Forms and Conventions of Film Trailers

A film production logo is used to determine a production company and the distributor of a film or any television show. Some very famous logo's are Dreamworks, 20th Century Fox, Marvel, Touchstone Films.

A film title is the name of the identifying name of the film, there are many very famous film titles which are part of very famous franchises, such as The Avengers.

BBFC Age Certification, they work with a number of demand services provide trusted age ratings for video content available for downloading and streaming online. There are many services it provides for such as Amazon Prime, BT TV, British Airways, Google Play, iTunes movie store, Netflix, TalkTalk Tv and more.

Social media and websites, this is the best place to find any trailer as it spreads across these platforms very quickly, they can also be shared through social media becoming accessible to other people.
Character introductions, main characters are usually shown the most in the trailer, there is the idea that trailers give away too much, they mostly include sequences with the main characters doing something or reacting to something.

Music and Voice overs, there is usually a lot of music and voice overs in the film trailers, usually the voice over is one of the main characters talking, for e.g. in the new Star Wars: The Last Jedi, one of the main characters is talking over the trailer and he mostly talks about what will happen in the film without giving away too many spoilers, therefor generating a lot of excitement for the film.

On screen text is included in most trailers, they are usually the names of the actors and the production companies, also on screen text is used to credit the editors, producers, screenplay by and many more, it is also used to say what else the producers could have been included in, and or showing what awards either the producers have won or what the actors have won, for e.g. best Male/Female actor.

Name Captions is similar the onscreen text, this is only used for crediting the producers, editors and will be used to name the actors included in the film and film trailer.

Taglines are used to emphasise a point about a film as well as hint what will happen in the film for the audience. A great example of using a tagline is Alien "In space no one can hear you scream". A tagline aims to be very memorable to the audience, Alien's tagline is truly perfect as anybody who has seen the film can remember the tagline, it is a rather scary tagline to use and using it in a trailer and poster definitely creates this horror and tension in the audience, even before they have seen the film.

Release Dates are used in trailers to generate excitement in the audience, a lot of distributors will chose to reveal the confirmed release date in the trailer but instead of revealing the date many trailers will use 'Coming Soon' instead to generate curiosity and excitement, however saying this can also lose an audience as they wont want to wait a very long time for a film as they can easily forget about said movie.

Company info, every trailer will include the companies institution, examples are Warner Bros, Disney, Lionsgate etc. this is done so the audience know who is associated with the film, this can attract large audiences who are fans of the companies, just because they are involved in the production of the film.

From the director of is used a lot in film trailers, this is because it is a good way to show a directors success, if the trailer includes the from the director of, for example The Avengers then the audience can already assume it will be a high budget, exciting film due to the success of the Avengers franchise, depending on the film and the genre, trailers can include different films to show off a directors work.

Time/Length, the length of a film trailer that is allowed by the MPAA is 2 minutes and 30 seconds, during this time the trailer has to draw in an audience, generate excitement and possibly create a fan base, the more people the trailer can draw in the more successful the film may be.

Rough Idea

Start with 3 second shot of room with girl unconcious/scared alone then monks file in slowly and surround her cuts to black/title,
shows them finish the ritual wait one second fingers extend looks to the air with a piercing scream,
slow deep cello music in the background, Dark Cellos Python Blue


Old abandoned building/old reception,
5 Satanists standing around a pentagram
standing in each corner over looking a young girl,
A young girl is in the middle of the pentagram unconscious, unaware of what is happening,
Satanists wearing large monk robes, hiding their faces,
They leave the girl for the night,
Then returning the next day to find a pile of ash in the middle of the pentagram on the rocking chair, candles melted, dark, gloomy room,
All doors around slam shut simultaneously,
Satanists look shook.


Then over time, fast cuts of each member haunted, quick sequences of a different haunting, each effecting the members differently, possibly include the young girl jumping out into frame, heavy dark makeup, blood scars etc.
The fast cuts can increase tension, excitement and horror.

The monks walk in to see the (still) rocking chair with ash on it and lit candles monks look surprised and start talking to each other in the back ground you see the chair rocking all doors slam apart from one which the girl is standing behind cuts to black, the girl charges towards the door but it shuts in front of her before she can run through it.

How do trailers help to market a film?

A trailer is used to attract large audiences to a film as producers can play around with the film's genre elements to make it familiar with the audience to ensure the film looks exciting and worth watching, the idea is to make the audience think that this film is unlike anything they have ever seen in this genre. By doing this it really shows off a films unique selling point, these elements could go as far as using a big name actor playing the lead role in the film, or by mixing different genres together and using different special effects to grab the audiences attention.



The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d1XOshDSbg

The main USP of The Hitman's Bodyguard is the lead actors in the film and the mix of both Comedy and Action, the lead actors are both Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, two A list stars who are both very bankable actors, meaning they can be cast in any film and will most likely make a large profit. In the trailer we can see that these actors are very successful as it mentions Ryan Reynolds being a Golden Globe nominee and Samuel L. Jackson being an Academy Award Nominee, this can help grab the audiences attention as they are now aware that these actors are extremely successful and famous, being a nominee for these awards means they are brilliant actors. Ryan Reynolds has been included in hit films such as Deadpool, he is also cast for Deadpool 2, Life (2017), Safe House (2012) etc. these have all attracted large audiences and has made Ryan Reynolds become very popular in the audiences eyes. Samuel L. Jackson has starred in films such as The Avengers, Jurassic Park, Star Wars episodes 1-3, Captain America, Iron Man and even more, these films have banked a lot of money, giving Samuel L. Jackson a great reputation for being a fantastic, exaggerated actor.



Inception (2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoHD9XEInc0

Inception's main USP is its over the top special effects and CGI, the cities in which our main characters travel to become all computer generated as the whole city starts to fold over like a book, the special effects are breathtaking in this film as it leaves the audience wondering how they managed to pull something like this off. Christopher Nolan is excellent in tricking the audience into thinking that the sequence is computer generated whereas its actually practical effects, there are many instances in Inception where it looks like CGI but he has used practical effects instead such as when Di Caprio is sat outside a cafe and it blows up, shooting debris everywhere, this was all filmed on set. Nolan has produced over films such as Man of Steel (2013), this film used a lot of special effects and CGI, such instances include when Superman duels with the main antagonist and they both destroy a whole city, buildings which are destroyed and have collapsed, we are shown many establishing shots which really show how far CGI has come as it looks unbelievably realistic.



Shaun of the Dead (2004)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIfcaZ4pC-4

Shaun of the Dead mastered the mix of different genres, the most noticeable ones are Comedy, Action and Horror, because the film includes zombies it is classed as a horror as there are a few disturbing scenes, however, the ionic duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost pulled off the hilarious movie, they have both made many funny films together, the film is unique as the producers cast Simon Pegg and Nick Frost who are known for making comedy films, it is also unique in a way in which it uses zombies to create humour, this hasn't been seen anywhere else at that time so releasing the trailer for the film built up a massive audience as this is fresh, new and a brilliant idea to combine the different genres. The film doesn't rely on any special effects or CGI to gain any attention but relies on the choice of actors, location and zombies.

When are film trailers released?

What do you think are the key release dates?

For film trailers, they tend to release a couple of months before the initial film release of the film, however, looking at couple of films that trailers have already released, it is rather surprising to see how much longer you may have to wait to see the film after the trailers release. The Emoji Movie's trailer was released in May 2017, the films release is in August 2017, the trailer wasn't well received by the public as it generally looks like a terrible movie, this is why I think the trailer was released only three months before the film because people will forget about the film if the trailer dropped a couple of months earlier.
Annabelle 2's trailer released 4 months before the film will release, horror films aren't always well received because it is difficult to create a good horror movie which contains a good story, good characters and enough to scare somebody, Annabelle 1 was fairly well received as it was mildly scary but there isn't enough hype for the second film, any longer then 4 months and the excitement for the release will have thinned out.
Deadpool 2 on the other hand, the first initial trailer was released in March 2017, the film will be released in June 2018, 15 months after the trailer. The first Deadpool film was received by the audience very well as it was hilarious, Deadpool made over 725,000,000 in profit so releasing a trailer over a year before the film release is to a certain extent acceptable, it isn't so much of a risk because of how popular Deadpool is.


What factors will distributors take into account when selecting a release date?

Before a trailer is released for a film, the title is normally announced a couple of months before any trailer is released, this can be used to see how much attention the film receives before a trailer is out, gaining a small fan base, the more well received the announcement is then releasing a trailer will build the fan base, depending on how big of a fan base it builds from the announcement, the more attention it receives then releasing a trailer later is affordable, but if it isn't received well from any audience then they may have to release a trailer earlier to try and boost views and attention.
They will have to be sure that other distributors don't chose to release a trailer at the same time because the other trailer could gain more attention, therefore the film won't gain a large audiences attention because they could end up being more interested in the other film. Distributors will also need to choice a release date for a trailer when there aren't any other trailers currently on the internet within the same genre, this is because the audience. will have their attention taken by the opposing trailer, again decreasing the amount of views the trailer will receive.


Many distributors chose the Summer and Winter to release new films which have attracted a large audience, the reason behind this is because during Summer, schools have a large break which lasts around 6-7 weeks, this is a perfect time to release a film because it gives teenagers and kids a chance to watch movies at the cinema. For Winter schools have another 3 week holiday in which teenagers and kids have a lot of time to go watch a film, plus during Winter its a perfect time to release a new Christmas movie.
During this Summer there were are lot of big name films which were released such as Spider-Man: Homecoming, Cars 3, Dunkirk, and Annabelle 2, each film was released on a different weekend because each film were bit hits in making profit, so it gave a chance for each film to make as much money as possible on an opening weekend. Dunkirk for example chose the perfect weekend to release a film, this is because it was the only new film released in cinemas on that weekend. Due to this Dunkirk made over 410 million in the Box Office, over 310 million USD in profit.
During this Winter, films such as Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Insidious: Chapter 4 are all being released, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the only film which is being released on this weekend because it is such a large franchise which a massive fan base, no other film can compete with Star Wars: The Last Jedi so it is the only new film showing that weekend. Jumanji is another film which is being remade with Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart as the lead characters, both are extremely successful actors and are now an ionic duo, this is also being premiered as the only new film being shown because it has a very large fanbase, the target audience is families, and anyone who is interested in seeing the film as there is no age target.

What are Film Trailers and who are they for?

From what I know about film trailers, they are advertisements for the films which would be shown in the near future, generally in trailers, the audience wants a brief idea of what the film will be about and if it grabs their attention, so the trailer would usually contain parts of the film that could generate excitement, hype or a sense of horror depending on the genre but in trailers, producers tend not to show too much of the film because when it comes to the film opening to an audience, it can become boring if you already know what will happen.

Trailers include a select few shots from the film being advertised, it is to gain the audiences attention so they include some important parts of the film which generate interest, but without giving too much away otherwise known as spoilers. The MPAA allows a trailer to be of a maximum of 2 minutes and 30 seconds, in this time the producers have to grab the audiences attention.

Trailers are directed to audiences of specific ages depending on if the film has been aged restricted yet, if the film has a age 15 restriction then the trailer will be directed at people of the ages 15 and above, the film trailer also helps to gain an idea of which gender will also be more interested, a film such as Transformers is directed at kids and males, the action violence can interested males more then females.

We now see film trailers everywhere, the most common is now on the worldwide web, the trailers can be advertised on any website, such as loading up a new page it can be played to gain an audience, but most commonly trailers are seen on YouTube, at the beginning of videos, many YouTubers choose to advertise film trailers, this spreads out everywhere across the world who has access to YouTube. Commonly trailers are shown on Television, mostly on the film channels, between each showing there can be at least 2-3 different trailers. The cinema is a prime place for new trailers to be shown because cinemas are used everyday by large audiences, any huge films that are released such as Star Wars have lots of cinemas booked out for audiences to go watch the film, so it is perfect to release a trailer in the cinema.

Trailers are usually released a couple of months prior to the release of films, this can vary between at least 2-3 months prior, or even as many as 18 months prior, depending on how much attention and how much of a following the film has, you can release a trailer a long time before the film release date, this is usually done when the film is a sequel, however releasing a trailer over 12 months prior can be an issue, the audience can lose interest because it is such a long wait.

TRAILER	TARGET AUDIENCE	FEATURES APPEALING TO TARGET AUDIENCE
IT (2017)	Male and Female Ages 15 and above.	IT (2017) is definitely directed at both males and females, there isn't anything in the trailer which signifies which gender it is aimed at, it is also aimed for those of the age 15 and above due to the amount of horror included, also the amount of violence and shocking scenes.
The Hitman's Bodyguard	Males Aged 15 and above.	The Hitman's Bodyguard is aimed at males because of the amount of action, violence included in the film, it is also a comedy and is aimed at those who are aged 15 and above because of the strong language and scenes of violence.
The Emoji Movie	Males and Females, also Children any Ages.	The Emoji Movie is directed mostly at children, it is a Disney film so it is also aimed at both male and female of all ages, preferably families, it is a family friendly film which doesn't include any scenes of violence or strong language.