Task 3

LaurenRosenfeldUnits2,3, 22
Task 3 – Trailer Conventions
A trailer is a video based advertisement for a film, which may be shown in the cinema in the
future. Trailers consist of carefully selected shots from the film being advertised, and, as the
main purpose of a film trailer, is to attract an audience, usually, the clips shown are from the
most exciting, humorous or important parts of the film, however doing so in a restricted
manner so that no spoilers are produced. A trailer aims to give the audience information
about the film, such as what the story is about, who the stars are and what genre or type of
film it will be. Genre is important in filmmarketing because our decision about what to see
will partly depend upon whether we enjoyed other similar films. There are different types of
trailers, consisting of theatrical trailers, which last around two and a half minutes, and
teaser trailers, which last around a minute. There are several reasons why a film trailer is
made. The main reason is to advertise and promote a film that will be released within the
next few months, as a film trailer raises awareness about the film whilst informing the
audience on what it will be about. It will often be made to appeal to a specific target
audience and also advertised on a variety of platforms so that they can get as many people
to watch the film as possible when it is released. For instance, trailers can be accessed on a
variety of websites such as YouTube, IMDB and on social media. Because nowadays a
majority of people use the internet this is an effective way to distribute trailers and spread it
to as wide an audience as possible to go and see it upon release. Trailers are made available
on a wide range of technological devices such as on the television, computers, mobiles and
tablets which also aids in broadening the potential audience of the film and possibly leading
to more revenue. Trailers draw the audience in by creating suspense and not revealing the
main plot thus making people feel the need to watch the film and find out what happens.
Trailers often follow Todorov’s equilibrium theory (1969), which states that most story's or
plot lines follow the same pattern or path. There are 5 steps in this pattern. First there is
equilibrium, where characters are content and everything is as it should be. Then, in the
second part of the story there is a problem or something to disrupt the happiness.
Characters realise that there has been a disruption and attempt to repair the situation.
Finally, there is equilibrium again, where the problem in resolved and normality can resume.
The trailer for Kong Skull Island (2017), is conventional, as it follows Todorov’s narrative
structure theory. This is because at the start of the trailer, there is equilibrium, where
everything is calmand the characters are
content, with happy music playing in the
background, showing to the audience that
everything is fine. There is then a disruption,
caused by Kong and the characters realise this,
and discover more about Kong. The characters
also attempt to repair the situation, as we see them fighting/running from the ‘skull
crawlers’. We do not see the fifth part of the equilibrium theory which is equilibrium again,

as this would spoil the plot, and not make an
audience want to see it. Rings (2017), is
unconventional for a movie trailer, and does not
follow Todorov’s equilibrium theory, as it begins
with the recognition of the disruption, where the
woman sees the video of the girl and it starts to
come for her. Then, the trailer goes on to stage 1 –
equilibrium, where characters are happy and
content and in this case, as the characters are
playing around in bed. Ghost in the Shell (2017) is
another trailer that does not follow Todorvo’s
narrative theory. As, the trailer begins with
disruption and recognition of disruption. There is
not much equilibrium within the trailer, as this
would take away from the fast faced action vibe that the producers were going for. By
showing disruption, recognition and attempt to repair, this shows the best and most
exciting parts for the audience, in order to get them hyped for the movie.
A film must have an identifiable title, so that the
audience know what the film is called, so that that
can go see it in the future. The title usually shows
up towards the end of the trailer, so that during
the trailer the audience can decided if they are
interested and are therefore more likely to
remember what the filmis called at the end. The
font, colouring and back drop are also usually a
good clue as to the genre of the film. Kong Skull
Island, has an identifiable title. It is a bold, strong
and a thick font, to resemble Kong himself, as he
is a powerful being. There are tribal markings
chiselled into the stone, similar to the stone
shown previously in the trailer, showing to the
audience that the filmis in the action genre.
Therefore, the font is dark, rough and sharp,
giving off a jungle vibe (which is the location of
the movie), and the letters are all in capital, in
order for it to stand out and make a statement. The titles come out of smoke, connoting
that fire is burning within the jungle, and again, showing to the audience that it is an action
filmand the title is unique to the film. Rings, also has an identifiable title, with a sharp font,
as if it has been scratched in with nails. The
font looks like it has been written by a child,
which the antagonist of the film is, giving off a
sinister vibe, and corresponding to the horror
genre. Another movie that has an identifiable

title in the trailer, is Wonder Woman. The Wonder Woman logo is unique, as it is quite
feminine, but also has powerful and regal elements at the same time through the use of the
gold, as Wonder Woman is a Princess/demigod. The gold colour of the font also resembles
the armour that she wears, again connoting power. The logo of Wonder Woman is also
present, so that the audience can begin to associate the logo with the new Wonder Woman,
even though the logo is the same as the logo from the past, it has been modernized in order
to connote different words, such as freedom and courage.
Usually within the first part of the trailer, and sometimes at
the end, companies that were involved in the production
and distribution of the movies logo will be shown. The
production company's reputation can benefit from the film
trailer, for example if people have seen and enjoyed
another FilmFour film, then they may see the logo on a new
trailer and decide to watch it because they enjoyed the last
film they created. It also creates an idea of the type of film
the trailer is trying to sell. For example people will see a
DreamWorks logo and know that it will have a big budget,
and they have a reputation of making family friendly films.
A company logo can change in order to suit the genre of the
film. For instance, the Warner Bros logo changes to darker
colours for horror movies. The company logos are unique to
the film, shown as slides within a projector, to ‘brief the
soldiers’. There is a graininess to the company logos as they
flick between each other, giving off a 60s/70s vibe which is
where the movie takes place. Light colours are used for the
company logos, connoting a fun and happy mood. Two
famous production and distribution companies are shown
in 60s/70s style: Legendary and Warner Bros., which shows to the audience that the budget
for Kong: Skull Island is large. The audience may also recognise that Legendary is popular for
action films and Tencent is popular for producing
films based on comic books and therefore, they
may conclude that the movie is going to be good,
prompting them to go to see it. The company logo
shown for Rings is Paramount, and again like
Kong, the style of the logo has been changed. The
screen, begins to flicker, which is what happens
within the film, and where there are usually stars, they turn into a ring when the screen
begins to flicker, as the name of the film is Rings and a ring is part of the identifiable title.
The Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 2 trailer, features
one company logo – Marvel. The company logo
has been changed to fit the genre of the movie,
which is action and comedy, as the logo is bright
and colourful, connoting fun to the audience. By

adding the Marvel logo, the audience can expect the movie to have quite a big budget. The
style has been changed to give off a 70s vibe, as the song featured is Fleetwood mac - The
Chain, which was released in the 70s. The logo comes towards the audience, giving off a 3D
effect, and is synchronous to the guitar beats in the background. Therefore, the logo is
vibrant, adding a fun, comical effect to the trailer, as the film is based on a comic book.
Music and other sounds are a key feature in
trailers. They show the pace of film, genre and
often the budget. For example a film may ask
a popular artist to specifically make a
soundtrack for their film, and the bigger the
film budget, the bigger the artists on the
soundtrack. Leading to people believing that a
bigger budget means a better film. A voice
over can be used to guide the audience
through the film plot and characters, and
there is a mix of diegetic and non-diegetic
music within trailers to build tension. Music in trailers tends to start out low and quiet, and
gradually builds up to more energetic and fast paced music in order to build the audiences
excitement. The music within Kong: Skull Island, begins with it being happy and lively, used
to excite the audience, as they would have done to pump up US soldiers in Vietnam. The
music also directly correlates to the visuals. For instance, ‘I see trouble on the way’, and
then the helicopter crashes. As soon as the
helicopter crashes, there is a screeching
sound, connoting panic and emergency, and
used to associate trouble coming. It is
unconventional for a trailer to jump from one
music to another, however, in this trailer it is
good as it is unexpected and shocks the audience and shows that before they were safe and
now they are in danger. This is dramatic
irony, as the audience knows that there is
going to be trouble, but the characters do not
know this yet, which is conventional for
trailers. There is the sound of a roar from
Kong, and the violins begin screeching, with Kong emerging from the flames foreseeing
trouble. There is some asynchronous sound
from the heart beat and propellers, as the
helicopter crashes. Both the sound of the
propeller and heart beat are slowed down,
showing that the characters are about to die.
However, there is not a lot of asynchronous
sound from the rest of the trailer, as the focus should not be on what is happening in the

background and should be on what is
happening in the foreground instead. The
producers of the trailer are trying not to
distract the audience from the main action,
through the use of music, dialogue and sound
effects. There is synchronous sound throughout the rest of the trailer, which is
conventional. For instance, the shovel being shoved into the ground and a shot gun being
cocked, used to add realism and emphasise the actions. Jump cuts are also used within the
trailer, and the scenes are cut to the beat, when the audience are shown further down the
tunnel, where the ‘skull crawlers’ live, showing that it is far down. For the rest of the trailer
fast paced music is used, to match the visuals,
where there is a lot of action happening
quickly, to put the audience in the vulnerable
and panicked state of the characters. As the
titles come up saying ‘we do not belong here’,
there is a banging sound, used to emphasise
the words.
The mode of address within Rings, changes
throughout the movie. At the start, there is panic
from the woman, which is heard through her
screaming and then there is a dramatic contrast
in the mode of address when the characters are
in bed, they are calmand relaxed. Towards the
middle of the trailer, the characters speak softly,
almost as if they do not want the entity to hear
them. At the end, similar to at the beginning,
there is panic again, with the characters
screaming. Similar to Kong, there is synchronous
sound throughout to emphasise the actions of
characters. For instance, during the opening
scene of the trailer, when the TV is pulled off of
the wall, we hear the screen smashing onto the
floor and when a hand reaches out from the TV,
there is a loud sound, used to emphasise the
action. At times within the trailer, there is low
background music/silence and then a loud
banging sound, to shock/jump scare the
audience, and stresses to the audience the
effects that the entity is having on the
characters. In the middle of the trailer, non-
diegetic music is used, with a young girl, perhaps
the supernatural entity saying ‘seven days’, to
enforce the fact to the audience that the

characters are running out of time as the credits counting the days appears on screen. This
puts the audience in the position of the characters, and shows how rushed and panicked the
situation is becoming. The ‘seven days’, also gets faster as the trailer progresses and the
characters begin to run out of time, again emphasising the fact that the characters are
panicked. Similar to Kong, as the girl rises out of the ground, the same way Kong rose from
the flames, the instruments get higher pitched, almost as a screeching sound.
The music in the La La Land trailer adds pace to it, and there is a mix of diegetic and non-
diegetic music due to the movie being a musical. For instance, in the beginning of the trailer,
there is slow piano music, which starts off as non-diegetic and then turns to diegetic, as we
see the actual scene where the piano is being played by the character ‘Seb’. There are slow
cuts and fade outs/dissolves along with the piano music, as the character ‘Mia’ is followed
which adds to the slow pace of the beginning of the trailer. In the middle of the trailer, the
face picks up, as the song changes to one faster paced, which is accompanied by faster cuts.
The music lowers when dialogue is said, and get higher when action is happening, such as
when the two characters are dancing,
emphasising their movements. Similar to
the other two trailers, there is
synchronous sound and not a lot of
asynchronous sound, such as when ‘Seb’
honks the horn of his car. A lot of credits
are also present within the trailer, and as
they appear there is a ‘swooshing’ sound in the background to highlight what the reviews
are saying, as the pleasant sound, matches the good reviews. Also during one of the credits,
several five star reviews appear, one by one, with a drum beat present in the background,
used to emphasise how many five stars the film has. The end of the trailer, has the fastest
pace, through the use of fast paced music, and rapid quick cuts. The music within the trailer
is also a key to the atmosphere. As the fast paced music symbolises and creates a happy
mood, and is put at the end of the trailer, to put the audience in a happy mood as well, and
get them excited for the movie.
Any filmreleased in the UK is awarded an age certification by the British Board of Film
Classification, and the age rating is sometimes shown towards the end of a filmtrailer. This
provides a guideline for the target audience age. For example, if the film is awarded a U
certificate, the audience will know that it’s a family friendly film. It also means that people
younger than the age certificate won't be lead on into thinking they can go watch the film in
the cinema. Film certification is also very important because it can hint at the content of the
film. If a filmhas a 15 certificate, the audience can guess that there may be moderate to
high levels of violence, sexual scenes and bad language, which may make an individual want
to see the filmmore. In the US, a trailer is either red or green band, with red band being
inappropriate for all audiences, and green band being appropriate for all audience. A red or
green band trailer will be shown depending on the platform, whereas in the UK it is a
convention to not have the age certification present unless the film is an 18A. For instance,
on YouTube, anyone can access a green band trailer as it is suitable for everyone, however
will not be able to access a red band trailer, unless they confirm their age. In a cinema,

trailers will only be shown for the age rating of the film that is about to be seen. A trailer
may also not show the age certification, like the
Kong: Skull Island trailer because it is not yet rated.
As, if a trailer debuts months before its official
release, the BBFC are yet to give it an age rating. In
the Kong: Skull Island trailer, there was no
extremely violent scenes or graphic sex, meaning
that the filmwould not be an 18 or a 15 rating.
However, violence is implied in the trailer, so that, the audience know that the filmis not
suitable for all (U/PG). Therefore, due to these
factors being present or not present the
audience can conclude that the filmis a 12
rating. Similar to Kong: Skull Island, an age
rating is not present within the trailer. As, the
audience can again figure this out as there are
no graphic scenes, however, there is scenes some audiences may find disturbing, which
means the audience can conclude that it is a 15 rating. A trailer, that is not suitable for all
audiences and will have a rating of a 15 or 18, may have a red band trailer. Before the trailer
is shown, a message will appear stating that the
trailer is approved for certain audiences only. For
instance, the trailer for Rough Night (2017) is red
band, meaning that it features this image before it
plays, in order to warn audiences that there may be
graphic scenes that are not suitable for all
audiences. The trailer is not suitable for all audiences, as it features drugs, drinking and
explicit language. For example, here a character is seen snorting cocaine. However, if a
trailer is suitable for all audiences it will show a green band image before playing, reassuring
audiences that no graphic scenes will be shown. A kid’s filmwill be green band, comforting
parents, such as Moana or Trolls, as no explicit content is shown. However, a 15 or 18 rated
movie may also have a green band trailer, to gain a wider audience for DVD release. For
example, Logan has both a red and green band trailer.
A convention of filmtrailers nowadays, is to
add website URLs, twitter 'hashtags' or other
forms of social networking, such as Twitter,
Instagram and Snapchat. This encourages the
audience to find out more about the filmand
also if many people are talking about the film
on social networking sites word-of-mouth and
audience interaction can become an effective
advertising campaign. For example, on Twitter
millions of people across the world can tweet
about a new filmcoming out, spreading the
word and gaining the interest of millions of

other people, who are a potential audience. By the audience following the movie on social
media, they can gain more information about the movie, leading to more of a build up for
when the movie is released. Social media is often used to target teenagers 16-24, and this is
seen in the Kong: Skull Island trailer, with the
use of a hashtag, and the social media
information present in other trailers and
teasers for the movie. Here, on a different
Kong: Skull Island the social media information
is present. As the filmis aimed at a target
audience who are aged 12 and over, and these are the people that use social media most
frequently, several different platforms are present to attract the largest potential audience.
Although there is a website for the movie, it is not present in the trailer, as this is used to
attract an older audience, and the film is mainly for teenagers, who frequently use social
media. Similar to Kong: Skull Island, Rings does not feature several social media logos,
however, it does feature a hashtag in other trailers. Unlike Kong, Rings features a website
on the trailer, and although Kong also has a website it is not present due to both movies
appealing to different audiences. As Rings appeals to people 15 and over, a website is used
instead of social media. The Wonder Woman trailer also has several social media platforms
present on the trailer. With the use of the
same social media as the Kong: Skull Island
trailer, this is because the target audience is
quite young as the films rating is a 12A,
meaning that newer social media platforms
are used, such as Instagramand Tumblr.
However, as Wonder Woman is an iconic
character from the past, and people that used to watch it from the 70s, are now older,
platforms such as YouTube and Facebook are included to appeal to the largest possible
audience.
In every trailer there will be credits, such as actor's, director's or producer's names. This is
important because an audience can see an actor, director or producer which they are a fan
of and will influence them to see the movie if they like their previous work. Today, the focus
is more on the crew, such as directors and producers (from the makers of). By adding these
credits, the audience may be more excited to see the movie as they have seen a previous
film by the same producer/director which they like. Sometimes, the actor’s names may not
be added, so that the audience can recognise the actors themselves in the scenes shown.
Credits are a convention of trailers, often to show to the audience that the movie has the
same makers, so that the audience can make a link between the current trailer and a
previous filmthat they have seen. However, credits are not present within the Kong: Skull
Island trailer, in order for the audience to
focus on the action and not the actors.
The trailer is therefore fulfilling its
purpose to entertain and attract an
audience, and does not need to state in

credits the actors involved in the film. The film also may not show credits, as the actors in
the movie are quite well known, so the audience can recognise them themselves. For
example, Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson are two well acclaimed actors, who are easily
recognised by the audience, therefore, close ups
are used of the actors in order for the audience
to recognise them. There is some form of credits
within the trailer, by words saying ‘we do not
belong here’, which again come out in smoke,
like the title and show that the genre of the filmis action.
Similar to Kong, the Rings trailer does not feature
actor’s names or producers/directors names.
Instead, the days appear on screen from day one
to seven. By having the days appear, it gives
more context to the audience about the
structure of the filmand gives a preview of
what’s to happen. The actors, directors and
producers are also not that well known/new to
the industry, and therefore, by putting their names on the trailer, it would not attract more
people to watch the film. Several different
forms of credits are used within the trailer
for Valerian and the City of a Thousand
Planets (2017), featuring credits of the
director and credits for information
regarding the film. For example, credits
regarding the director include ‘from screenwriter and director Luc Besson’, ‘director of The
Fifth Element and Lucy’. These are included,
as Luc Besson is a well acclaimed director
and writer, and Valerian and the City of a
Thousand Planets is similar to The Fifth
Element, as they are both Sci-Fi films.
Therefore, if someone liked The Fifth
Element, then they may also be tempted to watch Valerian and the City of a Thousand
Planets, due to Luc Besson. After credits about the crew are used, credits involving the film
are used, including ‘this summer’ and ‘a universe without boundaries’, giving context to the
audience as to what the filmis about and when it will be released. Again, credits regarding
the actors are not used, as the audience are relied on to notice the two actors themselves,
as both Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne are both easily recognisable and famous.

A release date is essential for attracting a large audience to the opening night of a film
release. The release date is shown on trailers a couple of weeks/months before the film is
released, giving time for a wide audience to
have seen it, but close enough to the date that
people can plan to see it soon, rather than
forgetting about it by the time the date comes
around. The release date is usually shown at
the end of the trailer, like the filmtitle, so that
the trailer grabs the audience's attention then gives them the information they need to go
see it. The release date for Kong: Skull Island, is March 8 2017. Its release date was for
March due to the original, previous
release of the movie, being in March
1933. Therefore, there is a trend, so that
the movie coincides with other dates.
This is a convention of movies, to release
a film at a certain time, depending on the
genre of past releases. For example, a
horror filmis likely to be released around Halloween time or Friday the 13th, as these dates
connote horror to the audience, such as the upcoming horror movie Saw: Legacy, to be
released on 20th October 2017. The same way, a romance movie will be released around
February to coincide with Valentine’s Day. An example of a romance filmbeing released
around Valentine’s Day, is Fifty Shades of Grey
(released 13th February 2015) and the sequel
Fifty Shades Darker (released 7th February
2017), as couples the film is a romance, which
appeals to couples for Valentine’s Day. The
release date for Rings is October 28th, due to
Halloween being close, meaning that there is
more potential revenue for the company as
they can make money out of Halloween. Big budget summer blockbusters, are released in
the summer holidays (June/July/August). As,
kids are out of school and many parents are
taking vacation time, meaning that they are
more likely to take their kids out for a day to
the cinema. So that, as more people are going
to see the film, it is more likely to make the
budget back and have a larger revenue, rather
than if it were to be released at a random time
of year, and people may not have time to see it. For example, Finding Dory (2016), which
has a U rating, meaning that it appeals to all audiences especially kids, was released in June.
It had a large budget of $200,000,000, and grossed $486,292,984, emphasising the fact that
big budget films released in the summer, make back their budget and profit.

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