Forms and Conventions of Film Trailers

Although trailers are different from each other in terms of genre, the plot being shown, etc, they tend to conform to a set of rules that contribute to producing a successful trailer that will appeal to its desired audience. Of course, it is a given that over the years, as films have developed and changed, so have trailers. Audiences are harder to impress, and trailers have become accommodatingly action-packed and attention-grabbing, perhaps due to an assumption that attention spans are getting shorter and audiences harder to satisfy. Trailers are less ambiguous and more thrilling, especially when it comes to action genre films and their aim to induce an adrenaline rush (see, for example, this ending segment from the official trailer for the high-concept action thriller Skyfall (2012) - https://youtu.be/6kw1UVovByw?t=117).

The 'forms' of a trailer refers to how it is shaped and structured, for instance in terms of technical details such as its duration, editing style, the use of titles, etc, whereas the 'conventions' of a trailer refer to what we, as an audience, expect- for example a powerful or suspenseful soundtrack, perhaps synchronized with when shots appear, the typical dramatic deep voice to narrate and give context and/or announce the main stars and director, and more. These are expectations that have been built up over time as trailers have developed their style and ability to attract audiences. Some typical conventions include: studio names, director, main stars, a voice-over, on-screen text that accompanies certain shots (for example "She thought she was alone", followed by a shot of said character), captions, taglines that may be seen on other media platforms or texts such as posters, music from the film's soundtrack or matching the style of the genre (e.g the typical 'music box' sounds for a supernatural horror), a BBFC age certification, the film's title, and finally, the release date.
Below I will investigate some trailers to see how they employ these conventions.


Example 1: Beetlejuice (1988)

The trailer for Beetlejuice is a good example of a classic, conventional trailer because it combines a number of features to show off Burton's quirky comedy/fantasy film and attract its target audience (presumably of ages 15 and upwards, due to its age certificate in the UK). The trailer begins with the studio logos, along with the subtitle "distributed by Warner Bros", and a close-up of the two main protagonists, Adam and Barbara. The typical voice-over by a man with a deep, dramatic voice that emphasizes certain words then starts, explaining the plot ("From the director of Peewee's Big Adventure [Tim Burton]"/"Adam and Barbara are - [Adam's dialogue cuts in via a close-up]: Ghosts!"). The trailer presents the film as somewhat convention-breaking for its time, as often, films of this genre present events from the living's point of view as they are haunted by supernatural beings, but this time, the viewpoint has been reversed and the 'living' become the antagonists. This may not be as much of a surprising twist to us today, especially considering the director is Burton, but in 1988, this may have acted as its main USP.

The trailer's structure is fairly typical: the narration moves on to introducing the next main character, a somewhat false hero, who goes by the name of 'Betelgeuse' (which the protagonists pronounce as 'Beetlejuice', hence the film's title). It introduces the problem the protagonists face, where their equilibrium is disrupted by their deaths and the living moving into their home, before moving to the attempt to repair the situation (the summoning of Betelgeuse), with the rest of the trailer showing the best/funniest/most action-filled parts of the film. The soundtrack gets more intense and the trailer's pacing increases along with it, with the duration of shots becoming shorter and shorter to make it more exciting for the viewer. Throughout the trailer the voice-over narrates, adding quips and taglines, such as "He's guaranteed to put some life ... Into your after-life".

Finally, the trailer comes to an end with the film's title logo, adorned with cartoon-y skulls and bright colours, and the voice-over announces the main star, Michael Keaton, who plays Betelgeuse. (as the other stars who play the main protagonists were still fairly unknown at the time). There is one last shot after this title card where Betelgeuse sits in a reclined chair with cucumber slices on his eyes and declares, "I'm the ghost with the most, babe", followed by a screen of credits that show the names of the director, producer, screenplay writers, music producers, story writers, and the distributor. As it is an old trailer and this version may not be for TV, there is no announcement of a release date, which is obviously part of the key information shown when advertising a film. Aside from this, the trailer remains conventional in terms of its structure and conforms to many of the 'rules' described earlier.


Example 2: The Boy (2016)

The trailer for The Boy (2016) is a lot more modern in lots of ways. Firstly, it doesn't use a voice-over to narrate or explain, and instead opts for the character's dialogue accompanied by on-screen text to show the plot. It also begins with the MPAA film rating, which is a PG-13, rather than Beetlejuice's structure of the studio logos and announcement of the director (although the lack of a named director for The Boy could be due to it not being by someone very well-known).

As many horror film trailers do, the first shot is an establishing shot that displays the environment, which is in this case a mansion. This already implies to an audience familiar with the horror genre that it may be the typical haunted house where disaster and terror awaits the oblivious protagonists. At first, the soundtrack is a soft, mellow piano track, but as the antagonist is introduced - a rather unnervingly realistic-looking doll named 'Brahms' - it changes to discordant, and the mood of the trailer is instantly different. The transitions are not very varied and only seem to include fades to black and dissolves along with simple straight cuts, but are adjusted according to the mood it is trying to create (fades to black in quick succession for suspense, etc).

After this short opening to the trailer, some film production logos are shown. The trailer then moves on to further explain the plot and even displays a sort of enigma regarding the doll: the doll's 'parents' tell the protagonist, a woman named Greta employed to look after him while they are away, that he is not like other children, and that a set of rules must be followed, which are written on a piece of paper. The trailer flicks between close-ups of these rules and shots of Greta breaking them- which becomes the main source of disruption in the plot. It soon becomes clear to her, and us as an audience, that the doll is very much alive, and that she is in danger. This segment reaches a crescendo when she breaks the rule of "don't forget to feed him", as when she turns to get rid of the untouched food, he disappears. The soundtrack switches again from the piano to discordant, screeching violins, and there is the sound of echoing laughter. From this point onward, the pacing of the trailer increases, and the enigma escalates as they find out more about 'the real Brahms', who used to play with a girl who came to the mansion- but her body was found later in the woods, and Brahms soon died in a fire.

Next, some on-screen text is shown in-between sequences of shots- for example, one of them says "YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE" (shown in a screen-shot below). This not only makes the trailer more modernly conventional in its use of showing taglines/on-screen text over narration in order to maintain suspense without interruption; it also makes use of direct address- the 'your' in this on-screen text addresses the audience, inviting them to imagine what they might do in the same situation and exaggerating the horror of it.
Again, as the trailer's pace changes, the soundtrack does accordingly- this time to the typical music-box chiming sound that is used in many horror film trailers that are supernatural in theme, although it pauses when jump-scares appear on-screen, which are instead accompanied by a louder, more intense noise.

Lastly, the title card appears, showing the film's name (in the same font style as the previous on-screen text, most likely to maintain a sort of brand image or icon), and a final shot is shown where the protagonist is asked (although the character is off-screen), "You will look after him, won't you?". There is silence for a moment as she turns away from a portrait of Brahms, and suddenly a hand tears through the painting and grabs her neck. Horror trailers often end with a jump-scare, as a final 'punch' to further excite the audience and make it memorable, but this technique doesn't seem to be limited to just horrors- as shown in the Betelgeuse for example, where there was a final shot of a comedic moment. Showing one last shot or line of dialogue is a technique that has become conventional for all trailers in an effort to make it memorable and different from the rest, as the audience obviously won't be able to remember the whole trailer.