Task 3 of Unit 2,3,22 explaining what trailers are and why they are used along with their conventions.

1. What is a trailer?
A trailer is a video based advertised or commercial from a use of series and footage
from an upcoming films or broadcast used for publicity. Trailers may be used for
television series, films, books or even theatrical events/concerts. Trailers are a
popular feature that people watch a lot. There are mainly 2 types of trailers. One is a
theatrical trailer which usually lasts a maximum of two and a half minutes. Secondly
there is a teaser trailer which is usually shorter than a minute and a half long.
Why is a trailer used?
A trailer tends to tell the story of the film with or without giving out a teaser or
showing the ending as it will spoil the film. The trailer hypes up the audience just
enough for them to want to watch the film as soon as possible. There are many
elements used in a conventional trailer to attract the audience. Trailers are mostly
released on social in order to gain mass audience and depending on your target
audience as everyone today use social media for everything. Most conventions seen
in trailers are teasers towards the film. This hypes the audience in order for them
wanting to watch the film. There are also a lot of quick cuts due to the energetic fast
pace of music. You will get to the narration and release date of the film. A trailer
often consists of jumbled up scenes in non chronological order as the scenes shown
go back and forth in the film. In most trailers you will get to see the production
company’s name and/or logo along with the age certification. Lastly and most
obviously there would always be the film’s name.
Identifiable titles are titles of the film or production which are used to attract the
audience with huge texts and attractive genre based fonts. Every title has a specific
and unique style based on the production. The titles may seem to be a clue to the
genre of the film you are going to watch. For example the style of the title of Kong
Skull Island is unique in its own way. The title shown is sort of chiseled and made of
stone.

2. This is maybe to reflect Kong and show how rough he is too and strong. The title
reminds you of a jungle with chiseled caves which may also show the genre action,
adventure. The title looks kind of tribal as well as even in the trailer we see the tribe
make this sculpture with stones with white marks making Kong's face, king of the
jungle.
The letters are thick and straight yet rough also resembling Kong.
In Conjuring 2, the title is black which signifies mystery and fear. This shows the film
genre maybe horror in ominous font and dark background. The font is also joint to

3. show how there may be a family to show unity as in Conjuring part 2, Ed tells the
children how they must stay together united as a family. The only reason for trailers
to have titles is because it is conventional as you must have the film’s name for the
audience to know what film’s trailer it is. This is done by adding a huge text to cover
most of the screen as possible for the audience to read it properly and identify it
when scene elsewhere. The titles will always mostly appear at the end of the trailer
to leave a little mystery to the audience for them guess what the movie may be. Also
if you are interested in the trailer and watch the whole thing, you will be able to
remember the title name as you were attracted by the trailer.
Company logos are very important. This is because the logo itself is a brand identity
as well as very conventional for a trailer. Even a before a film or trailer starts, we are
introduced to the different production names and logos. When we are to see a
certain production company or their logo, we realize them from previous films and
trailers as well. For example, in Kong Skull Island, we see the Warner Brothers name
at the beginning. These production companies are shown not just for credit but also
may show how the good the production is going to be. For example, over the years
Warner Brothers have produced great films in various genres.
For example, The Exorcist in 1973 was very popular and still is today along with
other hits such as suicide squad in 2017. If that production is seen in a film trailer it
will make the audience want to watch that film as they enjoyed their previous films.
From this we know Warner Brothers are a very well known production and produce
popular films. From seeing this production company in the trailer of Kong Skull Island
we know as an audience how good the production for this movie is going to be and
how successful. The production company’s reputation benefits the film trailer. This
makes us an audience want to watch it more. If there was no production company
name, this will show how unprofessional the trailer is and the audience will lose
interest if there is no big production noticed or any to notice at all. The logo is also
very important as well as its the brand identity. Depending on the genre, the logo
may change of the company. For example, in the trailer of Rings, when Paramount
Pictures come up, the whole screen seems to show a faulty, dark television transition
as if the satellite is crashing.

4. This shows the film is going to be dark and scary. This is to set the audience in the
mood already before the actual film to create tension and hype them. It shows the
genre of film again because usually for action movies or romance, the Paramount
Pictures logo is kept the same and bright to show everything is calm in the film and
there is joy. In Kong Skull Island, the WB, Legendary and Tencent Pictures logo
when introduced, it is shown on a projector type of style. But even the projector is old
such as the 1960’s.
This is because the film is based in the 1960’s and so it shows contrast and because
in the trailer, the characters are watching something on a projector. This gives a
smooth transition as well when watching the trailer. The WB logo used is the 1960’s
one in accurate detail to show the year of the film as well. Legendary and Tencent
are kept the same as they were not around during the 60’s. Bright colour is used at
the beginning with the logos such as Red, Blue and orange. This is because at the
beginning of the trailer, everyone is happy and it emphasis the mood of the audience
and characters within the trailer until there is a problem. Also notice the way the map
of Skull Island looks exactly like a half a skull, maybe of a gorillas even.
Along with the company production names, the trailer will also include the distribution
company. The distribution company gives out the production on the market available
for the audience to watch and consume. For example in the Spider-man 1 trailer,
Sony is shown to the audience along with Marvel Studios.

5. Marvel studios are the production company who made the film while Sony are the
ones who distributed the whole film on the market available to the public. The film
distributors are accompanied by the promotion of the film which in most cases are
the trailers. Distributors also have a great reputation, meaning if Sony movies made
successful films, other Sony distributed films may be great as well. Distributors may
also fund the film in order to be able to use resources and sources to make a great
production for making money off of their success.
There is a theory known as Todorov’s Equilibrium Theory (1969). This theory
explains the conventions of trailers and why they exist. For example, Todorov’s
Equilibrium Theory (1969) states “ all narratives follow a three part structure where
they begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something
comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when
equilibrium is restored.”
This is conventional in many trailers. There is always a peaceful story shown yet
there is a disruption shown and a recognition of that disruption by the characters in
the trailer. Some trailers will show how to resolve the disruption yet without showing
the end result it spoils the entire the film. This gets the audience to wonder why was
there a disruption at first and will the characters ever resolve it and how? This hypes
the audience and makes us want to watch the film more. In Kong Skull Island, we
see everyone is happy setting bombs and working together.

6. Yet once they are in helicopters on their way to Skull Island, Kong attacks them.
There are some survivors and they try to fight Kong.
This makes the audience wonder how are they going to attack Kong and will the
humans win against the giants beast or not? If there was no disruption such as
showing Kong, the trailer would have been very boring and would have gone against
Todorov’s Equilibrium Theory. As the film is about Kong, we demand to see Kong in
the trailer to get the basic idea of the film otherwise there was no point especially for
teasers. Get out is another great example as well for a trailer that supports the
equilibrium theory. This is because we see Chris and Rose who are a couple are
happy and are in love.
Rose asks Chris to go and meet her parents and we, as an audience, notice there is
an issue coming up. This as when they are on their way through a forest and a deer
jumps across almost having Rose and Chris crash.

7. This creates a jump cut and makes us, the audience realize trouble is coming. We
then see how there are very odd characters behaving weirdly and how Chris is
caught up in the same situation.
We see Chris trying to escape but does it work? This is known as dramatic irony
when the audience know something that the characters in the film do not. This may
be a disruption to the equilibrium in most cases.
Music and sound are very conventional when it comes to film trailers. This is
because music especially hypes the audience and creates mood and atmosphere
depending on the music. The music makes or breaks the trailer, every movement
and action matches the beat of the music. Most action film trailers use energetic fast
paced music and non diegetic background music to create tension among the
audience. Music shows the pace , genre and often even the budget of the film. For
example the bigger the budget, the bigger the reputation of the artist is going to be
used which means the bigger the success of the film. Voice over's are used as well
as part of conventions for a film trailer. These voice over can be used to explain the
story/plot of the film which is added on top of footage to guide the audience. Or the
voices maybe dialogues spoken by the characters in the actual film. Most or all
trailers do not use asynchronous sound as all the audience enjoy in a trailer are
music and dialogue. Non-diegetic sounds are used in most trailers as there is no
need for verisimilitude as the trailer then looks boring as music sets the mood.
Synchronous sound is very conventional in trailers due to these reasons. For
example, in Kong Skull Island, there are many synchronous sound. Such as the
helicopters when seen as they try to escape Kong in slow motion.

8. The sound of the helicopter in slow motion emphasis a heartbeat even though it
may be the rotor blades spinning. This is because trailers want to involve the
audience as much as possible and when people are scared to death or are in a
horrifying situation, they can hear their own heart beat. There are also a lot of jump
cuts which match the beat of the music. This is shown a lot in film trailers and in
Kong they show it when we are shown a long tunnel. We also notice the change of
music. At first the song is happy and joyful usually played in the army to pump them
up before they to war to boost their adrenaline. Then as Kong strikes, the music
goes tense and dark with violins. The violins played go higher as Kong also rises to
show more danger of his presence.
The song Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival, was released in 1969
which suits the year the film is taking place in. The song suits the trailer very well.
This is because of the lyrics which say “I see trouble over the horizon” when the
helicopters are going to Skull Island. Also just before they get attacked the lyrics
sand are said “I see trouble on the way”. This low key tells the audience something
bad is going to happen.
In the trailer of Insidious chapter 2 there is a lot of non diegetic sound as well
diegetic. At first the song is sad and childish in a scary way to scare the audience.
The song tells us the genre and may give an idea about the plot. The song sang
explains how the singer has gone now she’s back and she feel safe with that special

9. someone. In the movie, the little boy is in coma but his spirit is actually captured by a
demon and the boy's father saves him in chapter 1. Now in chapter 2, the boy is
back and they are a family again, however there is a new born baby. This is the
reason for the scary lullaby's such as ‘Row Row Rock you're Boat’. At first it is heard
in a diegetic sound by the baby’s toy in a bell sound.
Then it is heard by the mother after she sees a scary woman spirit through the baby
monitor as a evil woman antagonist sings it as she is after the baby.
We also hear a lot of non diegetic sound heard throughout the trailer of scary
whispers and moans which is conventional during a horror film trailer. These are
added to the trailer as it scares the audience and sets a horrific atmosphere.
Before every title however, there will always be a disclaimer title. They show what
audience members are suitable enough to watch the trailers. There are red band
trailers and green band.

10. Green band trailers are suitable for PG rated audiences such as under 18’s. This is
to show the secondary audience (parents) that the primary audience (children or
main audience) are allowed to watch the trailer as there may be no explicit scenes
such as extreme violence, nudity or sexual references. If there was no such thing,
the production company may get sued for not warning the audience. Red band
trailers mean the trailer may contain sexual references, nudity and/or extreme
violence not to be seen for audience members under the age of 18.. For example,
sausage party. sausage party is an adult animated film yet includes a green band
trailer and red band. In the green band trailer we see clean footage of comedy and
the plot of the film. However with the red band trailer, we see similar footage yet with
additional explicit scenes. For example foul language and sexual references.
However the film itself is rated 18+ as the film is adult animated. For this reason age
certification is very important. Whenever a film in the UK is released, it is classified
and given an age certification by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). If a
film for example is U rated, the film maybe watched by a lot of children as it is a
family genre film. Again if the Film has a 15 certificate this may show the content of
the film such as high level of violence or sexual references. These ratings are given
as some targeted audience members may not enjoy such scenes even though they
are suitable to watch it. It also shows you if you are able to go watch the film at the
cinema or not depending on the age certificate. Also note how when you are going to
a cinema, if you was to watch an 18 rated film, the trailers shown before the film will
mostly be suitable for an 18 rated audience maybe along with PG trailers. Yet when
watching a PG rated or R rated film, the trailers will be shown accordingly. For
example if you were going to watch an animated children’s film, you will see other
animated or children’s film trailers. During the end of the Kong Skull Island trailer, the
age was barely seen in very small font and text next to the film’s title. This is
because they want the audience not to focus on age but enjoy the thrill of the trailer.
Also just by watching the trailer, the audience may already assume the age rating.
They also may have wanted the target audience to just go watch the film as the more
the audience, the more success of the film.
A new convention that has started trending is adding social media to trailers to
expand the audience to make the film more of a success. For example, at the end of
Kong Skull Islands trailer, we see different social media accounts for the audience to
‘follow’ and like. For example, we see YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
Tumblr.

11. This is mainly because nowadays, the whole world and everyone in it all use social
media no matter what application. For example some people may be on Instagram
while some people prefer Facebook or YouTube. The reason for using social media
is to gain a bigger connection and recognition with the audience such as the use of
‘hash tags’ or games. This is also to help publicise and promote the film as more and
more people will be aware of the new film and may decide to watch the film due to
big publicity. The social media platforms themselves are evolving their tools and
options to further attract and engage new audiences. Even during the official trailer
of The Conjuring part 1, there is a ‘#THECONJURING’ and
‘fb.com/theconjuringmovie’.
The trailer asks the audience indirectly to check their Facebook page and leave a
‘like’. This is because the more the likes, the more the publicity and viral the trailer
will go. Also the hash tag trend works a lot on Twitter and Instagram. The more the
hash tags are used along with the film’s name, the more the promotion and publicity

12. of the film. It also encourages the audience to find out more about the film and as
they talk more openly about it on social media, it becomes a great advertising
campaign. Other films such as Dead Pool even have actors such as Rey Reynolds
to create their own social media page as their character role in the film to establish a
relationship with the audience. If it wasn’t for social media, publicising would be very
difficult as most teenage audience members don’t even read the newspapers.
Credits are conventional in a trailer. This is because the audience like to know who
has produced, directed and acted in a certain films. Usually this is because, the
bigger the names (reputation) of the cast and/or crew, the more the audience are
interested in watching the film. This as the audience members may be huge fans of
the directors especially or not. Certain directors such as James Wan have a specific
genre or film the specialise in and Wan is most famously known for his horror movie
such as Conjuring 1 and 2 and of course, Saw. However, trailers nowadays don’t
really introduce the actors names anymore as people may already be familiar with
the cast. Yet a very smart way of publicising the film in the trailers is by giving a
huge, well known name in the industry such as Quentin Tarantino. Some movies
may show ‘endorsed by QUENTIN TARANTINO’. The name stands out, big and bold
and when the audience see his name they would want to watch the film as soon as
possible as his films were a great success and admired by a lot of people. However,
this does not mean he directed the film or even took part in working in it, it just says
how he had approved of the film and enjoyed it too. This a great technique used for
films that may not have big hollywood names yet attract a large audience. Nowadays
there are a lot of ways to introduce the crew rather than the cast for example, ‘from
the makers of’ or ‘created by’. For example, in the trailer of sinister 2, they had
mentioned the name of the producers and what they also produced which was
Paranormal Activity, Insidious and The Purge/.

13. Another example is the Get Out trailer which also mentions the same producer from
The sinister trailer which is Blumhouse yet with different film names they have
produced which are: The Visit, Insidious and The Gift.
The release date is importantly conventional as it attracts a large audience to the
opening night of the film. The release date is usually given at the end of the trailer
along with the film’s name. This is because they want the audience to enjoy the
trailer and hype them enough for them to wait at the end if interested to show the
audience the release date. Yet the release date is given out on the official trailers,
not teaser just a couple weeks before the film releases. This is so that the audience
members interested can plan on watching the film in advance rather than missing the
date of release. In the official trailer of Kong Skull Island, they show ‘March 2017’ but
don’t tell what specific day of march.

14. Yet in the final trailer, it shows the release date which is the ‘10th of March’. Release
dates are also important as films don’t randomly release on random days. Most of
the times there are specific dates. For example, Smurfs: The Lost Village is releasing
on April the 7th. This is the time during Easter holidays when all school children in
the UK are off for 2 weeks for Easter half term break. This is clever as children would
be free from school and allowed to go the cinemas to watch the new film Smurfs
gaining a larger audience.