Layout
Elements of a trailer
Trailers are typically made up of scenes from the film they are promoting, but sometimes contain deleted scenes from the film. Most trailers have a three-act structure similar to a full feature-length film.
They start with a beginning (act 1) that lays out the premise of the story. The middle (act 2) drives the story further and usually ends with a dramatic climax. Act 3 usually features a strong piece of "signature music" (either a recognizable song or a powerful, sweeping orchestral piece). This last act often consists of a visual montage of powerful and emotional moments of the film and may also contain a cast run if there are noteworthy stars that could help sell the movie.
Voice over
Special shoot footage
Some trailers use "special shoot" footage, which is special footage that is created purely for advertisement reasons, and will not appear in the movie. The most notable film to use this technique was Terminator 2: Judgment Day, whose trailer featured an elaborate special effect scene of a T-800 Terminator being assembled in a factory that was never intended to be in the film itself.
One of the most famous "special shoot" trailers is that used for the 1960s thriller Psycho, which showed director Alfred Hitchcock giving a guided tour of the Bates Motel, eventually arriving at the infamous shower. At this point, the soft-spoken Hitchcock suddenly throws the shower curtain back to reveal Vera Miles with a blood-curdling scream. As the trailer, in fact, was made after completion of the film when Janet Leigh was no longer available for filming, Hitchcock had Miles don a blonde wig for the sequence. Since the title, "Psycho", instantly covers most of the screen, the switch went unnoticed by audiences for years until freeze-frame analysis revealed that it was Vera Miles and not Janet Leigh in the shower during the trailer.
Voice-over narration is used to briefly set up the premise of the film and provide explanation when necessary. Since the trailer is a highly condensed format, voice-over is a useful tool to enhance the audience's understanding of the plot.
What do trailers do ?
MPAA
Trailers tell the story of a film in a condensed fashion with their main aim to have maximum appeal. In the years since film marketing has become a large industry, trailers have become highly rated pieces of advertising, even to the point of presenting poor movies in an attractive light.
Despicable Me 2 also utilized this method by creating a short sketch of two minions, in a amusing situation, which would highlight the humor of this movie, but will not be in the movie itself. A trailer for the 2002 blockbuster Spider-Man had an entire action sequence specially constructed for advertisement reasons that involved escaping bank robbers in a helicopter getting caught in a giant web between the World Trade Center's two towers. However, after the September 11 attacks the studio pulled it from theaters.
The MPAA stand for Motion Picture Association of America which is an American trade association that represents the six big Hollywood studios. 2 minutes and 30 seconds, is the maximum length allowed by the MPAA for a trailer to be. So within this short time the trailer has to both portray the genre, but also sell the movie. However each distributor is allowed to exceed this time limit once a year; if they feel it is necessary for a particular film.
What does a Trailer consist of ?
Description
A trailer is an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema.
Trailers consist of a series of specially selected shots from the film for advertising purposes. Since the main objective of the trailer is to attract an audience to the film, these scenes are usually drawn from the most exciting, funny, or at minimal noteworthy parts of the film but in shortened form and usually without showing any spoilers. For this reason the scenes are not necessarily in the order in which they appear in the film.