Film trailers as marketing tools?

Film trailers are a powerful tool in the marketing and promotion of an upcoming film. A trailer is often intended to provide us with key attention grabbing details about the film, without revealing too much however, leaving us wanting more! Trailers have become a normality for film-makers, where films with larger budgets will have a portion of the budget dedicated solely to the creation of an effective trailer.

Trailers are a great way of giving audiences an example of the genre and style of the film whilst maintaining an interest in the remainder of its storyline.

Sometimes trailers are essential in the portrayal of genre, likewise with target audience. A prime example of this would be the 2016 film Sausage Party (see below), a film which has conventions of children's animation however as we watch the trailer we discover the theme of dark(ish) adult humour.

Films such as Sausage Party are less common in our cinemas because they appeal to a smaller demographic of people. Generally, film makers want as many people to see their film as possible, this leads to the creation and popularity of films which 'should' appeal to all of us. This idea can be seen in practice within most trailers, there will often be clips deliberately placed in the trailer to appeal to different tastes.