Teaser Trailers and Main Trailers

There are normally two different types of trailers; a teaser trailer and a main trailer.

A teaser trailer very quickly advertises an upcoming film, a while before it actually comes out. These can be found on television and at cinemas. Usually, the teaser trailer is between 30 and 60 seconds long, with minimal footage to literally tease the audience. Due to such a short time for everything to be shown in the trailer, the pace is rapid and scenes can be cut right in the middle to go to the next one, leaving the audience wanting to know more. A simple yet effective method of advertising a film.

The main trailer usually lasts a bit longer, and is released closer to the film's release date. The trailer shows a lot more of the film itself, and usually shows the best bits. This can sometimes be known as a 'spoiler', if a trailer shows particularly golden bits of the film. However, to promote a film, the best bits must be shown. Therefore nearly spoiling a film is unavoidable. On the other hand, horror trailers are usually a lot less informative, occasionally just showing a lot of dark scenes, or as with 'The Blair Witch Project', just actors running with no information given away at all.

Music in a trailer can vary depending on the genre. This could actually be said for all conventions of a trailer; it depends on the genre of the film how the trailer looks.

Details for 'When in Rome'.

'When in Rome' is the main model for my trailer. After researching the film, I discovered it is the perfect model for the following reasons:

Style: It is apparent that it is a Rom-Com, and it is funny, witty and appeals to its target audience.

Directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the film grossed $12,350,041 (USA) in its opening weekend and grossed $32,669,555 (USA) altogether. The film was shown on 2,456 screens in America on the opening weekend. In the UK, interestingly, the film was only shown on 164 screens, suggesting that the film was aimed at a young American audience, rather than a British one.

My trailer will hopefully give the effect of being a medium sized budget film, with a feel good nature that appeals to a young adult audience.

'When In Rome' trailer

The best example to use as a model trailer for mine is the 'When In Rome' trailer. The 2010 rom-com uses a lot of features that I wish to use in my trailer.

For example:

The comically timed editing. This provides the audience with an enjoyable way of watching the funnier parts of the film in the trailer. The music stops, the funny line is delivered, or some sort of mishap or slapstick happens and the music continues. I would very much like to use this method in my trailer - it is particularly typical for this genre to do this.

The jumble of jokes and story. The mixture of jokes and story gives an overall impression of one big funny storyline. Small jokes or funny goings on are placed cleverly between parts of the story, so there will be a part of the trailer which shows us what the story is, followed by a funny moment, followed by another bit of the story, and so on and so forth. This is also something I look forward to using in my trailer, as well as mixing the chronology of the story line.

The introduction of the protagonists and antagonists. As is with the comically timed editing, the introduction of protagonists and antagonists comes around when everything stops. This not only shows how important the characters are (so important that everything stops for them) but it gives a clear definition of who to look out for. I will also use this is my trailer.

All that has been mentioned above is classically typical of rom-coms, and as I have previously thought, I would like my trailer to be a 'mainstream' crowd pleaser.

Using Barthes and Levi Strauss

In my trailer, I hope to use the enigma code from Barthes, the mystery being why the protagonist has had such bad relationship problems in the past and why she is desperate enough to use speed dating as a way of meeting someone who she can find happiness with. I also plan on using Levi Strauss' theory in my trailer, mainly love and hate, friendship and enemies, fun and boredom. These three binary oppositions are, in my opinion, important to the genre I am following of a rom-com.

27 Dresses - trailer

This is the trailer for the film '27 Dresses'. The film, released in 2008, was aimed at an audience of young-adults, mainly female and a small percentage of males. This film trailer uses a similar technique that I wish to use in mine which appears at around 1 minute 25 seconds into the trailer; the different changing of the dresses. I hope to use a similar technique to this, cutting and changing between individual characters at the speed-dating table. I would also like to aim at a similar audience with my film.