Codes and Conventions of Film Trailers

All film trailers that are released follow certain codes and conventions which mean that they are easily recognised. 

There are many obvious features of a trailer, which would include things such as the ident which  usually shows the production company logo. This can give you an idea of what the film will actually be like - if the production company is Warner Bros. for example, we know that it will have a huge budget and may have very well known actors playing the main roles. 

Another obvious feature of a film trailer is the actual title of the film that it is advertising. This is clearly a necessity, as if it wasn't a convention of a trailer, we wouldn't be able to identify the film if we wanted to go and see it in the cinema. The font and colouring of the font also gives us an indication of the genre of the film, and will usually be closely linked to the title font/ colouring within the advertising campaign. 

During the trailer, a normal convention is the introduction of characters. Closely linked to Blumler and Katz' 'uses and gratifications' theory, one of the reasons we are consumers of media is that as an audience we like to identify with characters within films and TV programmes. The establishment of the characters is important because of this.

Also, as well as the introduction of characters, if the actors/ actresses who play these characters are well known and famous, their names may be included as captions underneath. This may help to sell the film as many people may go to see a film with their favourite actor/ actress in it, even before they know the plot of the story. Not only the actors/ actresses can have their names featured on the trailer - the director's name can also be an important selling point for the film. Several directors have a large fan base around their work, which means that as with the attraction of famous actors, the director could be a factor which may drive people to go and see the film. There are huge lists of directors with large fan bases, directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Ridley Scott, and Tim Burton could be included. Directors like these often have a very stylised way of directing, which means that it could be an indicator of what the film will be like/ look like/ what actors will be in it (for example, in films directed by Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are almost certainly going to be featured, and Wes Anderson directed films almost definitely feature Bill Murray in some way, and may include actors such as Owen/ Luke Wilson,  Jason Schwartzman, Anjelica Huston, Adrien Brody and other actors that he usually works with).

As well as the visuals, the soundtrack of the trailer is an important convention of a trailer. All trailers have some sort of sound accompanying the clips of film, whether this be a music track, dialogue or a voice over (or often all 3). The soundtrack to a trailer can help set the tone of the film - if there is a music track that sound happy, the chances are that the film will not be a horror, similarly if the soundtrack of the trailer features screams and high pitched violin screeches then it is very unlikely that the film will be a family feature. Voice overs are used to guide the audience through the initial plot of the film, whether this is the voice of a character in the film or an external voice usually depends on the film/ type of trailer that it is used on.

The release date is also common on film trailers, which allows people viewing the trailer to have an idea of when they are able to see the film in the cinema (which is obviously the key reason behind trailers - to entice the viewers to go and see the film to get money and without a release date, the viewers would not have any idea of when they'd be able to go and see it).