THE CONVENTIONS AND PURPOSE OF A TRAILER

Trailers come in two forms of trailers a teaser and a theatrical trailer. A teaser trailer is a shorter trailer that is shown at the early stages of promotion and is used to entice the viewer and make them want to see more and also establishes genre, characters and the plot briefly whilst setting the scene. A viewer can instantly tell that the film The Inbetweeners is a comedy by showing the characters and a few jokes from the film. It also helps as this has an established fan-base and will immediately get a lot of attention just from the title. A theatrical trailer is a much longer trailer that appears in cinemas and on the internet a few months before release. An example of a good theatrical trailer is 'The Dark Knight' from which we can clearly see an action film. It has special effects, star actors, explosions car chases and it establishes the main characters and their story lines. A theatrical trailer is used to get the audience to know watching the film will be an experience they will enjoy.
Trailers are also effective as they get people talking to one another about the film. Using this they inform and enthuse people into seeing the film. Films trailers are always targeted at a certain demographic. For example 'The Dark Knight' is targeted at males 12+ and so it is marketed in a way that these people can see it such as using video games and on the internet.
You can expect to see certain things from a trailer these are its conventions. The best bits from a film will be shown. For example if it is and action film the trailer will show the biggest explosions and the highest intensity moments whereas in a comedy it will show all the funniest jokes. Trailers will often have moments the viewer won’t fully understand and this will make them want to see the film to find out for example In the Dark Knight trailer when a lorry flips over. A film with big name stars will often want to flaunt that to the audience so their names will sometimes appear onscreen as its own shot. A film trailer will usually have a voice over the majority of a time from someone not in the film like a voice actor with a famous voice for example Phil Lafontaine but sometimes from a character using dialogue from a film in the film. Music is used in almost every trailer it is a very good indicator of the mood and pace of the film and sometimes a trailer with good music is enough to make someone want to see it. The title of a film will usually appear at the end on its own in large font so it sticks in your mind called the title plate like in the dark knight when they appear dramatically on the screen.
A huge factor in the success of a film’s release is many forms of promotion. Trailers are usually at the forefront of this campaign but they are followed by posters, billboards, standees and TV spots that most people may see every day. Special offers are also used to get audience members such as free tickets in newspapers. Websites are extremely important and interviews with cast and crew. Many films even have a TV show dedicated to them for example on t4 for example “t4 on set of ….”
Sometimes films with barely any promotion can be a huge success for example 'The Blair Witch Project' which made hundreds of millions from a tiny budget. Word of mouth is seen as free advertising as if a person sees a film and tells all their friends it will make more money as the viewer is provided with social interaction an example of how we use the media for our own gratification. With the use of social networking sites a film can be spread around very quickly and hundreds of people can be made aware of it every second. This is true of Paranormal Activity which managed to make millions on an incredibly tiny budget of $15,000 due to the word of mouth from fans of the film and has now gone on to be an incredibly successful franchise.
Horizontal integration is the idea of one company owning a variety of media interests which they can then use for the promotion of a film. For example Sony with the Spiderman series uses video games and its own soundtrack to promote films using its own companies. Owning various types of media outlets is called a synergy. A prime example of a synergy is Disney.