Conventions of Film trailers

Cinematography

Most film trailers use the same camera angles as in the film it is advertising, as this is where the clips are taken from. Many of the shots in film trailers seem to be close ups of the characters. I feel this is done to add to the feeling of suspense and wonder, which is what a film trailer is trying to create, to make the viewer want to see the film.

Film trailers also commonly use a few establishing shots to give the viewer a sense of place and time, this is done to make the viewer aware of the background to the film and context in which it may take place, but doesn't give away much of the story through imaging, as this comes from the added images and narrative over-voice etc.

Another thing that can be said about the camera shots is that most of the ones featured in film trailers are still shots, as opposed to pan or tilting movement shots. I think this is done so that the use of montages, which are commonly used in film trailers, are easily pieced together. This is because, if there is a lot of movement in each shot, the editor has to spend more time weaving the shots in together to make them feel continual.

Sound

A typical and common feature of a film trailer is a non-diegetic voice-over, which is used so the narrative can cross over fluently to the viewer. It is also used to create a sense of atmosphere, as the voice could be of certain depths, which gives off different connotations of the genre of the film; it could be rushed dialogue or slowly paced or it could be quiet or loud. Each would help towards the feel of the film, in which the creator wanted the viewer to experience.

Another feature of film trailers is non-diegetic sound and music played over images on screen. Non-diegetic sound is played to add to the atmospheric feel of the trailer. But again, the addition of this music/sound helps bring the montage together, using 'cut to the beat' clip changing.

Although, most of the time, diegetic sound from the film is included in to the trailer, it is sometimes deliberately left out to give a feeling of suspense or anxiety, depending upon what non-diegetic sound is accompanying the omission of the diegetic sound.

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en scene of a film trailer is certain clip from the film it is advertising. The mise-en-scene of film trailers is very diverse, in the sense that they are advertising films of all different genres.

For example, if there was a film trailer advertising a horror film, you would expect to have in the film trailer things that are scary. Things such as torture, murder or ghosts, and you would also expect it to be dark, spooky and perhaps gory.

Whereas, if there was a film trailer advertising a romance film, you would typically expect to see at least one male and one female being involved in the main role of the film, you would expect the atmosphere to be bright and happy.

Editing

The main form of editing that is used in all or most of film trailers is the use montages. This is clips and music put together with rapid editing and special effects to create compressed narrative information. These are used to allow the viewer to see different parts of the film to get them interested in it, in a short space of time.

Another thing that is used is 'cut to the beat' editing. Which is when the clips on screen are changed to the beats in the song. This allows things to run smoothly, but also gives the effect of it being continual, even though the clips are of different time and place in the film.