Connotatively, the audience believes that the trailer is aimed right at them and for no one else. In this way, subconscious messages or implications can go through to the audience without them knowing it. This happens in the Lara Croft Tomb Raider trailer; right at the end of the trailer, Lara turns to the camera in an extreme close up and winks. The viewer (mainly male) would sub consciously believe that Lara was winking directly at them. This personal appeal gives the viewer an extra reason to see the film. Therefore from the filmmaker’s point of view, the film trailer was effective in bringing more customers to see the film. The internal convention for people is that they believe the camera shot is not at the trailers perspective but is our perspective. In that way – trailers are very effective in making the audience imagine that they are the people in it and are all that more ‘close’ to the action.
But even though this type of trailer would be effective and appealing to an adolescent to adult audience, it would not however appeal to children of a young age. The trailer for the popular cartoon series ‘Recess’ sells itself to it’s own target audience in a different way from the other film types. Children will want an essence of adventure and danger but also a comic feel and a ‘happy’ ending. That is why the Recess trailer shows many scenes of cheerful, excited young school kids playing at the start. It sets the mood of the trailer and film. Also, the audience (mainly child) can identify well with the average school day and life, which helps them to ‘break’ into initial plot and concentrate more on other aspects of the film like the characters and sound. Since the characters expressions are so important in a cartoon and in building up a sense of what the film will be like. Close and extreme close-ups of the children are shown to promote an all-round happy feeling. But some stern and figures of authority are shown in a worm’s eye view – looking up at the angry face of the head teacher. The viewer immediately gets the sense of power and authority radiating from the figure on the screen. Even though cartoon frames are ‘hand drawn’ the moods and tones to each shot are created similarly to in a real life trailer.
Sound plays a very important role in trailers because even without visuals, a sense of the genre and preconceptions of what the film will be about will have been formulated in the viewer’s mind. This is very important because it puts the audience in the right frame of mind for viewing the trailer. For instance the ‘Triple X’ movie trailer incorporates fast paced camera shots, a gnarled fistful of explosions, array of guns and evocative, nonsensical one liners; all the trademarks of your average action film. But with no soundtrack the whole effect could not be achieved. The music incorporates a range of extreme dynamics including loud, crashing fast music for scenes of action and slower, more sedate music for dialogue. The music is very effective in establishing the most appropriate mood and tone. Even without visuals – a definite mood can be created through the choice of music types and instruments; in this case a raw, rusted and metallic feel is created by the rigid and sometimes discordal pattern of the guitar playing.
In order for film companies to reach their Unique Selling Point, they will need a large audience so that they have the potential of gaining much profit. Some films have different trailers that each concentrate on aspects of the film in order to appeal to a larger audience.
The new James Bond film, ‘Die Another Day’ features two trailers that are aimed at different audiences. One of the trailers emphasises Bond’s personality and nature as being that slick, smooth talking super spy. It opens with the eruption of a beautiful ‘bond girl’ out of blue, crystal clear water in a bikini which is set in some tropical, paradise island. The trailer is trying to create a sense of utopia and a perfect place with perfect women almost. It is effective in making most of the male viewer population want to believe that they are there themselves as James Bond with this beautiful woman. Also, there is no doubt that this is a great feeling for most people, what with Bond’s outstanding record and endless list of personal (achievement in female ‘relationships’) and official (countless acts of chivalry along with the ability of save the world multiple times) achievements.
After it has become apparent that Bond is spying on the woman, they meet up and a sexually evocative joke is made which sets the mood of what the film will be like. It plays on a more adult nature and the character’s personality rather then on the plot of the film. It sells the film by the characters and the viewer’s own preconception of the main actor’s reputation.
But the second trailer concentrates much more on the film itself. Opening with words like ABANDONED, and BETRAYED along with no music and some minor swishing sound effects and therefore making all the emphasis on the words, the audience manages to build up a mental picture of what the film might be like just from the few seconds of shot. A more sinister, evil and complicated plot is portrayed with the nature of the words, the blackness of the backdrop and an all around feeling of isolation, which would well appeal to many viewers. Also, because of the increase in dialogue and shot length, a more rich and layered content level is being symbolised and not just another action/comedy spin-off.
But because both of these trailers will appeal to different audiences, a larger amount of potential viewers will mean more money to the makers, cast and whole company, therefore creating a more successful and effective pair of trailers.
There are staple parts of film trailers that are not really picked up by the average viewer. Things like a voce over, expected time length of shot for each genre of film and the recognition of the film’s name at a set time in the trailer. It is features like this that give a film it’s individuality and uniqueness to the rest of the trailers showing.
Even if all trailers had a different content and target audience but all had the exact same shot length, intro music or voiceover, people would find it dull and predictable, which in my opinion isn’t at all, what a film is all about. If all trailers had the same basic layout, they would be easily put into a group of their own and would have judgements made about the film itself just from the limitations of the trailer and it’s repetitive nature. An effective trailer for me is one that stands out, one that has an original basic layout or timing, a trailer that leaves the viewer in suspense – captivated by what is happening on screen. The A.I trailer uses this motion to its full potential. With the opening scenes featuring only a white, blurry and hazy effect with a faint darker area to the back, a translucent box appears. The trailer is accompanied by a simple, uncertain yet hopeful melody over the top – the viewer’s imagination is immediately engaged by the simplicity and innocent nature of it. Only later when the words ‘the boy’s love is real…he is not’ do the audience begin to feel that there maybe is a much larger and mystified future that could involve the small boy on screen in the background. We also get this picture when it is noticed that the boy is blurry and the writing is not, giving us the impression that the boy is also unaware of what the big picture is.
Our thoughts are then answered when after leaving a fingerprint on what would seem to be the camera lens – we are enveloped into an almost infinite amount of layers of internal computer chip-like information, making us feel miniscule compared to the surroundings until a point is reached. The boy then steps out of a metallic A, finally giving the audience the name of the film. You could say that the boy is reaching out to the audience but I would think that this just emphasises his innocence and unknown ignorance. He is reaching out to the unknown because like any other child he wants to experience new feelings and discover unfamiliar surroundings, also with the music the whole mystical nature of the trailer can be achieved affectively.
This is easily my most favourite trailer because of the prolonged amount of time that the viewer is held in such an enriched curiosity, as is what makes the trailer what it is.
So in conclusion, I believe that the key to success and effectiveness with a film trailer is its uniqueness and ability to stand out ‘from the rest’. It will need some key aspects e.g. voice over etc but the way in which it’s used is what makes a great trailer to remember.
