Conventions of a Film Trailer

As part of my research,  have looked at the various different factors that make a movie trailer. These range from camera angles to narrative and even the logo of the production company. Below is a spider diagram of various different conventions in more depth.











 
Another key convention is the response that you gain from the audience. The way that they respond and feel, emotionally, about your trailer is the key to the tone of the film. If they laugh and smile, it's more than likely going to be a successful trailer for a comedy. If they are burying their head in their jacket and their heart is racing, it's definitely going to be a successful trailer for a horror film.

Here is a shot from the "Audience Reaction" for the Paranormal Activity trailer.

and here is a shot of a audience watching a comedy film.

As you can see, the atmosphere is very different in both images. The atmosphere my group is aiming for is the first image, as we are aiming to make a thriller/horror and gain a scared reaction from the audience. 
         
                                                

Sound 
The key to creating atmosphere is the sound you use. If you want to make a light-hearted atmosphere, you are likely to use soft, easy to listen music. Where as making a scary/spooky atmosphere, you are likely to use eery and haunting music and sound effects. i.e. Tip Toe Through the Tulips - Tiny Tim, which was used in the extremely successful horror film "Insidious".

 

Pace 
The pace of the editing is key to the style of video you want to make. An informative trailer that portrays a story line is likely to be slow paced, where as a fast paced trailer is less-informative but creates a more thrilling atmosphere. Some trailers aren't all one pace. They may start slow and get faster or sometimes even vice versa.

Here is an example of a fast paced trailer;

 

We get a good idea of what the trailer is about, but we aren't informed on what direction the film is going in. Where as the trailer shown below, is a lot slower and we are informed on what the film is about and the direction it takes, as well as speeding up towards the end to create the thrilling concept of the film.