Trailers

What is a 'trailer' ?

A trailer is an advertisement for a feature film that will be displayed in a cinema in the future. 

Trailers consist of various clips of scenes from the feature film which have been edited into short cuts to interest the view

Trailers have now become popular on DVD and Blu-rays before the film menu is presented. Also before videos on YouTube or when a online game has been loaded, trailers play to advertise the film to the viewer via the internet.

How are trailers edited to make them effective?

There are many ways that trailers are edited to make them effective. A few ways are:

• There are usually long shots which inform the viewing audience about the protagonist and characters, the setting and the plot of the film.
• Sometimes there is transitions in the trailer which fade into black which suggests to the audience that the film is featured in different time frames.
• On occasion, there is audio changes which are utilized which create an impact on the viewers to set the mood of the film
• Short shots and fast shots are used to create excitement in the trailer depending on the genre of the film.    

What are the conventions of a trailer?

 

Trailer Conventions from Belinda Raji

 Trailer analysis

Here I have featured trailers of some of my favorite films and I have analyzed them.

'Psycho' - 1960 - Alfred Hitchcock

This trailer is of the film 'Psycho' by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960. Throughout the trailer there are constant fast shots which are called action shots. This is commonly used in thriller and horror films to create an impact of fear, thrill, tension and suspense to convey the emotions which the film is trying to reflect onto the viewing audience. The audio which has been used also tries to have this effect on the viewing audience. On occasion, there are long shots of the characters. This allows the audience to be introduced to the characters. In addition, montage editing is frequent in the 'Psycho' to illustrate the main features of the film, e.g: A murder takes place within a hotel.


'Howl's Moving Castle' - 2005 - Hayao Miyazaki



The trailer illustrates the film 'Howl's Moving Castle' by Hayao Miyazaki made 2005. Firstly, long shots are used to establish the main feature which is Howl's Moving Castle. Fade transitions are used to smoothly progress the trailer. Fade transitions are good at this point in the trailer as the genre of 'Howl's Moving Castle' is moreover romantic and slightly comedic and it matches with the transitions, unlike a thriller and action genre which matches with short cuts and fast transitions. As the aspect of danger and more key events are conveyed in this trailer action shots such as short cuts are used to notify the audience the importance of clip and to cause excitement and curiosity for them.  

'Schindler's List' - 1993 - Steven Spielberg

This trailer conveys the film 'Schindler's List' by Steven Spielberg made 1993. At the beginning of the trailer we firstly see the appearance of the 'Universal' animation turn from colour to black and white, thus revealing the type of film which is being presented. This one being serious as the black and white format usually conveys and it is set in the past as the black and white format was used in the early years of television. Further on we see a quote from Oskar Schindler which reveals to the viewing audience that the trailer is going to present a film which follows along the lines of a true story. Long shots are established next to allow the audience to recognize the setting of the scene and to introduce the characters such as the protagonist: Oskar Schindler who is played by Liam Neeson. We then see various clips which allows the audience to determine Schindler's character (induced by wealth). However, as a Jewish worker gets shot Schindler complains and masking it as a matter of money. But this could be discretely revealing Schindler's true character. Schindler's true character is displayed even further when he saves a Jewish worker from being set to a concentration camp. Furthermore, we are shown various other clips from 'Schindler's List' which convey other crucial events during that point in history which happens throughout the film which introduces the main antagonist: Amon Goeth who is played by Ralph Fiennes. Lastly, there is a mention of a "list" which relates to the title of the film and explains the title to the audience.