Trailers And Their Purposes

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A TRAILER? Everything has a purpose (and a reason), and trailers of film and TV are no exception. The purpose of a trailer is to ‘tease’ the audience and give off an insight of what the film or TV show might be about. Basically to persuade the audience to watch the product they have had a glimpse of. There are many things we are to expect within all types of trailers. Here’s a list of 5 of those expectations: Music Dialogue Pace What the product is about (story, theme) As little spoilers as possible

FILM TRAILERS OF MY CHOICE APOCALYPTO (2006): DREDD (2012): BRAVEHEART (1995): THE FLY (1986): Alien (1979):

APOCALYPTO The purpose of Apocalypto’s trailer is to give an insight on the setting of the film, which is obviously set in the times of the Maya Civilisation. There were a few things I have noticed in the trailer. Those were: VERY limited dialogue (only spoken right at the beginning of the trailer) Appropriately themed composition The colour tone was very natural and not over-saturated Beams of light appears or a transition occurs most of the time a different shot is to be shown No names of the characters and none of the plot was given away WHATSOEVER The text used in the trailer was very simple, short and easy to read. There wasn’t too much clutter on the screen as well. The soundtrack as I said above is appropriately themed for the film’s setting, as well it fits in the trailer at the same time. There wasn’t much sounds being played in the trailer at all. The sounds that DID, however, stand out the most were the ambiences, soundscapes and the drumming around the middle (for pacing purposes), that were created for the trailer.

DREDD

BRAVEHEART Braveheart’s trailer immediately has some things going on. Here’s a few 5 of them:  The intro music is an obvious choice, considering the bagpipe is unmistakably associated with Scotland and Scottish culture  There is a narrator in the trailer, just what you’d except in pre-2000 films  The Characters are already introduced within the first 30 seconds  Braveheart already shows that there is a lot of drama and flavour in storytelling  If you are a scholar on William Wallace, you’d expect a painful trip of historical inaccuracies and dramatisation There is funnily enough no text in the trailer other than appearance of the film title, with a sword next to it (giving a hint that the film has medieval themed violence). The soundtrack (as I said above) at the beginning immediately tells you that the film is set in Scotland. The orchestra tells you that the film is full of drama and emotional scenes. The sounds again aren’t a big part of the trailer, only the music and dialogue makes the trailer exciting.

The Fly trailer is a 1986 remake of the 1958 original of the same name. Here are a few things I have noticed in the trailer: The film title is already shown within the first 50 seconds, and the last 20 There is heart-pumping music playing in the background through the whole trailer At times there is a brief flickering between shots, giving an impression of a fly The pacing is the same throughout the trailer Only 3 characters appear in the trailer, no more, no less The only text to appear is the film title, and the credits (director, studio, actors, composer etc.) The composition of choice is quite simple. One piece of music for the trailer. Once again, no sound was making up for the trailer.

A L I E N The trailer for the 1979 classic. The trailer has some things going on, like: Within the first 50 seconds, all is shown is a zoom in through space, looking like a moon. In fact it’s an alien egg. From 0:14, the film title comes into place in it’s famous introduction Eerie music kicks in 35 seconds in the trailer. The infamous music of the film starts at 0:50, then interrupted by noise of terror at 1:31 No dialogue ever is spoken throughout the trailer Pacing is mid, then it gets faster and faster till 1:31 when it hits new grounds… in a frightening manner It’s obviously set in space and the future. A big hint is given away at the end by it’s tagline… “In space, no one can hear you scream” The only text to appear is the film title at the beginning and the tagline at the end. There seems to be two versions of the same track. The one at the beginning is faint while the next one has more echo and bass.