Disney's 1997 Hercules - Movie Trailer Analysis

  

    Today we will be reviewing the movie trailer for Hercules, Disney’s 1997 animated film. As for this movie being a 90’s Disney movie, we all remember that distinct voice over on every Disney movie trailer. That voice that isn’t a part of the movie itself but describes the actions and plots of the story to really draw the audience into watching the movie. Since it is a family movie, the trailer uses visuals and voices to grab children's attention. This is because Disney knows that kids won’t read much of anything when it comes to watching something interesting. The narrator lines up sentences with scenes from the movie that make the trailer funny and interesting to watch. An example of this would be that the narrator says, “Disney pictures presents...” then it cuts to a scene from the movie when the muses, which are the women on the pots in the movie, are singing, they say and spell out “Hercules” stating that Disney is presenting you the movie Hercules. Then right after this clip in the trailer, pain and panic are worried and say “why does that name ring a bell” this states that something bad happens to Hercules within the movie because those two are working with Hades. The trailer putting a narrator's voice and clips from the movie together grabs the audience's attention. The trailer also puts clips from the movie together to form a short version of the story that is being told. For example, in the beginning of the trailer we see Hermes say “get it ladies” as the muses start to sing about the beginning of the Earth. We then see another clip from the movie of a guy saying “the end is coming” with clips of natural disasters happening. It then cuts back to Hermes, and he says, “Oh we’re in trouble.” The way the trailer puts these clips together at the beginning grabs the audience's attention. This makes the audience want to watch the rest of the trailer by adding that strong beginning.     

    Disney knows how to attract viewers through a simple movie trailer. This effect of putting different movie clips together as well as fitting a narrator’s voice into these clips really works for their target audience. Their main target is children and families. They included a very small amount of text for the audience to read. This is perfect for children to enjoy and to ramp them up into watching the movie. Since they use plenty of visuals, it is appealing to children who enjoy watching movies. Visuals are important to have in a children's movie trailer. Older Disney movie trailers tend to have the same narrator over every trailer. In newer Disney movie trailers, it seems to be one of the characters that is narrating in the trailer. Having a narrator for a children's movie trailer is essential for kids to understand and process the information better. Many children are still learning how to read and fully understand text, so Disney incorporates a narrator to simply tell kids what the movie is about. This is a great marketing tactic to use to get families to watch or buy the movie on DVD back then.  

    In conclusion, Disney’s marketing tactics are on point with this trailer. This also goes for previous trailers in this era. They work very well for kids who still don’t know how to read and understand sentences correctly. These trailers really ramp children up into watching the movie by showing them scenes that are visually capturing to the younger audience. As for most Disney movie trailers, the majority of them have narrators to explain what the children will be experiencing when they watch the movie for themselves. Disney also does a good job at creating an experience for adults by including small adult comedy that children won’t really understand at the time. This is usually done by jokes made by characters within the movie. Personally, when I was younger, watching these trailers made me want to watch all the new Disney movies that were coming out when I was growing up. Overall, Disney does a great job marketing the movie “Hercules” by including comedy scenes, narration, and eventful scenes that attract viewers into watching the movie.