Movie+Trailers+and+More

=Movie Trailers: The Business of Selling a Story =

===Trailer [tray-ler] -n : a short promotional film composed of clips showing highlights of a movie due for release in the near future; a series of short extracts from a film, used to advertise it in a cinema or on television (dictionary.com) ===

Movie trailers are advertisements used by movie producers to draw audiences into theaters to see their latest creation. In essence, trailers or previews are marketing tools designed to enhance audience interest in order to make money from a movie. The term //trailer// comes from the original placement of these advertisements, //trailing// at the end. In early movie viewing days, audiences would watch the feature film they paid for, then clips for upcoming films would act as trailers hitched on after the ending credits. As can be expected, audiences did not stick around very often and these trailers were not being viewed. So, production companies decided to move them to the beginning of the featured film and the rest is history. Movie trailers have evolved over time and while some elements of what make up a good movie trailer then are still used today, there have been a few ways things have changed over the years. For example, check out this "teaser" trailer for the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. WARNING first though, it is 6 minutes long. Yes...it is 6 minutes long. Even in 1960 it was noted that only Hitchcock himself could have kept audiences entertained for that period of time. In recent history, it has become an unwritten convention that movie previews be limited to a maximum 2 minutes 30 seconds for trailers shown in movie theaters and much shorter for those on television. However, it is fun to look back at how things have changed. Movies are a billion dollar industry and the promotion of new films is essential to keeping audiences coming.

Elements of the Craft:
There is both an art and a psychology to creating an effective movie trailer. We are going to look at some of the elements involved in this craft and see them at work in a preview promoting the latest Harry Potter movie. We begin with a quick description of the basics of a movie trailer and some tips on creating one.

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Essentially movie trailers are mini movies that show audiences just enough to pique their interest and then leave them wanting more. They usually all follow a three act structure with a beginning, middle, and exciting or cliffhanging climax. For example, as mentioned above, a trailer's length depends on several factors including the venue that will be showing it - theaters or television. Due to the cost of ads run on television, especially during peak time slots, trailers adapted for the small screen are limited to 25-30 second maximums. In addition, there are a few basic elements that contribute to our understanding of what comprises a good movie trailer. We are going to look at these as they are put into the context of the official full length Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 trailer.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (HP7pt2) is the final film in a billion dollar franchise that audiences have been waiting years to see. In fact, many people already know the outcome because it is based on a widely read book. Does this make the trailer obsolete? Not at all; in fact, this makes the trailer even more interesting to study. If audiences already know the story, then why would they go see the film? What is the role of the trailer in an established franchise where there does not seem to be any mystery left? Why even bother using the conventional trailer to try to entice people - and especially adolescents who have read the book - to spend their parents' money to actually //see// this film? We think a closer look at the composition of these trailers will answer these questions.

The Teaser
The trailer you already watched on the welcome page is what is known as the teaser trailer. Unlike the Hitchcock teaser which was incredibly long, teaser trailers today are generally between 30 sec and 1 min 30 sec long and essentially tease audiences by showing just a bit of the upcoming movie in order to maximize curiosity. For a highly anticipated movie like HP7pt2, the teaser trailer is an important piece in the marketing strategy. HP7pt 1 was released in November 2010 and in the months after, the franchise largely drifted back out of the consciousness of the mainstream audience. Then, in April 2011, months before the release of the final, epic event in Harry Potter history, a carefully constructed teaser was released to show as many mysterious elements as possible in an already known story. This brought the movie back to people's attention. A full-length trailer followed a few months afterward, in June 2011.

The Full Length
media type="youtube" key="5NYt1qirBWg" width="425" height="350" Act 1: 0:00 to 0:45; Act 2: 0:46 to 1:50; Act 3: 1:51 to 2:33

__Element 1: Clips From the Movie__

 * Each shot included in the trailer has been carefully selected for a reason. As mentioned earlier, the Harry Potter series is an extremely popular story and a large percentage of the target audience for this trailer knows exactly what the plot of the movie will be. Therefore, the job of the trailer creators is not to necessarily introduce characters or show plot but whet an eager fan's appetite to the most exciting moments they will be looking for in the movie. The first act of this trailer features clips of previous Harry Potter movies. The point here is to bring this film into the greater context of the other Harry Potter experiences and then use the remainder of the trailer to show how this one is going to conclude the whole story. The middle section features clips from a wide range of moments in the plot line. Again, whether or not a viewer is familiar with the material does not really matter, because the clips featured are all action and motion shots. They highlight moments where the characters are in danger or narrowly escaping from various perils and this is all meant to get the viewer to wonder how it all fits together. If you have already read the book, then perhaps there are certain moments that you found more compelling than others. Maybe you caught a glimpse of that moment in this trailer and you now must see the movie to fully know how they took that moment from page to screen. The final section creates what the third acts in most trailers attempt, which, according to the Trailer (film) page on Wikipedia is to show, "a visual montage of powerful and emotional moments of the film." After the montage, the final clip staying on screen for a full second features Harry and Voldemort crawling toward the same wand amidst mounds of rubble. Then a ball of fire transitions into the film's title, effectively giving you just enough to see what a good job they have done recreating the story and yet leaving enough unseen to get you to buy a movie ticket.

__Element 2: Sound__

 * First Note: The effective use of sound is an important indicator as to the type of movie the trailer is advertising. Different first tones signal different genres. HP7pt2 is an action/adventure/fantasy movie and these films generally start with strong low notes. The feeling of conflict or danger is felt immediately from the moment the trailer begins. Go back and listen to the first sound. Then compare that sound with the first note from this comedy. Pretty different right? Movie producers do not waste any time; they want to hook you from the very first second.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Background Music: The music used in trailers generally does not actually show up in the full length movie. This has to do with cost and the fact that months before release, the music might not be finalized. Nevertheless, music for a trailer is carefully considered and selected to convey a certain feeling or tone. Also, many times the music will be used to alet the viewer to subconscious cues concerning different acts. With HP7pt2 the beginning music is soft, eerie, and features a female voice. Then at 0:40, the music fades out as special effect sounds take over, emphasizing the dramatic delivery of the line, "join me Harry and confront your fate." At this point the music picks up pace and helps build tension as the trailer's story moves through the momentum-building middle section. The music begins to swell and the score becomes more dramatic, signaling the shift toward the climax. The third act begins at 1:50 when the Hogwarts doors slam shut and all the sound cuts out for one second, then comes back with Harry's voice alone saying the line, "Come on, Tom, let's finish this the way we started it...together." From this point on the music has a quick tempo and features several strong low notes on down beats to emphasize a certain moment in the action. To wrap up the trailer, the music fades out at the end with a soft one line of notes that has become synonomous with the Harry Potter franchise.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Special Effects: Sounds are also used throughout this trailer to highlight certain actions and battle moments. However, it is interesting to note that not every action is accompanied by the appropriate sound effect. The producers have used silence or the obvious lack of sound where one was expected as an effective technique to draw more attention to a particular moment, or to continue the dramatic tone set by the music.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dialogue: The lines of dialogue from the movie selected to be included in this trailer not only move the storyline along, but also allude to key moments in the movie. The first line delivered is within the first 15 seconds, "Harry be safe, be strong." They are spoken by a woman to a little baby we guess to be the young Harry Potter. Although this trailer is advertising the eighth and final movie, this one line has the effect of establishing this movie within the whole saga. It emphasizes that this movie will be about more than just one year in Harry's life; this is the movie that will wrap up many ongoing plot lines. The middle section features the most sound bites with lines being delivered by several characters that speak of death, missions, ending things, and in general builds tension toward an expectation that this movie is going to have a battle of epic proportions. The climactic third act, however, has only one line in all 50 seconds and it is, "Only I can live forever." Regardless of the viewer's previous knowledge about the Harry Potter book series, this statement lingers, setting up a challenge. The trailer wants to grab your attention and your curiosity. With this being the last line, it is as if the gauntlet has been thrown down and in order to see the veracity or refutation of this statement you must see the movie.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__Element 3: Voice-Over__

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The voice-over, according to wikipedia, is "narration used to briefly set up the premise of the movie and provide explanation when necessary ("In a world...")". Since the trailer is a highly condensed format, voice-over is a useful tool to enhance the audience's understanding of the plot. The voice-over is usually a man with a very deep voice and there are several well known voice-over artists whose trademark sounding voices provide sound to many popular trailers. One of the most recognizable was Don LeFontaine who did voice-over work for more than 5,000 movies including the movie Castaway. Another is the powerful voice of [|James Earl Jones] introducing a documentary about the Serengeti. While HP7pt2 does not use voice-over this traditional way with one main voice narrating the important information for the trailer's story, the lines spoken by characters featured in the trailer do narrate the story. These lines help move the trailer along and often fall at key turning points in the momentum of the trailer. Whether by one voice or the use of lines from the film itself, voice-over is an effective storytelling element used by movie trailer producers.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__Element 4: Written Words__
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Every moment he's lived... <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Has led to this... <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> On July 15... <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> It ends... <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Where it all began... <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The final battle... <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Is here... <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2... <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Complete the journey in 3D.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The messages conveyed to the audience by words on the screen have a great impact. For time to be taken away from showing parts of the movie to interject a sentence means those words must be concise and important to the story being told. If you take all the words found in the HP7pt2 trailer and put them together, you get a short but meaningful narrative,

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This message sums up everything the movie producers want to say in this trailer. In a very effective and concise way, these words contain some key elements: the all important release date and the fact that this movie, unlike all the others, will be in 3D. This bit of written narration thrown into all the visual special effects heightens the emotional impact. It takes the viewer out of the action for a few brief moments to let them know this is an intense story. HP7pt2 is the end, climax, finale to the whole Harry Potter cannon and it //cannot be missed//.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">**Made for a Reason:**
As alluded to in the last section, trailers are made for one reason: to attract attention to a new movie. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Careful analysis of the targeted market allows creative consultants and studio marketing departments to fit these elements together in just such a way that it will appeal to its' target audience. While it may be obvious that some films are "chick flicks" and others appeal to guys, in the same way that cartoons are generally meant for the preschool crowd, recent research shows that there are many more underlying ideas and world views on gender and age appeal that factor into what specific group movies are marketed toward. Moore, Bednall and Adam's analysis shows that the good trailers fit into well-defined genre categories like romance, comedy, action adventure, or in the case of the Harry Potter franchise, an action/adventure/fantasy. The defined category is important because their research shows that unless movie-goers do immediately connect the trailer to a classification they know, they are less likely to spend/waste their money going to see the movie. Conversely, if the trailer is too conventional and offers no particular excitement, movie-goers may stay away, assuming that the movie will be boring and predictable. As Moore et al say, "over-featuring of salient genre symbols in trailers might lead to interpretation that the movie is homogeneous with previous movies." Read: unexciting and potentially boring. Hence, there must be a perception of value. Taking this understanding of marketing, we can take a deeper look at HP7pt2.

Harry Potter is an adolescent based franchise. Looking at some of the implications of this trailer, we see a couple of interesting messages being played out. The first is the power of the adolescent. Harry and the others are teenagers; while there are some adults in the picture, for the most part the fate of the whole world is resting in the hands of a teen. It is up to Harry to defeat the enemy and save the day. This is a dual message for teenagers: they have the power to make a difference in their world, but they may also be the only ones trying to keep that would together. Alongside this message is the idea that standing up to the bad guy and risking it all for the greater good is a virtuous thing, which is a tried and true genre of its' own. Harry is risking his own life in this conflict. However, there is a line about not wanting others to die that lets audiences know that there is a sense of community in the HP world. The victory may ultimate rest on Harry, but there is an entire coalition of people engaging in the battle. The message here is that there are things worth fighting for and sometimes you might need the help of some friends to do it. This trailer is also appealing to the audience's emotional investment in these characters. Is Harry going to die? But the trailer still has relevance even if you know the answer. Seeing a character you like facing such an epic battle and coming face to face, finally, with his ultimate enemy is a compelling sight. All the clips of Harry show him right in the thick of battle. The trailer is also appealing to an audience's desire for good to triumph over evil. Ultimately, the trailer itself does not show you //that triumph or defeat//; it just sets up the struggle.

Going even deeper, we can see some psychological elements that play into movie trailers in general. Disney, Pixar and the Hollywood studio mainstays like Warner Brothers (HP production company) have long been masters at tapping into the psychology of film goers. Correctly assuming that trailers have been effective in increasing audience size at the theatre, studios are increasingly turning to trailers as a means to promote the merchandise as well, as we see in the following video game project by Junction Point Studios - part of Disney Interactive. The first clip takes us through the creative thought process of developing the storyline for the Disney game Epic Mickey - A Behind the Scenes Look - while the second is the actual clip for the trailer announcing the Epic Mickey itself. What you see when you compare the two is that there is a lot of psychology that goes into making a good trailer, be it for the Harry Potter franchise or a game being marketed around a known character like The Mouse. The intended audience has to buy into what playwrights from Shakespeare forward understood as the "suspension of disbelief"; in other words, they have to believe what they are seeing is possible, given the circumstances presented. Even if an audience only sees the final clip of the two, and therefore does not know how the concept was developed, there is still enough information contained within that brief one minute for enough of them to buy the game and therefore, to make its' development worthwhile for the investors.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">**Conclusion:**
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Take any one of these elements (movie clips, sound, voice-over, written words) away and you lose the total effect of the trailer. Without seeing the visual clips, the sound makes little sense; but conversely, if you watch the video with no sound, the emotional impact loses its' power. They are all needed to give a trailer the emotional impact that will grab audience's attention.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We believe that Warner Brothers has done a good job with HP7pt2: they have produced a series of trailers that both tantalize and yet retain the magic we have come to expect from one of JK Rowling's books.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">**For Teachers:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There are several different ways studying movie trailers can be used inside the classroom. They could be tools to help teach literary concepts like plot and character development, but also to further enlarge and challenge a student's reasoning skills. Possible assignments could range from... <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. __Storyboarding movie trailers for books__ they have read; this challenges a student's knowledge of theis development (plot in movie terms), the role of main and lesser characters, conflicts and their resolution or lack thereof, the student's ability to summarize effectively, and their understanding of the importance of hooks in grabbing a reader/viewer's attention. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. __Watching a trailer of a movie they have **not** seen__ and using the clues given in the trailer to brainstorm possible scenarios to fill in a portion of the movie; this would offer an opportunity to learn in a creative and challenging way and to explore deductive reasoning skills. This is basically what some of these trailers are doing, especially the Lego ones and the "fanmade" versions. As an ending point to the unit, the class could watch excerpts from the actual movie to see how close they came in predicting outcome. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. __Teaching a unit on media literacy__: According to the Media Awareness Network there are 8 key concepts to media literacy and we can see several of them at work in movie trailers. Using the Harry Potter trailer as our example, we can see:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__Concept 4__. Media have commercial implications. This one is a little obvious because the movie industry is a billion dollar business and a movie like Harry Potter with production budgets in the several hundred millions have a lot riding on whether or not the kids in middle and high school classrooms take the time and spend the movie to go see them. So, when selling a script to investors in the film industry, promotion is a huge element. As we saw in our earlier analysis of Harry Potter, trailers have many elements at work, but at the heart is the need to whet a prospective ticket-holder's appetite just enough to get them into the theater. Students could learn a lot thinking about what makes them want to see a movie and how they decide which ones to see. Are marketing specialists successful when they create movie trailers? Sometimes yes and oftentimes no.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__Concept 7__: Form and Content are closely related in the media. This is basically saying that each medium of media has its own grammar and composition. Breaking down several movie trailers and taking a look at the ways they are constructed is a great way to teach this concept to students. There are many elements within a movie trailer that are the same really no matter what movie is being advertised. Movie trailers definitely have their own grammar and composition rules. This is an easy way to help students see this link between form and content.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Using movie trailers in the classroom could be an effective teaching tool because of the inherently relevant nature of some films. Adolescents make up a large chunk of the movie going demographic and many movie advertisements, such as trailers, are geared toward students. Having them become aware of the elements behind what make a movie trailer could broaden their awareness not only of the ways they are targeted by large production companies, but that knowledge could also help students connect to even deeper understandings of the big-picture concept of media literacy.

= = =<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Relevant Research: =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For information on several of the ideas on this wiki page, please see the follow list of references:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wikipedia's page on movie trailers is comprehensive and an excellent resource for more research.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To see a study on the demographics of movie audiences from 2005 to 2007 (a year that included a Harry Potter film) visit this blogon the Nielsen ratings company website.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The qualitative study referenced earlier on this wiki was conducted by a university in Melbourne, Australia. This was a study on movie trailers and their impact on genre and gender and movie audiences. Beyond just the text quoted above, this is a great resource to use when examining the deeper implications of what movies tell us about culture and society. Deakin University, "Genre, Gender and Interpretation of Movie Trailers" by David Bednall.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For a humorous look at the characteristics of a good movie trailer, visit Richard Lawson's article "Five Market-Tested Elements Every Movie Trailer Needs" on gawker.com.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To see (one of many) countdowns of the best movie trailers look at "The 20 Most Effective Movie Trailers of All Time" article on the associated content from yahoo page. This could be a great resource when trying to find various examples of good movie trailers. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">***Spoiler Alert*** According to the Countdown, this is the Number 1 Most Effective Movie Trailer... Agree? Disagree?

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For more International Trailers: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Greek Subtitles HP, Book 7, Part 2 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Russian HP, Book 7, Part 2 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] German version using LEGOS <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] There is even a creepy facial recognition video in Czech that is oddly fascinating. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[]