Task 3 Conventions of trailer

A trailer is a video based advertisement that is used to advertise people to go watch the full movie by using snippets of the most exciting scenes. Trailers are used to target people to get them to want to watch the full movie. They are also created to inform potential audiences about a film with the purpose of encouraging people to see the film at the cinema by using the most exciting snippets from the movie which will suggest to them that the movie is worth watching in the cinema. Trailers use on screen text and voice overs, fast pace cuts, release data, age restriction, social media networks and it mainly establishes certain characters. Most trailers show the company logos which are the production and distribution, that show the audience who are the producers of the movie and if the audience see that the movie has been made by a certain producer and have seen other good movies produced by them, they will want to see that movie because they made it and it may be good like the other movies. The music and sound in the trailers can be both non diegetic and diegetic that is usually fast, energetic and quite loud which is used to add more tension to the scenes. A trailer will always have an identifiable title that can be recognised by the audience. The title of the trailer must match the name of the movie because it will make the audience remember the name because of the movie and the name must be representative of the movie as there is no point of having a name of a movie that looks or has nothing to do with the movie. A media writer called Tzvetan Todorov came up with a theory called Todorov’s Equilibrium (1969). Todorov’s Equilibrium narrative theory states that most story’s or plot lines follow the same pattern or path. There are 4 main steps of the theory which are, the equilibrium, distribution of the equilibrium, a recognition of the distribution of the equilibrium and finally, an attempt to solve the distribution. The first step is, equilibrium, this is the first part of the story will that will display a happy start, where the majority of characters are content and everything is as it should be. The second step is a disruption. This shows that the story will have a problem or something will disrupt the happiness. The third step is the recognition of the distribution. This part of the plot is when everyone realises the problem and it is chaos. The final step is attempting to solve the distribution. This part of the plot is when the characters attempt to repair the damage and restore the problem. There is one more final step that is used in the theory which is equilibrium again, but this step may not apply to every movie as not all movies end with a happy ending.

The trailer Kong shows that the trailer is in linear order as it is shown in chronological order which shows the scenes in order as the movie has been made and it's when there is a beginning then a disruption and finally with an ending. It also uses Todorov’s Equilibrium narrative theory which suggests when the movie or trailer shows the equilibrium at the beginning then shows the disruption of the equilibrium then the recognition of the disruption and finally the attempt to solve the disruption. This is not conventional for trailers as most trailer show the scenes of the movie in a non-linear order because they may not want to show how the story is being told in the movie. A trailer that uses non chronological order to show the scenes of the movie is the trailer of Rings. They show the scenes of the movie in different order which makes it non-linear and this shows that the trailer has not used Todorov’s Equilibrium narrative theory as the first scenes of the trailer is in fact one of the scenes from the movie that occurs in the middle of the movie and even the movie is shown in no chronological order because it doesn't follow the narrative theory as it doesn't show the audience that the movie starts with equilibrium and then follows the other stages as it shows rather the fourth stage which is the attempt to solve the disruption and this shows the movie and trailer is not in chronological order. The conventions of theatrical trailers I will be analysing will be Kong: Skull Island and Rings. I will be analysing identifiable titles, company logos, music and other sounds, age certificate,

social media information, credits and release dates. In trailers, the identifiable title is suppose to be related and linked to the trailer and movie as the title of the trailer is the name of the movie and if the title does not match the movie, this will lead to the audience being confused and unbalanced because the movie cannot have a name with feminine colours and different font styles that doesn't match the theme of the movie such as, Conjuring 2, as this movie’s genre is horror and the title needs to be related to the theme of the movie, so the title would be styled with Roman style font, capital letters and with one main bold colour so it relates to the movie. And the title must be unique as no other movie should have the same title as the movie. In the trailer Kong, the identifiable title of the trailer is shown to be in capital letters, bold writing, styled in stone effects and with sharp edges. The title is in capital letters which is used to stand out and also relates to the movie as if someone would see the title, it would remind them of action as the movie does consist of action. Moving on, the style of the title has been presented in a stone effect which relates to the movie as the movie is based in a jungle and there is a stone island used in the movie. The stone effect gives the audience an idea of what the movie could be about because by using a specific font, this will allow the audience to be aware of what type of genre and theme the movie could be about. Furthermore, the shape of the title is

shows as sharp edges and not smooth and straight because it's supposed to symbolise strength and sharp represents fighting as there will be fighting involved. Also, when the trailer is playing, there are scenes when the same styled writing as the title are shown but in different words. There is also smoke in the background which suggests fire and if the jungle is burning. However, for the trailer Rings, the title is shown in a unique style which is presented as thin letters, cuts and straight lines with a circle, that is flickering, around it. The writing is suppose to be shown as a child’s handwriting which suggests that the movie is about a child and relates to the theme. The cuts suggests that the child has scratched the writing with something and the circle is also shown to be scratched. The release data is used to tell the audience when the movie will be released in the cinemas so they can get more audience to watch the movie. In the trailer Kong, it shows that the movie will be released on the 9th of March. This release data has also been coincide with the previous Kong movies because this movie is has been made with the same context as the other kong movies so the release dates are kept the same to represent tradition of releasing all Kong movies in the month of March. In the trailer Rings, it shows that the release date is on the 28th of October. This tells the audience that the movie will be out in the cinemas on Halloween. This suggests to the audience that the movie is horror and links to the month of a horror day which is Halloween so it makes sense for this horror movie to be released on a day that is celebrated of scariness.

The credits in trailers are conventional as it shows the audience who made the movie and if the audience have seen a previous movie made by the same producers as the movie they will be wanting to watch, they will want to watch the movie as they know that the other movie was good and they will think that this movie will be good as well. Also, credits are used to highlight the main characters. However, it is unconventional in the trailer Kong because the trailer doesn't

show many credits apart from the company logos but this could be because they want to focus on the action than showing the names. Plus, in the trailer Rings, there is only one time when the credits are shown. This is also unconventional for the trailer as most trailers show most of their credits but they may want to focus on showing the action rather than the credits. In addition, I found a trailer that does show the credits in the trailer, this is conventional for the trailer as they show the audience who are the makers of the movie and the audience can be attracted for a specific genre as they makers from previous movies may produce another movie that is with the same genre. Also, you can see from the image below is the credits from the trailer Annabelle, which shows that the movie has been produced by James Wan and another famous producer which allows the audience to recognise that James Wan has made previous horror movies such as Conjuring and this tells the audience that this movie, Annabelle, will be a horror movie so this trailer will attract the audience who prefer to watch horror genre movies. Most trailers show the age restriction at the beginning of the trailer to tell the audience the appropriate age to watch the movie but the trailer can also have a different age restriction from the movie because the trailer may not contain the explicit scenes as shown in the movie. Also, some trailers may not even show the age certificate as the trailer has not yet been approved by the BBFC which rate trailers. The absence of age restriction suggests the trailer has yet to be rated. In England and sometimes in America, the age restriction is shown in a green background colour with the age apportion to watch the trailer but in America, they will use a red background to indicate that the trailer or movie is for ages 18 and above and that ages below 18 years old must not watch the trailer or movie. The green colour is for ages 12 years old and above.

Company logos are displayed in trailers to show who are the production companies such as the producers and distributors. The production is the people who helped make the movie and the distribution is the people who are in charge to market the trailer and movie because they need to make sure that the videos are available for the audience such as in the cinemas or DVDs. If a previous movie has been made by the similar production and distribution cast, the audience will want to go and watch the movie as they have already seen another movie that was good and this will make them want to watch another movie with the same producers and distributors as they have a good reputation. Trailers will also make the company logos relate to the theme of the movie because they will show the company logo but may change the colour so it is similar to the movie’s theme. In the trailer Rings, it shows a well-known company logo which is Paramount Pictures. This company is famous as they have made many movies and are known for making very good movies. But, in this trailer, Rings shows the Paramount Picture logo but change the look to a similar colour and writing of the movie. For example, the ring that is originally around the writing on top of the mountain, is shown to be with stars but in the Rings trailer, it shows the circle to be flickering. Also, the background colour of the logo in the trailer is shown to be a blue greyish colour as it is similar to the colour used in the movie and trailer.

On the other hand, the trailer of Kong shows the company logos in a different way from the trailer of Rings. The Kong trailer shows the company logos at the beginning of the trailers as in a way of showing them to be seen through a slide projector which then links to the next scene as the trailer shows the project being used in the film as the characters are watching from a projector. The projector is used to indicate that the movie is made to look like it's based in the 60s or 70s as in the past, slide projectors were used to show people clips from a video that would give them information. The slide projector is mixed with the logos and the movie as it shows the company logos to be presented as they are being shown from a slide projector which links to the next scene of the movie and trailer which is when the characters are watching a video from a slide projector. The company logos that are shown are the Warren Brothers, Legendary Entertainment and Tencent Pictures. The company logos are changed but not too much as they are only changed to look related to the movie and link to the date of when

the movie is based on. The image below, shows the company logo of Warren Brothers, the logo has also been changed to use the old version of the logo as this is how the logo looked in the past but now there is a newer version. The producers or distributors in of the movie may have decided to use the old version of the logo to keep the vibe the same. The logo of Legendary Entertainment has been left the same as this company has been recently been known by the audience and is kept the same. The last logo is the Tencent Pictures which is in Chinese writing and suggests that they are known for comic and cartoon drawings which has helped be part of the movie. By displaying these logos in the ,movie and trailer, this will allow the audience to recognise any company logos that they may have seen before and show who have contributed in the process of making the movie happen. The colours of the logos are shown to be bright colours and no dark colours because they are using these specific colours to show the happy mood at the beginning that is shown from the characters. However, this company logo of the Warren Brothers that is used in the Kong trailer but this time it's used in the horror trailer called Conjuring 2. You can see from the image that the logo has been changed slightly like the colour as the colour has been changed to a darker colour which symbolises mystery and suggests that something evil will be related to the movie. Also, the logo has been used as the older version because the movie is set in the past so the older version logo is used to be displayed in the trailer and movie to link to the theme. Social media is necessary in being presented in trailers as this will allow the audience to be more aware about the movie and encourage them to be more attracted to the movie even through the social networks they use in the lives. Social media networks such as, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and websites are shown near the end of the trailer as it will allow the audience to visit the network and find out more about the movie once they have finished watching the trailer. This is a convention for trailer as this will help the trailer be advertised and allow more people to go and watch the movie as they have gained more audience. In the trailer Rings, the social media networks are shown at the end, but only a website is seen to be presented at the end of the trailer and no other types of social media networks were shown such as Facebook or Twitter. Even though there may not be many social media networks have been shown, the website will still allow the audience to get more information about the movie or get extra detail about specific characters or details about the, movie’s cast or information about the background story of the movie. The website is RingsMovie.com. This is a way of how the audience can interact with each other and the producer.

The trailer Kong shows the website at the end of the trailer. This trailer also doesn't show any other types of social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter because they may just want to use website for the audience to interact with the producer and get any extra information about the movie rather than using social media networks. However, a trailer that does use many different social media networks is in the trailer of Conjuring 2. It has in capital letters saying ‘follow’ and use a hashtag saying ‘TheConjuring2’ which suggests to the audience that there are many social media networks to choose from any get information or interact with the producer of the movie or get information about the movie. There are social media networks such as, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. By having a variety of social media networks, this will allow the audience to have a choice from what social media network they want to follow and if they already have an account from the same social media network. Music and other sounds in trailers can be use both as non-diegetic and diegetic and even synchronous sound. The music or sound is used in trailers as its apart of the movie and by having some sort of sound or music, this will make the movie more interesting and add context to the scenes as the audience will want to hear what the characters are saying and hear the sound of actions or pros being used. In the trailer Kong, there is a use of non-diegetic, diegetic and synchronous sound and a song called ‘Bad moon rising’. This song is used at the beginning of the trailer and near the middle as it is used to show how the soldiers are ready to fight and because the movie is based in the 60s or 70s, the movie would use music form that century and because the soldiers would get hyped and feel strong to fight as they had an upbeat song that would encourage them to feel ready to fight. The sound of the explosion when the soldiers are bombing the jungle shows the use of asynchronous sound as the actions are being heard as they are being shown on the screen. It is also used when the helicopters are flying over the horizons and at the same time uses the lyrics ‘I see trouble over the horizons’ which suggests to the audience that something bad will happen next because of the lyrics of the song and this shows the use of non-diegetic sound as it is just meant to be heard by the audience but not by the characters in the scene. This

also means that the audience knows what will happen which is a use of dramatic irony which makes the trailer conventional as most movie or trailers use dramatic irony. In the trailer when the scene appears with the helicopters flying over the horizons, just before the crash scene happens when a helicopter is hit by an object, it shows the scene with no use of silence to give the audience a warning that something is going to happen next, but instead, the scene starts with a straight bang rather than using another type of sound or no sound, silence, to indicate that something is going to happen. This makes the audience feel shocked as they are confused about what has just happened and makes them feel less predicted rather than using a sound or silence to suggest that something will happen, this will catch the audience off guard as they will not be expecting it. The sound of the helicopter being hit by something is diegetic as you can hear the helicopter being hit but the sound used for the siren and screeching sound is non diegetic as it is used to be heard only by the audience to give a more original sound that is outside of the text’s world. When the bang happens, the music changes to a more sinister sound with a sharp sound which sounds like a siren or screeching sound which suggests panic and something bad has happened and make the audience not expect it. However, it is unconventional to use sound that goes from a low tone to a high tone as it is better to go from straight away with a high sound rather than low to high as the audience will not expect it. In the trailer, there is synchronous sound used in the scenes which is conventional as it lets the audience hear the sounds that are done by an action, for example, when the gorilla has the two helicopters in his hands, as the gorilla is about to smash them down to the ground, the sound is changed to a heartbeat as it is showing that everything is going slow and you can feel and hear the heartbeat as they are in danger because it feels as if time is slowing down because of the position they are in. Furthermore, the use of synchronous sound is used in the scene when there is a shovel being placed into the ground, which is heard by the audience as the producers want to highlight the sound of the object being used, because in this scene, you can actually hear the shovel digging into the ground. There is also a use of asynchronous sound such as, explosions, helicopters and splashing. The use of asynchronous sound is used to allow the audience hear the sound of the actions being shown in the scene which is conventional in a trailer as the sound of action being shown in a scene are being heard as well by the audience because there is not just the use of music but other types of sounds being used too. When the scene shows the gorilla rising up from the flames surround him, the violins start to get higher and rise as the action of the gorilla, incidental music

which is a sound that highlights the music matching the action of the character. The music that is played in the background of the trailer is shown to dip down and soon there is a sue of dialogue as the music needs to be low as the audience need to be able to hear the dialogue as well as the music in the background which makes the scene more intense. There is a use of jump cut that matches the sound of the cuts of the scenes. As the scene shows the part when a man is standing on top of a hole looking down, the cuts are made as it first shows the man standing then cuts to the edge of the hole showing a bit of the man’s head as he is looking down inside the hole and finally cuts to a scene that is inside the hole. As the cuts are shown, the sound is also cut along with the scenes to match the beat when it cuts. It is conventional to use a jump cut in the trailer because it may match the music of the cuts and if a scene in the movie is around 20 seconds long, it will be too long to show the full scene in the trailer so they will cut the scene more shorter as they will only show about three pictures from that scene. In the trailer Rings, there is uses of dialogue and synchronous and diegetic sounds used throughout the trailer. At the beginning of the scene, it shows when a girl is standing but breathing heavily as she seems too scared and is panicking because of the look of her facial expression and she is breathing fast which suggests that she is worried and that something bad is going to happen to her. When the scene highlights the sound of her breathing, this shows the use of diegetic sounds as the audience can hear her action and it's coming from a character in the movie. Moving on, the sound in the trailer is also used as diegetic because when the scene show the girl pulling the wires of the TV so they TV will be broken, the audience are able to hear the wires being pulled but in the next scene when the TV is on the floor, its shows the of non-diegetic sound as a liquid starts to come out the TV and an ‘’eerie’’ music sound begins to play at the same time to suggest that something bad is happening and to spook the audience even more as there is already something weird happening. This is conventional for horror trailers as it allows the audience to hear the actions of the characters or objects in the

scene and it makes the scene feel more real as they can hear every little action. Furthermore, in the trailer, there is scenes with people screaming which is conventional in trailers as the genre of the trailer is horror which includes people screaming as that what contains in horror movies and trailers. The screams are diegetic because it's coming from a character's voice and because when the characters are screaming, it is perfectly timed so the audience will scream too as something has happened to the character. However, there is a use of dialogue because when the trailer is being shown, there is a dialogue of man speaking throughout the trailer which suggests that the dialogue is spoken in a quiet and serious tone because it is like he is telling the audience a story at the same time as he would be speaking in the movie to another character. This shows the use mixture of modes as the dialogue is spoken in happy tone but then later in the scenes, it heard to be spoken in a more worried tone. Also, there is parts in the trailer which say ‘7 DAYS’ constantly repeated throughout the scenes when the days appear which is said as a whisper that shows the use of non-diegetic sound as it is only heard by the audience but not by the characters in the trailer. In the trailer, when it shows the boy, it shows him speaking to a character in the trailer but his voice is still being carried on as the trailer shows the rest of trailer, he voice is like the narrator as he is speaking to the character as well as the audience because he telling everyone what is going to happen that is part of the movie. This is conventional for trailer because there needs to be a person who may be apart or not be part of the movie that speak to the audience because they need to gives some sort of information about what the movie is to be about and by having a narrator it will make the audience more aware of the scene and give background context of the movie.