Captions are used to inform the audience with many things. Captions could be used to notify them about release dates, the credits and also the certificate of the certain movie. This is also informed by using a voice over. A voice over is a voice, not necessarily a character from the movie, informing people about the different things listed above in a movie.
Sound is used to set the scene, or and to even let the viewers know what type of movie it is. If you use a slow song for sound in the background of a trailer it is most likely to be a romantic love story. Whereas using a face paced song, or loud thumps they would be more likely to be heard in action and/or thriller based movies.
The use of selling point is very important ingredient. A selling point is where a trailer uses famous actors/actresses or directors to boost the movie into being a very successful film. So if your preferred actor/actress or directors in the movie, it is very possible for you to go and watch the movie, based on its selling point. This has helped directors ever so much in the past, so it is very effective to be used in a trailer.
As much as important the selling point is, it is also crucial to have the production information in a trailer. This is so that the audience can tell who the movie is by. Hence if it is your favourite, such as a ‘Disney’ movie or ‘Universal Pictures’ movie, you would most likely go and watch it.
Another code and convention you much have in a trailer is the genre. If your favourite type of movie is a thriller and by watching a trailer it gives you’re the impression that it is the genre you prefer then you would go watch it. Whereas if you’re a comedy lover and you end up seeing a trailer which gives you the impression of it being a comedy when in reality it isn’t, the movie will loose ratings from its viewers.
Last but not least a trailer should always have some sort of storyline to it, but without giving away the ending. This is so that it keeps the viewers interested and longing to know what happens so that they would go out and watch the movie.
In my trailer I have used a wide range of shots. This is so that the views get a good glimpse of the characters in the movie whilst also knowing what is going on.
The pace of the trailer is not fast yet not slow. This is so that the audience know the basic storyline of the movie but keeping them in suspense.
I have not used captions in my trailer since I have a voice over informing the audience about release dates, the story line, and the characters speaking. You also can only hear the voice over and sounds that the characters make in the certain shots.
As the selling point for my trailer I have used a voice over which notifies the viewers that ‘Monsters Inc.’ is also made by the creators of the movie ‘Toy Story’ which was a big hit. Also as a selling point I have used the production information right at the beginning which is the ‘Walt Disney Pictures’ and ‘Pixar’ logos.
I have informed the viewers that this movie is a comedy where in shot number ten Mike, a character in the movie, says ‘that thing is a killing machine’ which little children would laugh at.
I have based the entire trailer on the story line of the movie without giving away the ending which hopefully will keep my audience on their feet, and aching to see the full movie.
My trailer will be seen at the cinema and on the television at home, on children’s channels. This is so that it informs my target consumers that a new movie is coming out. It will be seen on children’s channels also because the rating is P.G and has no explicit images or language in the trailer.
I know that this trailer will be a success because I have used a wide range and variety of code and conventions of a trailer to help create a thriving promo.
