A trailer is a marketing tool used to advertise an upcoming film. It is a montage of shots, usually with a non-diegetic soundtrack and sometimes dialogue which lasts for around 2-3 minutes. The idea of a trailer is to reveal a basic plot whilst maintaining interest and so hopefully helping to sell the film by luring customers in to the cinema to watch it. The directors name, an actors name or even another film produced by the same studio might be mentioned in the trailer so that the audience's attention is grabbed by familiar films or people. A teaser trailer is a shorter trailer, anything from half a minute to a minute usually, which reveals only a glimpse of the storyline. The aim is to spark interest but with a mysterious element to keep the audience interested and awaiting the next, full trailer.
An example of a teaser trailer: Inception Teaser
An example of a full trailer: Inception Full Trailer
A trailer might be seen at the cinema before a film of a similar genre starts, on television or online. Television trailers are often only teaser or shorter versions of the full trailer, whereas cinema trailers are the full version. Online trailers of all variations can be easily found at any time on video sites such as youtube.com. The advantage of trailers is, unlike other forms of advertising such a posters, they can be used on television which shows the trailer unexpectedly and doesn't require the audience's effort.
The genre conventions of horror trailers is dark, low-key lighting, eerie music, jumpy parts and fast cuts. There might be a long cut or slow-paced editing at the start or end to build up the plot or end the plot with a disturbing final cut. There might be frightening costumes and special effects to make the horror stand out. The iconography of horror films includes weaponry, dark forests, isolated places, bad weather, distorted or mutated figures, a villain and a group of victims, pain and screams. Depending on the sub-genre there might be mythical creatures or certain weaponry involved (such as knives and axes for slasher films).
No comments:
Post a Comment