CONVENTIONS OF A TRAILER

Trailer's typically tell the narrative of the film in a speedy, condensed fashion.

Trailers contain lots of fast paced cuts and sound all used to entice the audience into wanting to go and see the advertised film.

THREE PART STRUCTURE:

Beginning – lays out the key element of the story

Middle – tells us a bit more about the story

Ending – the climax, builds the most amount of tension. Usually comprises of a montage of clips accompanied by a building piece of music.

The clips NEVER come in a set order, they are a montage of clips to give a basic outline of the plot whilst not giving away the ending, therefore entices you into wanting to see the film.

Sometimes a voiceover is used, usually a deep, male, dramatic and distinguished voice. This briefly tells the narrative if needed

 Usually  1-3 minutes in length

Film company logo features at the beginning

 Music used to build tension, create suspense – builds as the trailer progresses

Dead black outs are used for effect, this is where the screen goes momentarily black before cutting to the next scene of action. A cut in is popular in which the camera cuts to a more specific part of the scene in order to get a clearer view e.g. the camera may cut in closer to a knife etc.

Cross cutting is also used to simply cross back and forth between action.

 Iconography to the genre so the audience can still recognise the style 

All trailers also feature the GREEN CERTIFICATION at the very beginning, followed by the PRODUCTION COMPANY

(PICTURE)