Conventions and Features of Trailers

All trailers follow the same sort of conventions which make them recognisable for the audience. Generally, most trailers will include;

• The stars of the film showcased
• Dramatic camera angles chosen to show events and characters, 
• Music plays an important role in creating atmosphere
• Conversations between characters often consist of one-liners
• Key points are sometimes conveyed through titles
• Voiceovers are used to tell the story (although this is often not seen in more modern releases)
• The film's title may not appear until the end
• The trailer builds to a climax, where it ends
• All trailers are usually montage edited; the most dramatic, humorous or fast-paces aspects are highlighted

Trailers are designed to capture the audience's attention and to create a mood or atmosphere which heightens our excitement for a films release. We are given some information as to what the plot and who the characters may be but it is usually our task to put the pieces together and guess what the films narrative will be and this is what creates the anticipation that distributors want so that more people will go and watch the film. The information in a trailer is often fast-paced and shows only little parts of the films narrative and teases us on what it could be. The music is hugely important in a trailer as this creates the main atmosphere throughout and hints at what the genre and feel of the film will be. A voiceover is sometimes used to highlight certain aspects of the film such as parts of the narrative, actors or the release date but this isn't usually seen in more modern film releases and just the conventional titles are used to reveal information.