EVALUATION - How our trailer is similar to others

As we have watched a wide variety of trailers for our research and planning part of our coursework, there are many similarities between our trailer and the professional ones.

In many of the trailers we have watched and analysed there has been the use of fade to black transitions between shots. An example of this is the New Moon trailer. They use the fade to black to cut to different locations in their trailer and the different situations the characters are in throughout the film. We decided to use this transition to break up our clips and create tension for the audience watching, as the black represents darkness and evil.

We got the idea to use the dip-to-white transition from the trailer which Lucy analysed which was The Golden Compass. They used a flash to introduce a new scene and we wanted to use the dip-to-white to show the transition from the darker present into the innocent past, with the colour white representing this innocence.

As in many television shows such as Veronica Mars, the use of flashback sequences are used regularly and enhanced by the contrasting colours for dramatic effect. In our film trailer we decided to change the contrast of our flashback scenes, firstly to make it obvious that the scene occurring happened at an earlier time, and secondly to add to the effect of innocent past, dark present and future.

At the start of our trailer we added the production company logo to create awareness for the audience which studio produced our trailer. Many other trailers do this for example, The Ghost Writer trailer start of with its production studio sign for 'Summit Entertainment.'

We also ended our trailer on a cliff hanger. This enigma creates mystery for the audience which can't be solved until they watch the whole film. This is a popular element of trailers as it excites the audience and encourages them to see it.

Music is a very important element of the trailers mood. We chose fast-paced music which starts of low and quiet, but then builds up and makes the audience feel tense and scared. This reflects the genre of the film as a thriller/ horror and it was matched perfectly to the sequences of the trailer. An example of the music having a huge impact on the audience if the new Nightmare on Elm Street trailer. The music tells the audience how to feel, which is incredibly scared throughout this trailer.

Overall, there are many similarities between our trailer and many others, due to the fact that we needed to create a realistic trailer for our film. We got ideas of the elements needed to make a good trailer from others we analysed off the Internet (YouTube), which we incorporated into our trailer for dramatic effect.