines. Besides, findings are
expected to be useful for other researchers who are interested in this multimodal
analysis.
2. Practically, findings are expected to give contribution to the trailer producers as
specialists and the common audiences as consumers. To the producers, it will provide
certain meaning in the trailers. To the audience, it will give enough information to
arouse their curiosity to watch the film.
3. Academically, it is expected to deepen the understanding of film trailers as a typical
multimodal discourse which deserves much more academic attention. The findings
are hoped to be helpful for developing and increasing the world science especially in
the education about multimodal in English Applied Linguistic Program.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Conclusions
This study is concerned with the type of multimodal resources which are found in
film trailers. It is aimed at describing how the multimodal resources enhance the
promotional purpose of a film. In order to explain how the ways in which the promotional
purpose of the film is achieved, the analysis of the moving images in the trailer is based
on Rick Iedema’s representation, orientation, and organization metafunctions. The
findings of the analysis reveal that the multimodal resources in the film trailers are the
verbal, visual, and aural elements that exist in the trailer itself. These elements are known
as the conventions of film trailers and they are used to communicate key messages to the
audience. Moreover, these three elements are regarded as multimodal resources because
they make meaning through a powerful combination of different modes of
communication, such as the written text o n screen, spoken language, moving images,
voiceover, music, and sound effects.
Visually, the promotional purpose is achieved through the combination of
communicative means specific to film texts, such as close-up shots, camera movement,
captions, transitions, and special effects. This promotional purpose is also achieved
through the intersection of all three semiotic modes namely the visual, verbal, and aural
The multimodal resources are used differently in all action film trailers because
different film producers will have different ways in promoting their coming film.
5.2 Suggestions
Firstly, it is suggested that the three multimodal resources can be further explored
in other genre besides action genre. Secondly, it is suggested that ways in which
multimodal resource communicating promotional purpose can be explored in addition to
using the combination of the three multimodal resources. Thirdly, the reasons why
different trailers use different multimodal resources in action film trailers, can be further
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