Film trailers are short previews of movies used to promote and market films. Trailers give audiences a glimpse of what to expect from a film in order to entice them to watch it. Trailers showcase exciting footage and are tailored to different genres to appeal to specific audiences. They are shown in theaters, on DVDs, television, and increasingly on digital billboards. Effective trailers use pacing, music, dialogue, and editing techniques to match the genre and build suspense leaving audiences wanting more information and eager to see the full film.

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 trailer’s 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 audience’s 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 genre’s 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 wouldn’t 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 – It’s 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 don’t 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.