WHAT IS A TRAILER?

There are multiple elements to a marketing campaign for a film, first there are teaser posters followed by a teaser trailer, then a full trailer is released alongside a series of posters and finally close to the theatrical release of the film the cast of the film have to do publicity (interviews) to promote the film and market the film.

The trailer for a film the most effective marketing method that a film has to offer, it uses a series of short clips from the film, almost like a highlight reel, to make the film as a appealing as possible to their audience. These short clips are put with usually fast paced music and titles to advertise the cast that the film has, this is also known as star marketing. The whole purpose of  a trailer is to tell a section of the story, not too much to give away the plot but enough for the audience to want to watch more/ the rest of the film.

I took a questionnaire in which I discussed with a partner the following statements and decided whether we agreed with the statement or not. I then watched the trailer for King Arthur the Legend of the Sword (2017). From seeing the trailer it was fairly easy to distinguish what genre the film was going to be, action, historical with elements of fantasy. It was also very clear to see that the film had high production values with very high quality VFX, star studded cast including Jude Law.

Another tactic a film trailer will use is 'The Director of ...' this means that people who have seen that film will most likely want to watch King Arthur. For example it states in the trailer 'The Director of Sherlock Holmes' this means that fans of Guy Ritchie and Sherlock Holmes will most likely be enticed to watch King Arthur.