Here i will analyse 3 different film trailers ranging from different genres so i can understand and get to grips with the conventions and styles used when creating a successful film trailerThis is the film trailer of the virgin suicides, about a group of boys who become obsessed with four girls after their sister commits suicide.
The trailer typically begins with the PG rating screen by the motion picture association of America, this is to inform the audience and give them an idea of its content so they can decide if it is suitable for them. It fades into the production company logo Paramount pictures,
this is to show the audience that the film is of high quality because of this. The music begins which has no lyrics and is quite ambient. Images are shown of a grey house with the sun moving across showing change in 
time. A black screen with the words “there are times when..” followed by 4 girls walking, one of which it zooms into and that we have seen previously, this establishes the protagonist of the film for the audience. The black screen comes up again with the word “mystery”, this continues throughout the trailer acting as a narration as there is no voice over. The boys describe the girl as an image of her in a field fades in, this introduces the character more to the audience. At 0:33 a boy comes up to one of the sister wanting to ask her out, it is then followed by at 0:39 the same girl at the dinner table and her clearly very conservative mother asking her to put her shirt on, this informs the audience that she comes from a strict family who wouldn’t allow her to go out with the previous boy. This idea is reinforced by her rebellion at 0:46 where she discreetly flirts with a different boy at the dinner table. At 0:52 it shows one of the boys looking up at one of the younger sister in a tree, it is quite a haunting image as it is very grey, she looks very solemn and is dressed in an old fashioned white dress, this suggesting innocence and also a haunting feel.
time. A black screen with the words “there are times when..” followed by 4 girls walking, one of which it zooms into and that we have seen previously, this establishes the protagonist of the film for the audience. The black screen comes up again with the word “mystery”, this continues throughout the trailer acting as a narration as there is no voice over. The boys describe the girl as an image of her in a field fades in, this introduces the character more to the audience. At 0:33 a boy comes up to one of the sister wanting to ask her out, it is then followed by at 0:39 the same girl at the dinner table and her clearly very conservative mother asking her to put her shirt on, this informs the audience that she comes from a strict family who wouldn’t allow her to go out with the previous boy. This idea is reinforced by her rebellion at 0:46 where she discreetly flirts with a different boy at the dinner table. At 0:52 it shows one of the boys looking up at one of the younger sister in a tree, it is quite a haunting image as it is very grey, she looks very solemn and is dressed in an old fashioned white dress, this suggesting innocence and also a haunting feel.
It then goes on to the girl laughing with the boy who asks her out and then at 1:08 the boy telling her father that his intentions with her are entirely honourable, the father does not react in a positive way, again reinforcing the strictness. The next scene quickly cuts to them both passionately kissing, the music changes to a faster paced, its much more sinister showing the danger and adds as a warning sign. At 1:19 it cuts to the girls posing for their school photo and zooms gradually closer to the beat of the song, a none diegetic female voice says “those girls have a bright future ahead of them”, it them goes through various short clips with a psychiatrist saying “her act was a cry for help” and a woman’s voice saying “I heard there was an accident” with a shot from below showing people running up some stairs at 1:25, this is all a build up with added tension created by the music. At 1:32 a close up of one of the boys is shown with him saying “we’ve got a full tank of gas we will take you anywhere you want to go”, this shows to the audience that this is a crucial element as shots of someone talking rather than a voice over are more important. At 1:38 different shots of the characters as well as a black screen with their name on comes up until 1:50, this shows the audience the actors that are featured in the film hoping to attract them more. The next scene is of the youngest sister who we saw previously in the tree in a hospital bed with bandages around her wrists, she then says “obviously doctor, you’ve never been a thirteen year old girl” a loud bang comes straight after with a cut to the protagonist looking confused and worried with a voice over in the style of a news reporter saying “four girls put their own lives in jeopardy” and then a straight cut to the parents driving in their car looking uncomfortable. All of this is going at a quick pace building up a story and giving the audiences ideas of what has happened but still leaving question in the audiences mind. At 2:00 there is a shot of 
a transparent protagonist in front of a background of the sky with clouds, this may be suggesting she is dead and in heaven but the audience cannot know for sure but this idea is reinforced by a male panicky voiceover saying “they will all be gone by next year”
This is quickly followed by a cut to police officers opening a garage door with a limp arm hanging out the window with a cigarette in its hand, this gives the clear indication of suicide.
Again the black screen is shown with the words “Love, sex death passion fear obsession ” this is repeated three times with different images in between showing the link to the film and what happens in it. Then at 2:10 another bang and the words “just like life.” Across the screen, this shows that the film is realistic giving more impact to the audience. Again the protagonist against the sky is put on but this time she winks and fades with the film title put across the screen with a voiceover of a boy saying “we would never be sure about the sequence of events”, this keeps the audience guessing and wanting to know more. At 2:20 it says who the film was written and directed by and then when it will be released.
The next video i will analyse is Factory Girl, a film about the artist Andy Warhol Film trailer factory girl
A film by Hayden Christensen about the artist Andy Warhol who discovers a new model Edie Sedgwick and makes her a superstar, yet the fame and money goes to her head and she eventually dies of a drug overdose.
A film by Hayden Christensen about the artist Andy Warhol who discovers a new model Edie Sedgwick and makes her a superstar, yet the fame and money goes to her head and she eventually dies of a drug overdose.
As usual the trailer begins with the PG rating screen by the motion picture association of America, the film is approved for all audiences. It begins with the production company logo ‘Metro Goldwyn Mayer’, this is to show the audience that the film must be of good quality to be owned by such a prestigious production company. This is on the screen for 2 seconds then followed by The Weinstein Company logo. The first scene of the film is of Andy Warhol in a confession box mid sentence speaking to a priest, the shot only shows the back of his head at first then flips to the side of the priest showing Andy’s face through the mesh separator the priest asks why Andy comes to confession to which he replies “I don’t know, there just seems like there’s something always missing” this is at 0:20 and there is an extreme close up to Andy
’s face. There is a whoosh sound at 0:21 suggesting a lapse in time and a cut to the outside of what looks like a theatre with Andy’s name across the top and a typical American taxi outside, this establishes the setting for the film. Non diegetic music then starts and a male voiceover says “That’s right, old money, very old” and the theatre scene fades and we see a scene of Edie Sedgwick walking through a large group of people throwing her head back laughing and someone taking her fur coat from her. This shows she is already quite well known and very care free. The voiceover then says at 0:26 “That Edie Sedgwick”, cuts to Andy and then back to Edie, showing a shot rev
erse shot making a link between the two she then simply says “hi”. Immediately after this it cuts to a man flashing an old fashioned camera and a newspaper with the main masthead saying “35,000 more troops to Vietnam ”, this establishes to the audience what era this is in. at 0:29 the male voiceover says “in a time of transformation” whilst cutting to an art studio then fading to another newspaper with the headline saying “soup can as art?”, this shows the art is the transformation and the studio shown is the one producing the art. It then comes back to the same studio at 0:30 with Andy painting and Edie’s non diegetic voice saying “no ones doing anything like you right now and that is a sign of brilliance don’t you think?”, halfway through saying this it quickly cuts back to her at the theatre with Andy mid sen
tence, showing the audience when and where she is saying this. 0:35 shows lots of quickly changing scenes of her and Andy dancing and painting, also being photographed by the paparazzi and those photos put into newspapers with the male voiceover saying “she would become his greatest work of art”. This tells the audience the main theme for the film. This is followed by a sequence of camera flashes and a juxtaposition of different shots of Edie and Andy, throughout there is non diegetic 60s music to give the audience a real sense of the era that the film is set in. at 0:59 the voiceover then says “he immortalised her” with a shot of them both in a very rich looking theatre, a step up from the previous one we saw at the beginning, showing the transformation. At 1:02 a female photographer calls Edie Americas next IT girl whilst a number of s
hots of her fill the screen, all reinforcing her success and importance but after this at 1:05 the upbeat music fades and we see New York and the sound of trafficshowing that the tone of the film has changed. Edie is surrounded by photographers and here she meets Bob Dylan and we see her on the back of his motorbike looking happy and then on a pier when she says “are you trying to woo me or what?” showing their relationship is turning into romance. The non diegetic music then turns to a more minor notes and at 1:19 Edie is saying to Andy “don’t be jealous Andy he’s nothing like you” this with the music change shows the change in the characters relationship. After this we see Bob Dylan criticising Andy and his work. At 1:27 a voiceover in an interview says to Andy “some say your work is pornographic” to which Andy replies “isn’t that great” with a shot of Edie on a bed in her underwear with another man, this gives the audience an idea of how Andy’s perception of Edie is changing. It then at 1:30 shows an argument between Bob and Edie where he says “you’re a prop to him, disposable, baby he’s going to kill you” and she screams back “I cant hate him”, this shows the to audience the main problem in the film and doesn’t solve this in the trailer, keeping the audience engaged wanting to know more. At 1:35 it shows small clips of each of the main characters in one scene, showing their importance in the film and then a black screen with Hollywood style writing comes up every few seconds saying “the fame, the scene, the superstar” and in between these are shots of the factory and Edie and Andy in different locations establishing different moments in the film, there is no narration, as the writing narrates it without the need of voice. Yet at 1:43 we hear and then see Edie looking and sounding drunk and distraught saying “your movies have made a fool out of me”,
carrying on the problem in the film and keeping the audiences attention to the story line, with a blurred fast paced shot of her falling to a bed and a vodka bottle, showing she has turned to alcoholism. It then cuts to a shot of Edie at 1:50 in normal colour then with Andy’s brightly mismatched colours over her face with the words Sienna Miller next to her, it does the same with Hayden Christensen and Guy Pierce. Showing the audience the main characters and detaching these shots from the storyline by putting them in these colours. At 1:58 is the title page with 2 same shots of Edie sat in the background adjacent to each other and factory girl written over the top. It finishes with the music dying out and the directors and producers page at the end overlapping a scene of Edie on a black and white screen with Andy’s black silhouette watching her. This finishing scene reinforces their relationship and ends with the audience seeing this, wanting to know more. 
A film by Hayden Christensen about the artist Andy Warhol who discovers a new model Edie Sedgwick and makes her a superstar, yet the fame and money goes to her head and she eventually dies of a drug overdose.
A film by Hayden Christensen about the artist Andy Warhol who discovers a new model Edie Sedgwick and makes her a superstar, yet the fame and money goes to her head and she eventually dies of a drug overdose.
As usual the trailer begins with the PG rating screen by the motion picture association of America, the film is approved for all audiences. It begins with the production company logo ‘Metro Goldwyn Mayer’, this is to show the audience that the film must be of good quality to be owned by such a prestigious production company. This is on the screen for 2 seconds then followed by The Weinstein Company logo. The first scene of the film is of Andy Warhol in a confession box mid sentence speaking to a priest, the shot only shows the back of his head at first then flips to the side of the priest showing Andy’s face through the mesh separator the priest asks why Andy comes to confession to which he replies “I don’t know, there just seems like there’s something always missing” this is at 0:20 and there is an extreme close up to Andy
’s face. There is a whoosh sound at 0:21 suggesting a lapse in time and a cut to the outside of what looks like a theatre with Andy’s name across the top and a typical American taxi outside, this establishes the setting for the film. Non diegetic music then starts and a male voiceover says “That’s right, old money, very old” and the theatre scene fades and we see a scene of Edie Sedgwick walking through a large group of people throwing her head back laughing and someone taking her fur coat from her. This shows she is already quite well known and very care free. The voiceover then says at 0:26 “That Edie Sedgwick”, cuts to Andy and then back to Edie, showing a shot rev
erse shot making a link between the two she then simply says “hi”. Immediately after this it cuts to a man flashing an old fashioned camera and a newspaper with the main masthead saying “35,000 more troops to Vietnam ”, this establishes to the audience what era this is in. at 0:29 the male voiceover says “in a time of transformation” whilst cutting to an art studio then fading to another newspaper with the headline saying “soup can as art?”, this shows the art is the transformation and the studio shown is the one producing the art. It then comes back to the same studio at 0:30 with Andy painting and Edie’s non diegetic voice saying “no ones doing anything like you right now and that is a sign of brilliance don’t you think?”, halfway through saying this it quickly cuts back to her at the theatre with Andy mid sen
tence, showing the audience when and where she is saying this. 0:35 shows lots of quickly changing scenes of her and Andy dancing and painting, also being photographed by the paparazzi and those photos put into newspapers with the male voiceover saying “she would become his greatest work of art”. This tells the audience the main theme for the film. This is followed by a sequence of camera flashes and a juxtaposition of different shots of Edie and Andy, throughout there is non diegetic 60s music to give the audience a real sense of the era that the film is set in. at 0:59 the voiceover then says “he immortalised her” with a shot of them both in a very rich looking theatre, a step up from the previous one we saw at the beginning, showing the transformation. At 1:02 a female photographer calls Edie Americas next IT girl whilst a number of s
hots of her fill the screen, all reinforcing her success and importance but after this at 1:05 the upbeat music fades and we see New York and the sound of trafficshowing that the tone of the film has changed. Edie is surrounded by photographers and here she meets Bob Dylan and we see her on the back of his motorbike looking happy and then on a pier when she says “are you trying to woo me or what?” showing their relationship is turning into romance. The non diegetic music then turns to a more minor notes and at 1:19 Edie is saying to Andy “don’t be jealous Andy he’s nothing like you” this with the music change shows the change in the characters relationship. After this we see Bob Dylan criticising Andy and his work. At 1:27 a voiceover in an interview says to Andy “some say your work is pornographic” to which Andy replies “isn’t that great” with a shot of Edie on a bed in her underwear with another man, this gives the audience an idea of how Andy’s perception of Edie is changing. It then at 1:30 shows an argument between Bob and Edie where he says “you’re a prop to him, disposable, baby he’s going to kill you” and she screams back “I cant hate him”, this shows the to audience the main problem in the film and doesn’t solve this in the trailer, keeping the audience engaged wanting to know more. At 1:35 it shows small clips of each of the main characters in one scene, showing their importance in the film and then a black screen with Hollywood style writing comes up every few seconds saying “the fame, the scene, the superstar” and in between these are shots of the factory and Edie and Andy in different locations establishing different moments in the film, there is no narration, as the writing narrates it without the need of voice. Yet at 1:43 we hear and then see Edie looking and sounding drunk and distraught saying “your movies have made a fool out of me”,
carrying on the problem in the film and keeping the audiences attention to the story line, with a blurred fast paced shot of her falling to a bed and a vodka bottle, showing she has turned to alcoholism. It then cuts to a shot of Edie at 1:50 in normal colour then with Andy’s brightly mismatched colours over her face with the words Sienna Miller next to her, it does the same with Hayden Christensen and Guy Pierce. Showing the audience the main characters and detaching these shots from the storyline by putting them in these colours. At 1:58 is the title page with 2 same shots of Edie sat in the background adjacent to each other and factory girl written over the top. It finishes with the music dying out and the directors and producers page at the end overlapping a scene of Edie on a black and white screen with Andy’s black silhouette watching her. This finishing scene reinforces their relationship and ends with the audience seeing this, wanting to know more. 
I will now analyse the film trailer Moulin rouge, a love story about a writer who comes to Paris to be part of the revolution but comes into a huge brothel and falls in love with their biggest attraction.
The trailer initially begins as usual with the pg rating screen by the motion picture association of America, it is rated a 13, telling the audience there is some content not suitable for children. At 0:08 the production company logo of 20th Century Fox showing the audience the film is a quality one. It then fades to an birds eye view of the setting and the camera shoots down and across it like a bird, this establishes the location to the audience as the pan ends with a shot of the famous windmill. The scene looks surreal and unrealistic giving a feel of fantasy to the audience. A heart beat sound starts, indicating the idea of love, it fades to a sepia over the shoulder shot of a man in a tuxedo looking at the same windmill and a male voice over says “he entered a world where fantasy is real and where he could be anything he wanted” he turns to the camera and it fades to numerous shots of prostitutes wearing old fashioned garments dancing, this establishes the era of which it is set to the audience. The next line the narrator says is “and where he would discover the most dangerous temptation of all” as this is said at 0:19 there is an extreme close up of a woman’s face looking directly at the camera, is then fades to her on a giant swing above many men’s heads saying “come and get me boys” they are all reaching up for her showing she is wanted by hundreds. The men are also wearing tuxedos and top hats, showing their high status in society and their wealth. This indicates to the audience that she is a well known high class prostitute. She then sings diamonds are a girls best friend, covered in jewels and elaborate costumes also showing her wealth. She glides over the man in a tux and says “I believe you were expecting me” he whispers back “yes”. It then zooms forward and the music begins, there is text in front of an establishing shot of Paris showing where the film is set. The text says “from the director of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet”. This establishes to the audience that the film was made by a well known director, showing it is quality. At 0:46 we see the two protagonists on a rooftop, the male asking if she could fall in love with someone like him and her reply being I cant fall in love with anyone, this is accompanied by love music and scenes of the two in romantic places, it shows to the audience that this contradicts what the girl has just said. After this sequence the tone of the trailer changes at 1:04, as a curtain drops and the music changes to a dramatic minor key, this indicates to the audience there is now a problem within the story. A new character comes in and says he is willing to provide the financial resources to make Satine a star, the audience instantly realises this is “the bad guy” of the story. The audience then finds out he wants Satine for himself only, shots are shown of her being dressed clearly costly jewels yet she still looks very unhappy, the music quietens to a violin giving the attention to the dialogue of the trailer. The two protagonists express their love together and this leaves the audience guessing and wanting to know what the outcome of this problem is. At 1:26 the actors are introduced beginning with an extreme close up of Nicole Kidman’s face and her name in theatrical text in front, showing the showmanship of the film. There is a big crescendo at the end where the bad guy orders the other boy to be killed, the music becomes louder and faster paced to show the tension rising and the words “no laws, no limits, only one rule, never fall in love” with the word “never” underlined to stress it. This is accompanied with a sequence of dramatic shots, dancing, Satine collapsing from a swing, the two lovers kissing numerous times, all to show excitement and action. At 1:59 the male protagonist screams “tell me you don’t love me” and the bad guy holds a gun to the stage where the two lovers are stood. The fast paced music ends and a close up of a type writer with the male protagonists voice saying “the story is about love, at the Moulin Rouge” this re-establishes the film, reminding the audience and encouraging them to go see it.
The trailer initially begins as usual with the pg rating screen by the motion picture association of America, it is rated a 13, telling the audience there is some content not suitable for children. At 0:08 the production company logo of 20th Century Fox showing the audience the film is a quality one. It then fades to an birds eye view of the setting and the camera shoots down and across it like a bird, this establishes the location to the audience as the pan ends with a shot of the famous windmill. The scene looks surreal and unrealistic giving a feel of fantasy to the audience. A heart beat sound starts, indicating the idea of love, it fades to a sepia over the shoulder shot of a man in a tuxedo looking at the same windmill and a male voice over says “he entered a world where fantasy is real and where he could be anything he wanted” he turns to the camera and it fades to numerous shots of prostitutes wearing old fashioned garments dancing, this establishes the era of which it is set to the audience. The next line the narrator says is “and where he would discover the most dangerous temptation of all” as this is said at 0:19 there is an extreme close up of a woman’s face looking directly at the camera, is then fades to her on a giant swing above many men’s heads saying “come and get me boys” they are all reaching up for her showing she is wanted by hundreds. The men are also wearing tuxedos and top hats, showing their high status in society and their wealth. This indicates to the audience that she is a well known high class prostitute. She then sings diamonds are a girls best friend, covered in jewels and elaborate costumes also showing her wealth. She glides over the man in a tux and says “I believe you were expecting me” he whispers back “yes”. It then zooms forward and the music begins, there is text in front of an establishing shot of Paris showing where the film is set. The text says “from the director of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet”. This establishes to the audience that the film was made by a well known director, showing it is quality. At 0:46 we see the two protagonists on a rooftop, the male asking if she could fall in love with someone like him and her reply being I cant fall in love with anyone, this is accompanied by love music and scenes of the two in romantic places, it shows to the audience that this contradicts what the girl has just said. After this sequence the tone of the trailer changes at 1:04, as a curtain drops and the music changes to a dramatic minor key, this indicates to the audience there is now a problem within the story. A new character comes in and says he is willing to provide the financial resources to make Satine a star, the audience instantly realises this is “the bad guy” of the story. The audience then finds out he wants Satine for himself only, shots are shown of her being dressed clearly costly jewels yet she still looks very unhappy, the music quietens to a violin giving the attention to the dialogue of the trailer. The two protagonists express their love together and this leaves the audience guessing and wanting to know what the outcome of this problem is. At 1:26 the actors are introduced beginning with an extreme close up of Nicole Kidman’s face and her name in theatrical text in front, showing the showmanship of the film. There is a big crescendo at the end where the bad guy orders the other boy to be killed, the music becomes louder and faster paced to show the tension rising and the words “no laws, no limits, only one rule, never fall in love” with the word “never” underlined to stress it. This is accompanied with a sequence of dramatic shots, dancing, Satine collapsing from a swing, the two lovers kissing numerous times, all to show excitement and action. At 1:59 the male protagonist screams “tell me you don’t love me” and the bad guy holds a gun to the stage where the two lovers are stood. The fast paced music ends and a close up of a type writer with the male protagonists voice saying “the story is about love, at the Moulin Rouge” this re-establishes the film, reminding the audience and encouraging them to go see it.
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