Film Trailers

The main purpose of a film trailer is to promote the full ‘feature’ film using a ‘teaser’ or a longer ‘theatrical’ trailer. They are also to establish the genre to attract the audience. They hint at the storyline, characters, action and resolution by using fast editing clips and finally film trailers also advertise the a-list actors, recognisable film studios and film reviews from newspapers or magazines. The genre conventions of a film trailer is to clearly establish the genre to entice the target audience and show the hybrid genre by iconography to establish what it is e.g. ‘snatch’ is a crime genre but show comedy clips from the film. Film trailers

Conventions of a trailer Genre: The genre is clearly established throughout the trailer to entice the target audience. Hybrid Genre: A hybrid genre is a movie with the best conventions of two genres in order to make a ‘hybrid film’ such as a rom com. These films offer greater iconography to help establish genre or perhaps will keep the niche audience guessing. Finally to establish the genre through it’s iconography. In our film we have a ‘Post-Modern Cowboy’ as our main protagonist and he will be thrown into danger constantly and wears skater ‘lazy’ clothing throughout the film. This is key iconography. We took this influence from28 days later.

Narrative structure in film trailers This is Todorov’s theory EquilibriumDisequilibrium Realisation New equilibrium (Harmony) (Disruption) (can’t go back) Trailers may not always follow this structure. Some may hint at Part 2 or 3 first. This is a Postmodern idea. E.g. 28 Days Later. For my dystopia trailer it will start with disequilibrium (disruption) and throughout the trailer give hints of the realisation and solving the problem. However not to show an new equilibrium because it will make our target audience wonder if it will end up ok, but might put in clip of a love interest to keep the audience engaged.

More on Narrative.. Not all trailers will follow Todorov’s theory of narrative structure. This is because the directors want to break conventions in order for their film to stand out. A good example of this is 28 Days Later. Which hints at part 2 and 3 before part 1. this is very much a postmodern idea although very effective. Our film ‘The Hunter’ will follow Todorov’s theory on narrative, however we intend to have a postmodern spin on it. We are not too sure how at the moment but our narrative order may be changed as our ideas progress over time.

Other conventions Voice-over/Narration: anchors the key points of the narrative or characterisation within the film. Often using a powerful, dramatic tone. Sound: sets the mood using non diegetic ambient soundtracks and effects. Often complimented by an original or recognisable soundtrack. E.g. Jackie Brown- Blaxpoitation. Title/onscreen text: Title usually appears at the end to stick in the memory. Text anchors key meanings of the narrative or characterisation. E.g. 28 Days and Snatch. Cast: Prominent stars usually feature early in the trailer helping the audience decide how appealing it is. Starring… Director/studio/reviews: Director usually mentioned if considered an ‘auteur’ or successful. ‘From the makers of..’ helps promotion followed by logo.

Trailers influences

The film trailer of IRobot introduces hints about narrative throughout the trailer. The effect of this makes it easier for the audience to understand and follow the narrative, which makes it more enjoyable to watch. This influenced me to possibly use the 3 act treatment and give hints about the narrative so our target audience will tell if they would like it or not. Also I the trailer I found the editing really interesting. I like how the editor included small clips of action and narrative and fast editing because it gets the audience excited and engaged to watch it. I think fast editing works because using big action sequences of some of the most exciting parts of the film would give away too much of the film and wouldn’t have anything exciting and shocking for the audience. The titles in IRobot are really bold at the end of the trailer, I think it works because it’s the last thing the audience see to remember the film. I also think it’s a good place to have the title as it is the final advisement of the film. For our trailer we will do this with bold, obvious and something to stand out to relate to our film by using interesting fonts. IROBOT

The film insidious is a horror film, even though our genre is dystopia there are elements of horror in out trailer as people become possessed. In the film trailer they show antagonists who are possessed in old fashion clothing. We are going to try this with people, however have them in normal, up-to-date clothing for a post modern element and keep it relevant. To get the audience to believe that the actors are possessed we will use pale face make up and blacked out eyes with also sound effects to make the actor look as possessed. In the trailer the antagonists do creepy close ups of the smiling which creates tension and eerie feel for the audience. Because our possessed actors wont be as realistic as insidious we will use fast shots of the antagonists and close ups of the protagonists reaction. The music works well with trailer as it is eerie and freaky, we will this for the parts of the possessed scenes as it will show contrast with the other music. INSIDIOUS

28 DAYS LATER 28 days later is our biggest influence for our film Possessed. One part of the trailer I liked is when the protagonist walks through the empty streets of London wondering what has happened. To create this scene we will get our protagonist riding along Brighton beach early in the morning when no one is around. What I thought made a big impact in the film is how the show famous landmarks. I think we will use Brighton Beach and show famous landmarks in Brighton e.g. the pier and also film when no one is there on a nice day which will shock the audience and something is up like the streets of London in 28 days later. I also liked how the characters are shown within the trailer for example the protagonist is a ‘Postmodern Cowboy’ which is shown very clearly by highlighting the difficulty the character has to survive the zombie invasion, I think this would be an easy thing to show in our trailer and would also be effective.