Conventions of film trailers.

Film trailers are supposed to tell the story of the movie in a minimum amount of time but have maximum appeal. They are able to show even the poorest of movies in an attractive light and make audiences want to go and watch them. Trailers are used to advertise all genres and sub genres of films. Even though films might have different target audiences and be completely different in terms of plot, the trailers will have similar structures. Most trailers have a three act structure, similar to a film.
Act 1) They start with a beginning that illustrates the basis of the plot.
Act 2) The middle part extends the story further and usually ends with a dramatic climax, still not giving away too much.
Act 3) This part of the trailer usually features a strong piece of music and consists of a visual montage of powerful and emotional moments from the film. Also if the cast in the film are famous or well known their names are normally placed in this act to help sell the movie.

As well as the three acts structure there is the basic narrative structure which follows a similar pattern to the three act structure. The basic narrative structure starts with equilibrium; this is when the diegesis is in balance. This is then disturbed with a disruption, followed by a quest and finally a resolution. A simple example would be; a good guy and bad guy, everything is settled and how it should be (the equilibrium), then the bad guy robs a bank (the disruption), the good guy then has to set it right and catch the bad guy to get it back to the equilibrium (quest) and finally everything is solved (the resolution), however the resolution is never given away in a trailer, it leaves audiences guessing. This is a simple, traditional, linear structure that has a cause and effect. Not all films follow this pattern, as some do not have a resolution. However the majority of films do use a linear structure and this is also shown in their film trailers.

Not only do film trailers follow similar structures they also have other similar features such as voiceovers and music. Voiceover narration is often used to briefly set up the idea of the film and provide explanation when necessary, for example, “In a world...”. Trailers are a highly condensed format of the film therefore a voiceover is sometimes used to help the audiences understanding of the plot.
Music helps set the tone and mood of the trailer. Sometimes the music used is not in the film itself. The music from the trailer may be:
· Music from the score of other films.
· Popular or well known music.
· Especially composed music, one of the most famous trailer music composers is John Beal, who has created original music for over 2000 trailers.
· “Library” music, which has been previously composed specifically to be used in advertising.

I am going to look at several different film trailers to see what other conventions are used in trailers. I will look at more than one genre of film trailer to see how they are similar and how they differ.

History of film trailers.

Film trailers are designed to entice the target audience. A film trailer does not give too much away but just enough to get the audience gripped and leave them wanting to watch the film when it’s released. Trailers consist of a series of selected shots from the film being advertised. Since the purpose of the trailer is to attract an audience, usually the most exciting, funny or noteworthy parts of the film are used in the trailer but only short parts so there are no spoilers. A trailer has to attract the audience’s attention in less than two and a half minutes. This is the maximum time allowed by cinemas. However, each studio is allowed to exceed the time limit once I year if they feel it is necessary for a particular film.

The term “trailer” originated because they used to be shown at the end of a film. However, this practice did not last long because audiences used to leave at the end of films. Trailers are now shown before the film, but the name has stuck.

The first film trailer was shown in a US cinema in November 1913. The advertising manager for the Marcus Loew theatre chain, Nils Granlund, produced a short promotional film for the musical “The Pleasure Seekers”. Granlund was also first to introduce trailers for motion pictures using a slide technique. Only the highest profile films had trailers made for them because production companies could only be bothered to spend the extra effort and money with films they thought would be most popular. However, nowadays, every film has a trailer made for it.
Up until the late 1950s, trailers consisted of various key scenes from the film being advertised and descriptive text describing the story. Most trailers had some form of narration and feature powerful voiceovers.
In the early 1960s, textless, quick-editing and montage trailers became popular and the face of motion picture trailers changed!