The document discusses different conventions traditionally used in movie trailers, including using an intense non-diegetic soundtrack, character introductions and one-liners, and editing short clips in a montage with a variety of camera angles and movements. It also examines theories of narrative structure and binary oppositions that are often employed in trailer design, such as using establishing shots to set up equilibrium followed by action scenes implying disruption, as well as portraying clear good vs bad or right vs wrong distinctions between characters.

1. Trailers
Tom Doona

2. Traditional conventions of typical
trailer
• Loud non-diegetic soundtrack which captures attention and maintains intensity.
• One liners which sum up specific scenes and happenings.
• Introduction to characters and character codes/traits.
• Sometimes a voiceover to give information without using footage from the film.
• Short clips edited in a montage (if not, then long sequence shots are used for effect.
• Variety of camera angles, movements and compositional busyness to imply
variation throughout the film.
• One shots of protagonist, this allows for viewers to follow the trailer with more of a
knowledge around who they are following.
• Ambient and non-diegetic sounds to imply that there is more going on than the
trailer entails.
• Large text across page to allow for viewers to take in information from more than
one angle.
• Focus on major actors (close ups, names on screen, voiceover pointing out their
presence).

3. Todorov’s narrative theory in
trailers
• Start of the trailer -> Often starts slow, sequence
shots are used as establishing shots and slow
tracking shots are often used to establish
equilibrium.
• Middle of the trailer -> Montages, intense non-
diegetic music and shots of action imply a disruption
of the equilibrium.
• End of the trailer -> Often signified with a fade to
black, editing slows back down and shots become
longer, implies an ending but leaves with a cliff
hanger (some trailers even use red herrings to
falsely imply ending and add an element of
surprise).

4. Structure of trailers
• The first structure relates to Todorov’s theory, and clearly
demonstrates an equilibrium, disruption but
smokescreens a resolution.
• A second way trailers are structured is with no implication
towards a narrative at all, the trailer will use jump cuts
and compositionally irrelevant shots to add a sense of
mystery to the trailer and leaves enough to keep the
viewer wondering about what the film entails.
• A third structure of trailers is no narrative what so ever,
the trailer is made up of single shots with no relation to
the previous, this is often used in franchise films to bring
the characters back to ‘life’ but not to demonstrate a
narrative.

5. Strauss’ Binary oppositions in
trailers
• Good v Bad -> The mise-en-scene used on characters is
incredibly vivid and oppositional of the other character’s,
this gives a quick and clear indication to good and bad.
• Right v Wrong -> Some character’s may be
compositionally built up as the protagonist and the ‘hero’
but views of other character’s indicates whether this
representation is correct (e.g. ‘Kickass’ – vigilante but still
portrayed as bad in the trailer).
• Real World v Fantasy -> A trailer must give a clear
indication to genre, and so making it obvious whether the
film will hold, or not hold, levels of verisimilitude in its
narrative will imply whether the film is fantasy or not.