1. AN INTRODUCTION TO FILM TRAILERS Katie Mould

2. What Is A Film Trailer? A trailer, is probably one of the most widely used methods of promoting and marketing a film. It gives the audience a good perspective over what to expect if they were to watch the film in full. A film trailers purpose is to make the audience want to watch the film and pay money to go and watch it in the cinema, or buy it on DVD when it is available. The conventions of the film trailer will change depending on the genre so that it appeals to a specific group of people. For example, an action trailer will have very fast pace music and the shots will be cut very suddenly in order to build tension. The trailer itself will usually contain footage that is the most exciting and the most likely to gain the audiences attention. 3. When Are They Shown? Trailers can be shown in lots of different ways and at lots of different times. All of this depends on the popularity of the film based on how it is marketed, the genre of the film and if it is a prequel, sequel or part of a trilogy etc. Some different ways of showing trailers include: - Before a movie of the same or of a similar genre. For example, Man of Steel could be shown before The Avengers because they are both action movies. - On a DVD before the main title screen. For example, the trailer for The Avengers may have been shown on the DVD for Iron Man, because the two films are linked based on their genre and the characters in the films. - On the TV in the adverts of a programme. These trailers are usually targeting a very specific audience. For example, an advert for a horror film will be advertised late at night in the ad break for a CSI show. - Recently, there has been an introduction of playing trailers on billboards rather than simply displaying a poster, so that it grabs your attention when you are walking past in order to get you to stop and watch. 4. Conventions of Trailers The music in film trailers always sets the mood of the film so that the audience knows what type of film it is going to be. This is important in order for the audience to get a good feel for what they are about to watch and to know whether or not they will want to watch the entire film. All of the shot types and editing techniques are used to match the style of the trailer and to set the pace and the scene for the rest of the trailer. This is most used in genres such as action and horror because they are usually the most fast paced trailers. Dialogue is important in order to get a feel for the characters and to know whether or not you are going to be able to relate to the characters. This is usually very important to the audience so that they can totally immerse themselves in what they are watching. Adding text in-between shots can add to the suspense and tension which is a very common and well used feature in trailers. The trailer is usually set in the same chronological order to the film. 5. POSSIBLE GENRES OF FILM TRAILER 6. Action Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol The trailer for new most recent Mission Impossible movie was very much anticipated due to the high success of all of the previous Mission Impossible movies. This particular film being the last of them all, meant that there was a lot of pressure on the producers and everyone involved, meaning everything had to be perfect, including the way that the trailer was planned out in order to appeal to the large fan base. The trailer itself has a lot of fast paced scenes due to the genre of the film being action. Without this type of fast paced cutting and editing, there wouldnt be an interesting enough plot to keep the audience entertained. The use of all of the jump cuts between the shots matches the speed of the movie and therefore gives the audience a good idea of what to expect when they watch the entire film. The music in this trailer is also very fast paced to match the shots along with the typical Mission Impossible music that you expect to hear whenever you are watching this chain of movies. The suspense and tension in this music, makes you want to keep watching and leaves you wanting to know more and more with the simple use of some fast paced music. The trailer moves fast enough that we still want to see the entire film, however, we can still manage to get a good enough idea of what actually happens in the film which is the general idea that action trailers tend to follow. This is used to keep the audience on the edge of their seats and so that they constantly want to know what is going to happen next. 7. Rom Com Its Kind of a Funny Story The romantic comedy trailers tend to all follow the same type of idea with the main female and male characters falling in love and then something drastic happens which tears them apart and then in the end they come back together and fall in love and live happily every after. This tends to be the way that most producers and screenwriters go when they are making romantic comedies because they know that it appeals to a wide female audience. This particular trailer, follows this kind of idea, with the two main characters being two young teenagers in a psychiatric unit. Throughout the trailer, it gives a little inkling of their growing relationship, however the audience would be unaware of any changes, because they want you to be left guessing and wondering what is actually going to happen, hence making them pay to watch the film. The shots and editing used in this trailer are all very spaced apart and simple, in order to keep the mood right for the genre and for the specific audience they are appealing to. If this type of movie was to use a lot of jump cuts, then it would not have the desired effect and it may take the focus away from the actual storyline. The music used in this trailer, is a lot more slow paced and in keeping with the overall feeling of the movie. This is important if you are trying to appeal to a specific group of people as you dont want to push them away. The trailer moves at a relatively average pace as it follows a very specific storyline. If the trailer was to move too fast or too slow then the overall mood of the film would not be as it should be which would inevitably draw in the wrong type of target audience. 8. Horror Insidious: Chapter 2 Insidious: Chapter 2, has very typical features of a horror film. There are a lot of shots that are made to make the audience jump and they work very well in achieving this. The way that this trailer has been made, is designed to make you want to know the storyline of everything that is going on so that you can try to make sense of the occurrences. Horror trailers in particular are made to scare you which means that you should be naturally more inclined to find out more about what is actually scaring you. This is what most film producers aim to do when they are making the trailer for a film. The use of creepy music being slowly introduced half way through the trailer is used to build suspense and tension and to make the jumps and frightening parts a lot more apparent as the music will get louder and more prominent when these occur. Usually the beginning of a horror trailer, seems completely normal and starts out as a normal storyline, however the further into the trailer you watch, the more you start to realise that there is a lot more depth to what you first thought. As the trailer progresses this suspense based around the scares, is designed to keep you on the edge of your seat and wanting to watch more and more even though it is likely that what you know you are about to see is going to scare you. This technique in film trailers is designed to make you want to see the entire film which is the basic marketing idea behind trailers.