Trailer forms and conventions

Characters:

In a trailer, we need to establish the key characters of the film and their characteristics (traits). We have to establish all of this in just a few minutes, and outline the plot of the film in a way that makes the viewers want to watch the film. One way we can do this is by using key moments of dialogue.

After watching the trailer for 'Insidious' shown above, I could personally understand which character plays what role in the film. For example, the mother and father, the son in the coma, the elderly women who seems to know how to solve the problem, and also the villain(s) of the film. We can tell this from the dialogue. FOr example, when the woman says "Sweetie" at 0:26 we can then assume that she is some form of relative to the child. We can also assume the man and the woman mentioned before are partners as they are in the same bed at 0:27. At 1:08 another man begins to talk in detail about certain tests that he has ran, this makes us seem like he is the person who knows how to deal with the problem.

It is the small moments of dialogue and key frames in the trailer that allow us to associate people in the film to the role they play in the narrative.

Editing:

In a trailer, we must show the narrative, characters, and establish the setting of the movie all in a short period of time. To do this, a trailer uses little 'continuity' editing, the camera cross-cuts frequently, and fast. A trailer achieves achieves these fast transitions through a range of transitions techniques. These include:

-Sound bridges
-Wipes
-Flashes
-Dissolves
-Fades

The graph shown below is a representation of a commonly seen thriller trailer formula. At the start of the trailer, the pace of the editing is slow, and normally contains moments of dialogue. In the middle of the trailer we normally see a sharp peak in the pace of the editing, showing much more action, and then a sudden drop in the pace of editing.

Visual Style:

In a trailer we must establish many characters, to do this, we can use certains shots with the camera. For example, close-ups allow us to see the characters in detail and connect with each person specifically.



A close-up of a character in a thriller film.

Music:

The music naturally sets the mood for the trailer. We can convey many emotions through the music, such as fear, or alternatively joy.

This is the trailer of The haunting in connecticut used previously to show the use and effects of music in a trailer.

Continuity:

In a trailer, due to the jump cuts and transitions involved, there is little 'continuity'. This means that in a trailer we need to use different techniques other than the visual style to convey continuity in the trailer. For example, we can use voice-overs, credits and titles, and key moments of dialogue to explain the plot to the viewer.

Narrative:

Narrative is used in a trailer to convey the plot of a film, we do this by showing (as mentioned previously) key moments of dialogue between the main characters, and voice-overs.

Narrative also is used to create an enigma in trailers.  We can achieve this through action sequences such as fights, kisses, arguments, chases, and explosions to leave the viewers wanting to see what happened next.

In the trailer of Immortals, even though we see a lot of action, we also receive dialogue throughout, and captions in between many scenes. This is a method used by many trailers to convey the plot and narrative of the film.