The primary purpose of a film trailer is to promote its product to audiences before the film is released. The trailer is used in order to engage the audience, which gets them to not only ask questions about the film leaving them wanting to know more, but also suggests to the audience whether or not they will enjoy the film. It is very important for trailers to draw audiences in using typical horror conventions and it is therefore significant to be aware that the trailer must entise the target audience in ways that they will feel ‘connected’ to the film.

Originally, film trailers were used to show the best elements of the film in order to sell it to an audience. In order to do this, the trailer for the film was originally played before the film began in the cinema to show it off as a whole at its best.In the contrary to, modern society’s use of internet platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have adapted the purpose of film trailers. Now film trailers have a large focus on what will engage the audience and make them want to talk about it, share it with their friends on social media and get involved. Today, film trailers are used as a way of judging whether a film is good or not and is what people use to determine whether they see the full product as a result. The use of the internet has increased the popularity and accessiblity of films to larger demographics which has meant that films trailers must appeal to a wide audience.

Modern conventions of trailers involve:

  • Typical conventions and codes of the genre that is being used (Jump Scares and fast paced editing after distruption for horror).
  • A narrative – clips are put in chronological order at the beginning in order for the audience to understand what is going on.
  • Graphic captions and titles – institution logos are usually found at the start, film titles come at the end, and film reviews either do not appear on the film or are scattered throughout.
  • Non-diegetic sound/music – reflects the atmosphere of the film and the change in the narrative as the story progresses.
  • Close-ups – shows main characters that are significant to the films storyline.
  • Establishing Shot – often shows where the film is mainly set. The weather usually determines the atmosphere of each scene.