conventions of a film trailer

Conventions of a film trailer

>Film trailers often show snip it’s from the movie to give the audience an idea of     what the film is about. More often than not they show a lot of the more interesting parts of the film but not enough to give the film away. They have to be careful not to exploit the whole movie in the trailer but so they have given enough information about the film to show who may be in the film, what genre the film is and maybe a kind of story line that may appeal to the target audience that had been chosen for that particular movie.

Title

The title of the film is not released until the end of the trailer and the release date more than less likely follow that. Unless the trailer is released months before the film and therefore the trailer may say for example; “coming this autumn”.

Actor’s names

The names of the actors will appear very early on in the film this help to show the audience who they can expect to see in the film as an audience often, unconsciously, bases whether they are going to see it based on the stars in the film.

Voiceovers

Many films opt to use a well-known voice or a very strong deep toned voice to do the voice over of the trailer (narrate the trailer) as this helps to entice the audience showing the audience what is going on and what is happening. Because often trailers can sometimes be confusing as it is a mixture of different events in the trailer and so the narrator helps to explain what is happening in it.

Directors and producers

If the director or produce have previously created a very well-known film that has been successful to maybe the target audience they are trying to reach of maybe even not a film the target audience may enjoy- they use the success of that movie to promote the movie they are advertising. On the trailer it will often say “from the directors/makers of…”. This helps the audience to relate back to how well the other film did and gives a generalisation with- ‘if that film was that successful then this film must be.’

Music

The music behind the trailer helps to promote the genre, plot and the style of the film. There may also be sound effects in the trailer that helps to create an atmosphere. Most modern trailers that I have watched tend to use music that suits the time period the film is set in, so for example of the film was set now then the music used would be up to date chart music.

Rating cards

The rating card at the beginning of the film trailer is normally the green screen that appears on the screen. The green band originally meant that it was ‘suitable for all audiences’ until April 2009. In the April 2009 the MPAA changed it to ‘suitable for appropriate audience’ so if you were to go and see a rated 12a film, a trailer that may contain things that are rated for a 15 would not be allowed to be shown in the adverts before the film is shown at a cinema.