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.