Codes and conventions of trailers

Codes and Conventions of a trailer

Institutional (film) logos and rating card• At the beginning of all trailers, mainly just American trailers, there is an official rating card showing the certificate of the film. There is also separate

ones for a approved for all audiences trailer and a more mature trailer called the ‘red-banned’ trailer.

• There are also quite often film logos which appear in the beginning frames of the trailer to show the producers of the films, mainly more famous/well

known production studios will do this.

• These logos can have different styles depending on genre and mood of the film the trailer is of. For example for a horror genre the logo colour scheme,

transition and sound effect will reflect this in the trailer by using a dark colour scheme and ominous non-diegetic background music or sound

effects.

Text

• Text is important in a trailer as it is used to establish several things some of which are important conventions themselves. This is including the names of the leading actors and directors, the name

of the film, the release date and some tag lines.

• The colour scheme and general style of the text differs depending on the genre and style of the film/trailer itself. I.e. if the film was an action/adventure film the trailer’s text would be large and

bold in a sharp style font. It would be the same colour scheme as the film.

Film reviews/ratings

• The film ratings often show up whilst the trailer is playing in separate frames between the scenes/clips of the trailer

• These are practically only show in film trailers created by popular writers, directors and producers well known and credited for their other films they have worked on

• The reviews and ratings tend to come from film based magazine companies and well known news papers working on the film area.

• The ratings come in the form of stars like usual the film is rated out of mainly 5 stars or sometimes 10 stars. Because the film needs to be promoted and not demoted in the trailer the lowest star

rating that would be shown would be 4 stars.

Release dates

• The release date (if there is one) shows up on every trailer as it is important for film makers to release the film at the appropriate time that the producers have been allocated.

• If there isn’t a release date there will be universal statement of “Coming Soon” in stead of the actual release date. This will still be placed in the same place ,at the end of the trailer, of he trailer

as the actual release date.

• Release dates for films vary depending on the companies that produce the film, films with sequels tend to have the release dates around the same time.

Turning Point

• Turning points are important in trailers. They are the moment where the equilibrium in the trailer shifts to a disequilibrium and represent the equilibrium to disequilibrium in the actual narrative of

the film.

• They are always if not almost always, placed in the middle of the trailer to represent the equilibrium and disequilibrium equally as the new equilibrium is not shown in the trailer

Incidental (background) music

• The main purpose of background music (a non-diegetic form of music) is to (alongside other components) represent and emphasise all the emotions, moods, character relations and

personalities so the audience can pick all of these up and relate to them.

• The types of music that could be used in the trailer differs depending on the genre, style and editor(s) of the film/trailer. Trailers could apply vocal tracks to the trailer usually done in comedy and teen trailers or electric music which is more modern; however the more common types are

instrumentals and compositions as these are used in multiple genres of films. Action, drama, adventure, mystery etc.

• Many trailers utilise their own developed music or enlist the help of composers to score their films. Others use premade music from either other films or the popular tracks from the top charts

Voiceovers

• Voiceovers are pieces of non-diegetic dialogue played over scenes from the film (in this case over the multiple clips in the trailer). They are quite popular and are used in many genres of films

action, adventure, sci-fi and even some comedies; however they are quite often used in drama’s.

• The dialogue from the voiceover can be taken from internal dialogue used in the film from either the protagonist, antagonist or other characters or it can be external dialogue; dialogue from a

mystery narrator.

• The mystery narrator is stereotypically a male and has an exaggerated voice, typically used in action and adventure film trailers. It is sometimes used in drama trailers too.

• Voiceovers tend to be constant throughout until the end of the trailer.

Basic plot/character introduction

• In most trailers the basic idea of the plot of the film is implemented in to the trailer and is shown throughout the editing, camera shots/angles and sound along with mise en scene elements.

• Almost all films include some basic idea of the plot however some trailers will either use a very basic plot idea or include a more stretched idea of the plot in their trailers. These depend on the

form of trailer; i.e a teaser trailer would use a much basic idea to the plot compared to the official release trailer.

• Most trailers also introduce the main characters mainly the protagonist(s) and the antagonist(s) of the film. These introductions can very in duration and style depending on genre and style of the film. It is an action film the characters are likely to be introduced quite quickly and so the shot

durations would be short and the editing would be fast paced. Where as in an adventure/ drama film the characters would be introduced more moderately/ more slowly.