FILM TRAILER CONVENTIONS

Film production logos Usually within the first part of the trailer, the film production logo will

be shown. The production company's reputation can benefit the film trailer, for example if people have seen and enjoyed another FilmFour film, then they may see the logo on a new trailer and decide to watch it

because they enjoyed the last film they created. ● It also creates an idea of the type of film the trailer is trying to sell. For example people will see a DreamWorks logo and know that it will

have a big budget, and they have a reputation of making family friendly films.

Film titleThe film title is in every trailer, so the viewers know which film it is you want to watch and it is generally at the end of the trailer, so

that the audience are more likely to remember it. The font, colouring and back drop are also usually a good clue as to the

genre of the film. For example Kick Ass and We're The Millers look more comedic and light hearted because of their bright

colours and friendly font, whereas The Conjuring is evidently a horror, shown by its dark back ground and ominous white font.

This highlights it as a supernatural horror film.

BBFC Age certificationAny film released in the UK is awarded an age certification by the British Board of Film Classification, and the age is shown towards

the end of a film trailer. This provides a guideline for the target audience age, for example if the film is awarded a U certificate, it is a family friendly film, and therefore it is likely that will get many

children will go to watch it. It also means that people younger than the age certificate won't be led onto think they can go watch the

film in the cinema. Film certification is also very important because it can hint at the content of the film. If a film has a 15 certificate,

the audience can guess that there may be moderate to higher levels of violence, sexual scenes and bad language, so if the audience

member doesn't enjoy that type of film, they won't go to watch it. Most horror films have an age certificate of 15 or 18, due to the

inevitably disturbing content contained within, and due to the fact that this age bracket falls makes up the target audience for many

horror films.

Social mediaA new convention of film trailers is to add website URLs,

twitter 'hashtags' or accounts to follow, or instructions to 'like' their Facebook page. This encourages the audience to find out more about the film and also if many people are talking about the film on social networking sites word-of-mouth can become an effective advertising campaign. The popularity of Twitter

means that millions of people across the world can tweet about a new film coming out, spreading the word and gaining the

interest of millions of other people. Evidently, this has become a feature of only the most recent horror films, and due to its more teenage-orientated audience, is mainly used in slasher

films.

Character introductionsAn important feature of film trailers is character introductions, whether they have big Hollywood actors or not, and these are

presented through the introductions within the narrative and the straps displaying the actors names. This is essential because an

audience get pleasure from films by connecting and relating to the characters, by their individual similarities, for example if there is a prominent young female character, people from the target audience who are young and or female connect to the character and are more likely to go watch the film. Also if the film has famous actors and or actress', and the audience have enjoyed some of their previous films, or are fans, they might go watch the new film because they know that

they enjoy the actor's work. If the actors are famous then they will often be accompanied by a caption with their name, so their

reputation benefits the film.

Music and voice oversMusic is a key feature, and can make or break the film trailers. They show the pace of film, genre and often the budget, for example a film

may ask an artist to specially make a soundtrack for their film, the bigger the film budget, the bigger the artists on the soundtrack. And

people may think that a bigger budget means a better film. Voice overs are important to guide the audience through the film plot and

characters. A voice over can either be an external voice which is added on top of the footage, or the voice over can be sections of

dialogue from the actual film. Within the context of a horror film, voice overs are used consistently, and the film usually starts with a

slow, orchestral melody that progresses into stabs, crescendo’s, and a combination of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. These are all utilised

in order to build up tension and immerse the audience in the atmosphere of the film, before taking away that dreamlike state by

doing everything possible to scare them back to reality while forcing them to watch.

MontageThis is a convention mainly found in horror films, referring to a sequence of shots towards the end of the trailer that are sped up and contain most of the

climactic elements of the trailer. Each shot is unlikely to be more than 2 seconds in length and therefore only offers visual samplers of what is to come, enticing audiences to go and watch the film in order to find out. Often, the montage is supported by a score that builds up in accordance with the shots. Almost all

horror trailers are likely to use a montage, regardless of subgenre.

LENGTHUsually a film will have more than one trailer made, with

different sections of the film edited together. There is always an official full trailer which lasts sometime between 1.30 -2

minutes, but often you will find, especially in horror, action or thriller films, they have shorter 10 second trailers which help build hype and will just have a short clip which may or may

not have the film title shown.