Conventions of film trailers:
Most film trailers follow a certain form of creating their trailer, this is called 'conventions', most film trailers stick to these conventions, but sometimes trailers break the conventions.

At the beginning of most trailers there is an image featuring classification advice, and this is usually relevant to the country the trailer is filmed and screened in. One of the most featured and most recognisable classification advice clip is the Green Motion Picture Association of America Splash, this is at the beginning of most trailers as it is the classification advice for America, and most big budget, famous films are created in America; by American studios. Also at the beginning of most trailers is the studio logo. The trailer shows the studio logo as they're the studio who create and finance the film; so therefore they're featured in the trailer. In most trailers they're featured at the beginning; as this is a convention of film trailers, but sometimes film trailers break the convention and put the studio logo at the end of the trailer, but the logo is mostly featured at the beginning.

The narrative provides a basic shape to a media text, it is the organising structure and as such has its own features and conventions. It is the way the story or plot unfolds; and each media text has a narrative which is specific to them. The mini-narrative is used by most film trailers; and most film trailers feature a mini-narrative to tell part of the story of the film, but also to get the audience interested in watching the film. The mini-narrative features clips of the film to entice the audience, these clips help the audience understand the plot of the film; but they do not give to much away. Also dialogue is a key feature in most film trailers; again to help the audience understand the plot, but also to help the audience have a connection with the characters so that the audience then go and watch the film. The editing of the trailer is also created specifically to reinforce the narrative, and to help the audience understand the central plot of the film, the clips on a film trailer are sometimes not in the order they're seen in the film, and that is because the clips help convey the story; and they're usually the most exciting and funniest clips of the film. The different genre's of films each have their own specific way of editing film trailers for example, action film trailers are very fast in their editing, and consist of jump cuts, fades in's, fade out's and many other techniques, this creates a feeling of suspense and excitement and keeps the audience interested in watching the film. The editing of a trailer is usually specific to the genre of the film.

Most film trailers feature voice-overs to help the audience understand the narrative; and to portray the narrative. Some trailers use the main character as a voice-over to help convey the narrative; and this creates a connection with the audience and the main character (protagonist) as they can understand how they feel, and by what they say you can sometimes understand the character; and possibly sometimes relate to the character. Bridget Jones is one example of the main character or protagonist (Bridget) as the voice over, and by doing this it makes the audience want to know more about her life; and it helps the audience relate to her; because you can understand what she is saying and put yourself in her shoes, and therefore this makes the audience want to go and see the film, but sometimes trailers use an independent voice over instead of using one of the characters in the film.The use of the independent voice over has both advantages and disadvantages, because you cannot make a connection with the characters or relate to them, because you don't understand what their thinking or feeling, but sometimes it can have advantages because it stops the audience pre-judging certain characters; which in turn may make some people not want to go and see the film because they do not like what the character says and feels, and sometimes the use of an independent voice-over can create suspense and excitement for the audience. again this helps the audience's understanding of the narrative; and therefore may create a wider range of audience.

Most film trailers use music to connect with their audience; and to provide excitement to the trailer, but music is also used to help convey the genre of the film. Each genre has its own type of music; action films usually have very fast paced and loud music to create suspense and excitement; and to engage the audience, whereas romcoms usually have quite an indie, upbeat soundtrack. The stereotypical music for romcoms is usually quite feminine and girly as they're trying to attract women rather than men; as women are the stereotypical target audience for romcoms; and this is why they're usually referred to as 'chick flicks'. Some film trailers have their own recognised soundtrack such as mission impossible, the music on their trailer is the theme tune for the film; which allows the audience to recognise the film, and therefore get more recognition for the film as everyone knows the mission impossible theme tune, also James Bond has its own theme tune; and this again makes the films instantly recognisable, and as the films are both action films, the theme tune is quite fast paced and exciting creating a lot of suspense; which is a convention of the music of most action film trailers.

Film trailers often feature taglines to convey the story of the film; or to reinforce the voice over. I have found in my research that this feature is used quite predominantly in romcoms such as 'Knocked up', 'Valentines day', 'PS I love you', and '27 dresses'. At the beginning of '27 dresses' there is a tagline saying 'the dress is perfect' and then straight after 'the cake is wonderful', this conveys to the audience that this film is obviously about weddings; and therefore the taglines also reinforce the voice over. Taglines are a convention of film trailers, but sometimes trailers do not use them, but I think taglines are good to use in trailers, as they help convey the narrative and entice the audience; and therefore make them want to go and see the film, and sometimes the taglines attract people who are not in the target audience therefore creating a wider range of audience, which in turn brings more money in.

'Knocked up' tagline

Featured in most film trailer are the names of the stars starring in the film. This is done purely to attract the audience; especially if there are big stars in the film it makes the audience want to go and see them in the film; and sometimes can attract people not in the target audience as they may really like an actor in the film, and therefore go and see the film; creating a wider range of audience. Also as well as featuring stars names many trailers feature the names of the directors and producers of the film, the names are usually featured in the film trailer if they are well known; Quentin Tarantino's name is in the trailer for 'Inglorious Bastards', and Steven Spielberg's name is featured in the trailer For 'Indiana Jones and the 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'. Also in some trailers if the director isn't well know they usually use the phrase 'from the director of ...' and they then name one of their films, again this is done purely to attract the audience, because if they saw the directors last film and liked it they may want to go and see this film, therefore making more money for the film.

The name of the film is featured in most film trailers for the obvious reason of letting the audience know the name of the film; and to be able to recognise the film. The name can either be at the beginning of the trailer or at the end, but during my research I found that most film trailers feature the name of the film at the end, this is so the audience watch the whole trailer to find out the name of the film; and hopefully go see the film. Also featured in most trailers are the credit bills or first billed, and they're usually towards the end of the film; these usually include the studio that financed the film, the names of the directors and producers, and the names of the actors starring in the film.