Conventions of a Film Trailer

The majority of modern film trailers follow similar codes and conventions along with the same structure of these said conventions. This method has been extremely successful for all different types of films for many different genres.

Plot
The main part of a film trailer is to sell the audience on the story/plot. As they only have around 2 minutes to tell a story, it is essential that they convey the story as best as possible, without spoiling any surprises or plot twists. If the plot is portrait well and is interesting or unique, it is really likely that the audience will go and watch the film.

An example of a good plot portrait in the trailer is the trailer to 'Baby Driver' the 2017 thriller by Edgar Wright. The film trailer does a really good job at conveying what the film is about. I actually tested this trailer with some friends. I sent four people the trailer and all four proceeded to watch the film after, saying it intrigued them and they were glad they watched the film as they highly enjoyed it. In another post I will go in-depth into what is so good about the trailer, analyzing it scene by scene.

Soundtrack
The music played in the film trailer is crucial in portraying what mood the film is in.

Voice-over
Not many films use voice overs, off the top of my head I can only think of a few, one being the 2006 film 'Stranger Than Fiction' by Marc Forster, which then still isn't really a 'voice over'. Saying this you could argue voice-overs are for film trailers primarily. Voice-overs are a really easy way to tell the audience what is happening in the film in case it is difficult to know why otherwise. A really good example of a film trailer which has a voice-over is for the film 'Zombieland'. The film has an original quirky way of making a comedy out of a zombie film. Surprisingly another film which is a comedy set in a zombie apocalypse called 'Shaun of the Dead' has voice-overs as well.

Credits/Cast
By adding what actors/actresses are in the film, this could potentially attract people to watching the film. For example the film 'The Revenant', the trailer for this film has Leonardo DiCaprio in nearly every scene. It could be argued that without the names Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy in the film trailer the film would have got as many people watching the film. By watching the trailer I could make the assumption that if there were no leading actors which were well known, that it would have been more of an art house kind of film then a blockbuster.

Title
In all trailers the title appears. This is usually at the end where the "coming soon" appears promptly after.

Title Cards
Title cards are used in film trailers in many different ways. They can be used to say taglines such as "When there is no escape". They use this in this case to build tension and possibly give the audience some narrative in whats going on.

Trailer Length
A typical trailer length for modern films is around 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Saying this there are many trailers which are shorter and there sometimes are trailers which may last less than one minute.

Film Production Companies
During a trailer, mainly at the beginning some Film Production Companies appear. This isn't particularly important to whether someone watches the film however it is a convention as all film trailers have them. It could be argued that it is advertisement because if the film is really well received then some people will lookup what other films are produced by those companies and have a sense of "trust" with the companies judgment in films.

Red-Band/Green-Band
The first thing all film trailers start with typically is a disclaimer. This is to show what kind of audience is suitable to watch the trailer. If the screen is green it means that it is appropriate for a select audience. If your under 17 parental/guardian supervision is required.

Research on Film Trailers

To kick-start my research on film trailers I decided to get the top 3 highest rated and successful Thriller films and analyse the trailers and what made them so successful. I decided to do this because we are planning on making our film trailer fit the thriller genre. These were the top three trailers and a little paragraph on what I thought about them and what stood out.


1) The highest rated thriller film on IMDB currently is The Dark Knight (2008), directed by Christopher Nolan. The main thing I noticed which gave an impact on me was the violence and action scenes and how creative and cinematic they were. The cinematography shown throughout the trailer really gives off a perfect "real life" Batman effect. The colour grading is the same thought being very yellow in the day and very blue at the night.



2) The second film on the list is Inception (2010), directed by Christopher Nolan. Inception is a very moving film and the trailer really promotes that. The music from Hans Zimmer really compliments the action and even though it is quite a serious film in general the trailer ends with quite a funny clip of a man using a grenade launcher.

3) The silence of the Lambs is on of my personal favourites so I had no hesitation to delve deep into this trailer. The first thing that caught my attention was the amount of close up shots of Hannibal Lector staring into the camera. This stare makes the audeince feel uncomfortable as if it was them interviewing him and not Clarice. The whole trailer has a very earie vibe.

Film Trailer Target Audience

When planning and making our Film trailer we had to always have in the back of our heads what the target audience we are aiming this film at. This helps as we know what will be appropriate for the viewers in the category (e.g if its aimed at adults it can have sexual references). We decided to aim our film trailer towards 15-24 year old's  as they made up the largest proportion of the UK cinema audience in 2014 at 31% according to the BFI research and statistics magazine.

However age is not the only thing that needs to be considered when targeting the film to a specific demographic or when trying to reach a wider audience. We made sure there are no racial stereotypes or gender stereotypes as they are not acceptable in modern day society. We don't want to upset or anger viewers with the portrayals of our characters so we have stayed safe by only using a cast of a few Caucasian characters for the trailer. In theory the film which this trailer was for would have a diverse cast of different races and sex however that is not our main focus for the trailer as our group is only consisting of white Caucasian males.

Distributing/Advertising a Film

Over the years the techniques to promote a film have evolved as technology has gotten better and more accessible. Here I have broke down the main means of distributing, or advertising a film. I have decided to not include websites and Tv advertisements as I believe they are not as effective as they used to be.

Billboards/Posters

Billboards are used to catch peoples attention, which means they cant have much 'cluttering' them. Typically billboards have one to two main characters and some bold text so the person can quickly see what film it is for. A good example of a billboard poster design is the Dark Knight poster shown here. This is particularly good as the Joker is a easily recognisable character so there is little need for explanation on the actual poster and can just show a close up of him. Then you have the iconic Batman logo with the film title. This is good at 'hyping' the audience up as they may be big batman fans or just in general like the look of the Joker as it is a different actor to other previous batman films (He is recognised as the best version of the Joker). Then you get some of the really creative billboards like The Expendables 3 billboard with the bright red bold text and the cast made so it looks like they are sitting on top of the billboard. People will like the design of this as its quite funny to see them sitting on it as they drive past in their car. As most billboards are situated on the sides of busy roads they are designed to give all the information a person needs in the seconds of attention that the person will give it. Also on the other hand in buys traffic people may read the billboard and be curious whether to watch it.

Posters are usually placed on the sides of bus stops and cinema walls. This is so that people going past or, as said about billboards, in traffic will read it or just take a second to look at the film. A good example is this Spiderman 2 poster. This is a special example as this is a backlit one meaning that its easily visible at night. It also works really well being backlit as it compliments the lightning bolts. With this poster its also as a special example because for Spiderman you don't really need the title to be outgoing as Spiderman is such an iconic character people will know without having to read anything.



Before films/In and outside Cinemas
Before films are played at Cinemas its a prime time to capture the audience's attention. Showcasing film trailers similar or aimed to a similar audience as the film about to be shown is a really good way to make them want to come back to see the said advertised film. A personal example of this was when I went to see Kingsman 2 there was a Thor Ragnarok trailer. These are both films aimed at teenage/young adults and I went back to see Thor when it came out and was very satisfied with my decision. Similarly when I saw Jigsaw there were other horror films showcase before hand which is highly effective.


Social Media
With millions and millions of people using social media such as Facebook and Twitter it would make sense to take advantage of these 'free to use' sites to promote a film and make some advertisement revenue at the same time. A huge part of this is YouTube. With over 30 million users a day YouTube being a free platform is an amazing way to promote a film. For example Star Wars, The Force Awakens first official trailer nearly generated 100 million views. This is an incredible amount considering that nothing close to that would there be viewers of billboards and they have to pay for billboards and uploading to YouTube is absolutely free

Film Poster Analysis #1 Baby Driver

The 2017 film "Baby Driver", written and directed by Edgar Wright is a great example of a really good film poster. It has some key features which are seen in many posters which make it appealing. The first thing that captures the persons attention is the bold text saying 'BABY DRIVER', this is effective as the viewer instantly knows what film it is. This is normal for the majority of posters.

The slogan underneath the title saying "all you need is one killer track" is a play on words meaning multiple things. Firstly it references to fighting in cars, you can depict this from the trailer or the guns and car chases shown on the poster. Secondly it shows the main character with headphones in. If the audience had already seen the trailer they would know that the main character listens to music all the time so the reference to the "one killer track" could be the song he listens to (bohemian rapsody). Finally the 'one killer track' could be a reference to racing and the car chase seen in the bottom half of the poster.

The compilation of the main actors in the top left can attract people to watch the film. Kevin Spacey for example is a well known actor and a lot of films with him as a main actor are well recognised and well rated.

The police cars in the mid/bot right of the poster suggests that these characters may be infact criminals. The main empasis on the film is that the main character is a anti-hero, he does bad things and helps bad people however he is doing it for a good cause with good intentions. This may be connoted through the very bright colours like the pink in the sky in correlation to the police on the ground.

At the very bottom of the poster there are the main credits. This is filled with production companies, directors etc. This is seen on pretty much every single film poster as a requirement at the same spot.

Overall I would argue this poster is really good, as I have seen this film in the cinemas and fully enjoyed it I can say that the poster gives you enough motive to watch the film.

Magazine Cover Analysis

Film Magazines are a main way of promoting films as many film buffs/ critics are regularly subscribed to them. They are also pronounced for their design and cover art being very unique and having a repetitive design. I analysed the 3 main film magazines:

The first magazine cover that caught my eye is the Total Film Blade Runner Issue. This captured my attention because of the vibrant colours and artwork. The Total Film magazine has the same structure and layout for the same issues, similar to the Empire magazine. It has the same logo in the background, typically a colour matching the film it is highlighting. Then it has the main character(s) overlapping the logo a little with the film title overlaying that. This is an effective way in making a magazine cover as it captures the attention of the shopper, immediately they know what film is the main they are covering with little effort. It typically has a few other films mentioned on the cover, these are typically new films (currently in cinema) which people may be interested in.

The Little White Lies magazine cover is different however. It follows a very minimalistic style with the same circle in the middle with the name of the magazine and barcode. The unique part about the Little White Lies is that instead of having a picture from the film it is covering, it has some artwork of it instead. This is more of a collectors magazine as people will buy it just for the cover art.

The Empire magazine is similar to the Total Film one. It has a distinct logo in the background and a main character overlapping it. Empire is a little more simplistic than Total Film, however there is still lot on it such as many film titles. Empire usually does a few different covers for the same issue so for films such as Suicide Squad where there are many main characters, you can get all the different issues or just the one for the character you like the most.



Protagonists and Antagonists

Protagonist: A protagonist is the main character in the story, such as a literary work or drama. The protagonist is at the centre of the story, should be experiencing the consequences of those decisions. The protagonist can affect the main characters decisions and should be always moving the story forward.

 Antagonist: An antagonist is a character, group of characters, institution or concept that stands in or represents opposition against which the protagonist must contend. In other words, an antagonist is a person or a group of people who opposes a protagonist.

In the classic style of stories where the action consists of a hero fighting a villain/enemy, the two may be regarded as protagonist and antagonist, respectively. However, the villain of the story is not always the same as the antagonist, as some narratives cast the villain in the protagonist role, with the opposing hero as the antagonist.

For our project, our Protagonist doesn't follow the typical stereotypes as such however it is clear he is the one the audience are meant to side with and this is Isaac's character.

In the trailer you can clearly see who is intended to be the Protagonist and Antagonist. Because Isaac is well dressed and clean whereas Jak is covered in blood the first thing the audience will assume is Jak is the antagonist as he has killed or injured something or someone enough to get that amount of blood on him.

Todorov's and Propp's Theory

Todorov’s Theory of Equilibrium and Disequilibrium: 

1) Equilibrium: Everything is how it should be.
2) Disequilibrium: The state of the equilibrium has been disrupted.
3) Recognition: It is recognized that a disruption has occurred.
4) Fixing the Problem: An attempt is made to fix the problem.
5) A New Equilibrium: Everything is how it should be again,although there may be a few differences.



An example of Todorov's theory is in the 2005 Thriller, The descent. We can see the equilibrium of the narrative when the characters are seen rafting. They are all shown having a laugh and a good time as a close group of friends. The disruption from this point is when the central character, Sarah is in the car with her husband and daughter. Their car comes into collision with another van and her husband and daughter are killed. Sarah soon wakes in hospital to find out that they are dead, this is the recognition stage of this part in the narrative. Sarah and her friends soon begin to try and repair their lives and relationships by setting out on another team adventure, caving. There then is a scene where the group of girls are in a cabin camping for the night, it could be debated that this is the new equilibrium for the characters as they are having a laugh and good time again and rebuilding relationships. From this point, the process starts again and there is an equilibrium where the girls are setting off to the caves. They are enjoying themselves and looking forward to do a new activity. As the girls enter the caves and begin to explore them a disruption occurs when the characters find out that Juno has taken them to a completely different cave than they were meant to and they are lost. This also involves the recognition as they realise what has happened and that they are lost. In their attempt to repair the situation they begin to work together to try and find their way out of the caves. Their is no new equilibrium at this point as the characters struggle to do so. The whole narrative of The Descent is full of little cycles of Todorov’s narrative. With the characters becoming trapped under rocks etc. However, the main Disruption of the film is when the creatures in the caves are discovered and they begin to hunt and kill the characters. There is a strong recognition stage as the characters realise what is happening and begin to repair by trying to kill and escape the caves in order to survive. It is again very debatable whether there is a new equilibrium at the end of the film as all the characters are dead apart from Sarah. However, Sarah is lastly shown staring at an illusion of her daughter. She seems content and this could be seen as her personal equilibrium as she has accepted the situation she’s in and seems happy just to see her daughter again



Propp's Character Theory:

• The Hero – a character that seeks something.
• The Villain – who tries to oppose the hero.
• The Donor – provides an object of significant power.
• The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message.
• The False hero – who disrupts the hero’s journey by making false claims.
• The Helper – who aids the hero.
• The Princess – acts as a reward for the hero.
• Her Father – who acts to reward for the hero.

 This can be seen in the 1977 Science fiction film, Star Wars, A new hope.

• The Hero – Luke Skywalker, he looks to become a Jedi and defeat the evil Darth Vader.
• The Villain – Darth Vader, he looks to rein terror across the galaxy and defeat Luke Skywalker.
• The Donor – Obi-Wan Kenobi presents Luke with a Lightsaber, a weapon only worthy of a Jedi.
• The Dispatcher – R2D2, he lands near Luke’s home with a message from Princess Leia.
• The Princess – Leia, The princess of Alderaan, needs saving from the Empire.
• The Helper – Han Solo, alongside Chewbacca he accompanies Luke on missions.
• The Father – Darth Vader, acting as the evil Dark Lord, he isn’t revealed to be the father until later on.

StoryBoard

This is the story board we used as a basic guide.

Film Trailer Checklist

After watching multiple film trailers I thought of making a checklist to guide us through the preparation phase of making our thriller trailer. Here I have wrote a basic outline of what I hope we can achieve to include in our trailer.

1) Starts slowly with dialogue
2) A lot of slow cinematics (B-ROLL)
3) Starts to speed up when the antagonist is introduced
4) Action scenes compilation
5) Short scene where music goes quiet and maybe one line of dialogue
6) High impact soundtrack kicks in
7) Lots of action, impressive cinematography
8) Some voice-overs possibly
9) Title
10) One scene low action/comedy and music just something to wow the audience

1) Counselling
2) Cinematics of grave stones and family photos
3) Cinematic of antagonist but not showing
4) Flashbacks of torture scenes
5) Talking to the counsellor low music
6) High impact soundtrack/ running away from the barn.
7) Action, seeing the killer everywhere
8) "I can't kill what's everywhere"
9)  Title
10) Shooting the camera, then dropping gun.

Green and Red band trailers

The difference between the two is that Green band trailers are appropriate for all audiences whereas red band trailers are inapropriate for younger viewers. We have decided to label our trailer under the red band as it has losts of graphic scenes which could be disturbing for young children.

Prop/Equipment List

For our film trailer we needed some props to make it look more realistic. This including buy fake blood and clothing to use to make a convincing antagonist. Below I have listed the props and equipment we needed to make a successful film trailer.

Cannon 1200D was our main camera. This was setup with a colour profile so that we can colour correct it better without a loss of quality.

We used a Sony RX100 for the behind the scene shots also a few cinematics. We had this shooting most of our film trailer from another angle just in case we were unhappy with a certain shot and wanted a different angle.


We used a Glidecam to ensure our moving camera shots were smooth with little/no jitter to give a professional movie pan effect.

We brought tripods to make sure that our shots were stable.

I bought some fake blood off amazon which was edible so we could get some good shots and action scenes. The fake blood was very good for the price and worked really well and made Jak a very convincing killer.

Jak bought a butchers apron. This was because when we were coming up with the idea we thought it would look good if the serial killer had the stereotypical butchers apron on. Overall I believe the butchers apron added a lot to the overall look of Jak in the film trailer. It looked really good.