Although trailers are adapted to every different genre, each trailer follows a set of rules that they abide by to create a good trailer.

Trailers are released to create an audience appeal to a specific target audience. The thing that differs between different trailers, is obviously the content, but where the trailer is released, the time its released and the different channels its released on. This contributes to finding and targeting a specific audience that would be interested in the film that’s being promoted.

Every trailer contains the production company logo. This establishes who is creating the film and this can act as a persuasive device to encourage people to see the film if the production company is big and well-known.

The different production companies can also link to the genre – for example, ‘DreamWorks’ is known for family-friendly films, whereas ‘Hammer Film Productions’ are known for releasing horror films.

Every trailer has to include a release date to enable to audience to see when they can choose to go and see the film. This usually comes at the end of the trailer, so they have to opportunity to see what the film’s about before finding out the date. This is also one of the last things we see so it stays in our mind. Without this, the audience isn’t going to know when the film is due to be released which means if they were that interested they would have to go on the internet to investigate further. However, simply telling them when it is could promote the film further and easily encourage more people to go if the date sticks in their head.

Something that has to be included in every trailer is the age rating. This is defined by the BBFC (the British board of film classification) and establishes what audience, based on their age, can go and see this film in the cinemas.This has to be established in the trailer, so people know whether they’re allowed to go and see the film or not.Something that coincides with this is where the trailer will then be shown. If it’s a horror film, the trailer will have to be shown at night time or before other horror films at the cinema. Whereas if it was a rom-com, age rated a 12A, then there’d be a lot less limitations as to where and when it could be shown on national television.

There are also some elements which aren’t a necessity but do help promote the film further.For examples, trailers include some ratings and quotes from film magazines, like Empire or reviews from the Guardian. This is a persuasive feature and is included because these short quotes are from established, trustworthy companies. Another aspect, which aims to sell the film, is by announcing the director or alternatively stating a Hollywood famous actor that stars in the film. This could encourage them, for example suggesting that because X is in this film, then it must be good like all of their other films. Things like ‘from the makers of…’ can also act as a persuasive feature to encourage people to watch the film.

Another selling aspect that is used in the majority of trailers, especially in the past five years, is including social media at the end of the trailer. This could be a Facebook page to like, then the audience can get constant updates on the film and to see events that may be occurring.Another form of social media is Twitter, where they produce and independent ‘hashtag’ for people to use when talking about the film.This creates a larger audience, because if people are talking about it on social media then its going to spread further afield by word of mouth etc.

It is also clear that trailers would be nothing without sound. This consists of music, and this could be a song that’s been written for the film, for example like the Bond films or simply a soundtrack to avoid the videos playing in straight silence. Another aspect of sound could be voiceovers, this could be from certain elements of the film where some of the dialogue is played because it brings significant context to the trailer. But, on the other hand, it could be people that aren’t from the film who are narrating what happens. This can be used for rom-coms, but also for horror films too.

This proves that each aspect of these trailer conventions are versatile and can fit into each genre.