1. Task 3
Jack Kilminster
Conventions of trailers
What is a trailer?
A trailer is a short clip which gives advanced publicity to (a film, broadcast, or proposal) by
releasing extracts or selected details of (a film, broadcast, or proposal) giving the audience a
taster/teaser of what is yet to come for the upcoming release in the cinema. Also a trailer can
be seen as a preview or a coming attraction) is. The term "trailer" comes from their having
originally been shown at the end of a feature film screening. That practice did not last long,
because patrons tended to leave the theatre after the films ended, but the name has stuck.
Trailers are now shown before the film begins.
These are some of the main conventions you would expect to see across most trailers.
Why are trailers used?
Trailers are used as a marketing source for a upcoming movie or production. It gives
audiences a teaser of the movie to come, attracting interest for people to come and watch
the movie being released. it psych’s people up if this movie interests them and can cause a
chain reaction to occur as many will spread the movie across social media, gaining the
production high interest, this saves production money on advertisement as the audience will
spread the news on the movie themselves.
Social media is plays a big part when it comes to expanding the reaches of a trailer, as
seeing this is the 21st century, and most people are on social media, a major platform to get

2. as many people as possible to see it would be social media, as once it's released, people
take this information and spread it, allowing more and more people to see it and gain interest
init. They also do this by releasing the trailer on many different platforms within social media,
so for example the upcoming King Kong movie, was released on YouTube, Instagram,
Facebook, twitter, Tumblr etc. This because (especially a movie like King Kong) it can reach
out to many different audiences through these different platforms of media. Production
companies will also release a website related to the movie such as
the movie “Rings” the website released, although as social media is
aimed at teens to young adults, most will not go onto the website
unless it has some interest to them.
Whereas older generations would access the website maybe to
book tickets to see a premier of the movie. Another thing related to
social media platforms are audience interaction, which is where the
audience can get involved and have their own opinion relating to
the movie, for an example “Captain America Civil War” when this
movie was being released, interaction methods were introduced
such as “what side are you on?” this allowed people to vote and
have debates over the subject, getting the audience hyped for the
movie.
Another example was Batman VS Superman, another interaction
method were people could have their own say on who would win,
who was the better character etc.

3. Titles in a trailer are very conventional it's the brand name of the production the title is at the
end or beginning of the trailer and is made bold and to stand out, so the audience recognize
the movie by its title. When it's when trailers are released they come with a distinct title
which relates to the movie genre in a distinct way. Such as Harry potter the titles, they each
have a zig zag style with the P to link with harry potter’s scar, the titles also in the order of
the movies get darker due to the movies atmosphere gets darker and darker as more things
go wrong further you get deeper in the movie. Where “King Kong’s” title is more thick and
chunky to represent King Kong and the size of King Kong, it also has special details in the
designs like in one title it relates to the tribes people in the movie such as the sharp cutting
of the name like it was chiselled out of stone, and then the other design it represents the
background of the sky to relate to the poster.
Another title example is “THE LORD OF THE
RINGS” the lord of the ring is distinctive as it
gives an example of how titles show keywords
and names are more important than others, like
in the title for “THE LORD OF THE RINGS” the
words “the” and “of” are small compare to “lord”
and “rings” this is because these words are more
distinctively related to the movie. Another link
with the title and the movie is that the colour of
the title is gold linking with the main item used in
the movie “the ring”.

4. Another branding example is the “RINGS” the whole point
of the title is to make the audience think about the movie
when they see the title, it has clear relativity to the rings
with quotes linking with the movie, and designs in the title
relate straight to the movie.
Company logos are very important when it comes to a
trailer, as it helps with the marketing of the movie, as when
the trailer it is released it is very conventional you see who
was involved in the process of making the movie.
Company logos are very good for the marketing of the
movie as it shows the audience who was involved in the
process of the movie which the audience can decide or not
whether it looks good due to what the companies have
been involved in producing previously.
An example of this is King Kong skull island the company logos, reveal specific
characteristics about the movie such as its going to full of action this
is revealed as legendary were involved in the production and the
movies legendary produce are normally full of action examples of
these movies “ The Great Wall, 10,000 BC, man of steel, Godzilla
etc.
These movies are all full with action, so the audience would know
seeing this brand the movie will be exciting. Some production
companies involved in the production you may not know such as
Tencent pictures, but this company might of been the main producer
of the movie, and from this point if the movie is good, “Tencent
pictures” might get a good name when it comes to producing other
movies. Whereas other production names involved in the movie
reveal straight away that it is going to be a good movie. Like in King
Kong the first production company revealed was the biggest warner
brothers. The revealing of the company logos are also related to the
genre and style of the movie, so in the trailer for King Kong the
company logo are revealed in link with a scene in the movie, seeing
as the movie is set in the 60’s/70’s they use a old fashioned
projector to reveal the logos, the quality of the logos are also old
fashion to suit the theme, like the warner brothers logo, they use the
old fashion warner brothers logo to suit the theme.

5. The production company involved in
the rings was “paramount studios” a
very big company logo, which also
lets the audience know that it is
going to be a good movie seeing all
the previous movies they have been
involved in. such as Forrest Gump,
transformers, Shrek, the godfather
and many more. Paramount studios
are known for fantastic movies. With the ring, there was a twist put on to paramount studios
to relate to the movie, this was making it flicker, like the tape does in the ring, the colour
scheme is change as well as
the stars to a ring to relate to
the style of the Rings movie.
Another example of a
company logo is in captain
America’s civil war plus any
other marvel movie, the
branding revealed by logo
shows the audience it's
going to be a fantastic movie
jammed pack with action.
Marvel always go through books of comic book scenes to show where the story origin is
from, marvel is one of the largest movie franchises where people instantly know the movie
they are going to watch , will be enjoyable. There is always lots of build up to a marvel
movie, as its part of the marketing technique as it creates major tension for the people who
now have to wait for it to
come out.
Another example is cloudy
with a chance of meatballs
2, they relate the movie
theme to the production
company involved, as the
first movie is about food
falling out of the sky, they
use concept for the
company logo, were a
banana knocks lady liberty
of her step. This is a great relation to brand with the movie.

6. Music and sound are very key in trailers to create tension in the movie, it is conventional for
a trailer to have music and other sounds in the trailer as it adds feelings and atmosphere
wanting to be displayed and outputted on to the audience. In the trailer the rings , they use a
lot of non-diegetic and diegetic sounds, diegetic sounds to add tension in the movie, like
matching the sounds to actions happening in the movie lie right in the beginning of the trailer
you have a woman wrecking her house to try and stop samara coming through her TV and
get it, non-diegetic is used add extra tension to make it more jumpy and dramatic, for
example when they use narration as they go through the 7 days, but the main use is diegetic
as the characters need to hear everything going on, the screaming etc. etc. it also adds
tension as you hear things such as choking, cracking which can make the audience feel
uncomfortable adding to the scariness of the movie.
Another example is in
King Kong were they also
use a mixture of diegetic
and non-diegetic sounds
and music to add to the
tension, diegetic noises
used in the trailer where
things like monster
screams and screeches,
roars, crashes, bangs and
others like music. The
music that was played “bad
moon rising” was to relate
to theme of the song a quite
lively song, which was used
in the Vietnam war to get
soldiers pumped up for war,
this was to relate to the era of
the movie. The other sounds
are usually music which is
used to add tension and
create drama for the scenes,
like when Kong roars or when
he smashes and destroys the helicopters, non-diegetic sounds were used to add more to
what’s going on in the trailer like when Kong rises from the fire, staring straight at Samuel
Jackson in the movie you hear violins going into a high pitch something you would expect to
hear in a horror or suspense, as the music is very sinister. Which is the whole point of the
added sound or music in the trailer to suit the climaxes of the action occurring to intensify the
scenes. There is not a lot of synchronous sound in trailers as in the production they want to
use non and diegetic sounds to emphasize the scenes.

7. Another trailer example is the great wall, in this they use a lot of non-diegetic sounds and
music to add to the tension to the trailer, the music suits the trailer as it is a lot of drum
banging relating to the time and place it is set in the diegetic sounds in this are match on
sound such as the monster roars etc. the music is very fast pace which fits in with the trailer
as there is a battle going on, which is why fast pace music is used to add tension and to
create an atmosphere.

8. Green band is an all-green graphic at the beginning of the trailer. Until April 2009, these cards
indicated that they had been approved for "all audiences" and often included the movie's MPAA
rating. This signified that the trailer adheres to the standards for motion picture advertising
outlined by the MPAA, which include limitations on foul language and violent, sexual, or
otherwise objectionable imagery. In April 2009, the MPAA began to permit the green band
language to say that a trailer had been approved for "appropriate" audiences, meaning that the
material would be appropriate for audiences in theatres, based on the content of the film they
had come to see. In May 2013, the MPAA changed the trailer approval band from "for
appropriate audiences" to "to accompany this feature" but only when accompanying a feature
film; for bands not accompanying a feature film the text of the band remained the same. The font
and style of the text on the graphic bands (green and red) was changed as well at the time the
green band was revised in 2013.Trailers that do not adhere to these guidelines may be issued a
red band, which indicates approval for only "restricted" or "mature" audiences, as these trailers
may include nudity, profanity or other material deemed inappropriate for children.

9. Credits and release dates are also in important in
trailers, as credits let the audience know who played in the movie, who was part of the crew
involved in making it, who the music was by etc. etc. as when normally watching a movie you can
normally tell whether it’s going to be good depending on who has a starring role in it and who is
part of the producing side of the movie, such as “Steven Spielberg” when you hear that he has
directed the movie you are watching, it should be fantastic( in my opinion). However though most
trailers do not reveal the credits in the trailer they normally do this only in the movie as it is a
unconventional to do so, but on the other hand some trailers do go against this convention and
show the credits such as “Don’t
Hang Up” it shows the credits as
the end revealing the cast and
crew involved in the production
of the movie, it also shows the
company logos of the different
production involved in making
the movie. Another example is
the great wall which also shows
the credits at the end of the
trailer to show the actors
involved and the crew which took
part in the production,
Release dates are important when it comes to
a movie as they need to be released at the
right time to make sure the production makes
as much money as possible and also to suit
the genre of the movie, like a horror movie it is
a convention for a horror movie to be released
near Halloween, such as Rings which is
released on the 28th of October, some productions might also look at the audience’s time
preferences, to see when would be the best time for them to go to the cinema and watch the

10. movie. Like half terms, are the best time for teenagers and children to be free and many will go
and watch a big movie they may want to see, that is in the cinema. An example of this was the
great wall and john wick 2 were both released during the February half term in the UK. Some
movies also are released to match previous movies before them like King Kong, having two
movies before the 2017 release, the link they share is that they’re all released around the late
march times
The equilibrium theory is a convention in trailers two examples of this is King Kong and Get Out,
the reason being they follow the 4 basic steps to Todorov’s theory,( which was introduced in
1969) the story must start off with a equilibrium,
where basically everything is normal now this
can mean a lot of things like the walking dead the
fact that there is zombies everywhere and they go
by fighting for their lives every day is an
equilibrium, it’s basically the normal day to day
lives of the characters in the story, in King Kong
they are on a military mission, mapping out an
undiscovered island, and Get Out is about a
girlfriend introducing her boyfriend to her parents.
The story then hits a disruption, where everything
goes wrong, in King Kong, this is where he shows up and starts destroying the helicopters, and
in Get Out, it’s where the main character starts notice things going on at the parents’ house
which are not normal. It then must go into the recognition of the disruption, King Kong the
realisation kicks in when they find out what they are actually hear for and in Get Out, the main
character realises when they try to do to him what they had already been doing to all the other
black people before him. The last stage of Todorov’s theory is the attempt to repair what has
occurred, in King Kong this is where the army try to fight back, and in Get Out it is also when he
tried to fight for his life. This is the 4 way process to the Todorov’s theory in a trailer.
Another thing they use in trailers is dramatic irony, which is when the audience knows something
is going to happen before the actors for example in Get Out the audience can already tell
something is going on and that something is going to happen to main the character before he
even knows it’s going to happen.