- Chloe Pritchard
- Jan 11, 2021
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 10, 2021
My chosen thriller film trailers:
Elements of film trailers:
- Character
- Tone
- Setting
- Genre
- Opening sound
- Quick cut
Trailers consist of a series of selected shots from the film being advertised. Since the purpose of the trailer is to attract an audience to the film, these excerpts are usually drawn from the most exciting, funny, or otherwise noteworthy parts of the film but in abbreviated form and usually without producing spoilers.
Usually with trailers, you want to give the audience more excitement to what is going on throughout the trailer, like making it more intense, something that will make the audience jump out of their seats when their eyes are fixed on the screen, something amazing/action is about to take place since it's more like a big event for them really. So you want your audience to show eagerness towards it. For example, if there was going to be a release of the film they love watching and the trailer ended with a cliff hanger, you would want them to be irritated by it, because that just shows they are going to give a positive view. Other than that, they don't use an entire clip for the trailer, they use bits of it to make it look like it's part of the scene if that makes sense, because otherwise it wouldn't really be seen as a trailer anymore. It would just spoil the entire plot. I think there's more to add on that, but normally that's the main reason to why trailers have to be short. Furthermore, trailers really give the audience information about what is going to take place in the film, what the storyline is about and the whole context behind it just makes the audience's eyes pop out and their reasoning about the film would make it very mysterious looking.
So for the trailers I have picked out.
{The Lie}
It starts off in a scenery, and then focuses on the main character (the girl) of the storyline.
As the girl's mother opens the door, we see that she has that 'confused, terrified' expression on her face, which can lead us into thinking that something isn't normal or right and as the audience pictures that moment, they want to focus more on what the moral of the story is.
Now as we head halfway through the trailer, we start to introduce some main characters. Her friend stands at the bus stop, and her friend is wondering what happened to her face, and shows that the audience would want to know more about their backstory.
As they both went out into the woodlands, the girl (main character) suddenly screams, which led to her father searching for them both.
Once he saw his daughter on the edge of the bridge, the music suddenly creates the drone effect of someone seeing what they don't expect in their everyday lives/something important to you has got you the urge of running over to that specific thing/adds the emotion of being overthrown/hanging on for dear life/focuses the audience's attention on the father who runs over to his daughter.
It created that long shot/depth of field in the distance to know what is happening to the girl.
We then begin to know what really happened during that sudden event, by using that shift in focus (e. g from a sudden disaster to the cause of it happening) which gives the audience more excitement, also maybe hinting on what the main source really is. They might think to themselves 'She maybe was the one who did it.' or who she really is, on the inside.
The camera turns to her as a long shot, because of how she is processing over what just happened/what she did.
{Ghostbusters 3: Afterlife}
The setting used in this film, shows that it's filled with mood and emotion to drag the audience's eyes. Usually with scenes as familiar as this, with it's dark landscape, shows that what were about to witness, is nothing that we've ever seen in our every day lives.
Every thriller movie has their own similarities. Especially to the ones I have chosen to analyse.
Techniques used in film trailers:
- Music (music acts as the main function of a movie trailer, as it brings the tension of the film/as if it actually happened)
- Over the shoulder shot (gives the audience a better understanding about the main character/almost as if something is giving them chills up their spine to what is behind them)
- Close up shot (gives the audience an idea of the character's emotions/why the character is acting this way/something catches their eyes and the audience is desperate to find out what is making the character's eyes fixed.
- Long shot (to establish the scenery/where it is taking place/giving the audience an idea of what the main characters will end up in/matches the sense of emotions/a way to describe a dramatic effect.
Primary Purpose?
The whole primary purpose of film trailers, is for advertisement. In other words, giving the audience excitement to it's release and dying to know what it's about as a whole. Since the purpose of the trailer is to attract the audience to the film, these are usually drawn from the most exciting and funny form and usually without producing spoilers.
Who is your audience?
'Ghostbusters' (Target Audience: Rating 12) PG-13: Parents Strongly Cautioned, Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13.
'The Lie' (Target Audience: Rating 15+) Some violence, language in compelling thriller-drama.
In film trailers, the title name would be at the end because they maybe want to surprise the audience to what the title name is, how interesting it is and probably leave the best bits to last.
Throughout films we see on the media/cinema, it is important to know who's playing each part and who's directing it, for example, if there was a specific character in a film you like and they don't show you the name, that will just bring them into more curiosity, and be surprised about who's perfect for each role.
The music in films, is there for a significant reason. Music in thriller/horror can give us drones, suspense, tension as a whole. Music is an important popular form of entertainment that can also teach information, highlight problems, and even inspire people to change injustices in society. People who write songs can express messages that are important to them through stories, statements, and metaphors in their words and music.
By using a voice over, the filmmaker is able to better situate the audience inside the mind of the characters, and therefore more completely draw the audience into the action of the story. Voice overs provide filmmakers with a range of abilities in storytelling that they otherwise would not have. In other words, it can help the audience what the film is already going to be about.
Pace changes the way the audiences view films and make them understand it in different ways. A slower pace would be used in a drama/love story type of film. This allows the audience to see and understand the scene and characters fully without getting distracted by quick cut shots.
As for the information we are given in the last frame of the trailer, we're given the date the film/the release date/the casts/sponsoring movie companies/target audience and more importantly, who's directing it.
