Codes and Conventions of Film Trailers

There are many obvious features of a trailer, one being the introduction of the characters. During the trailer, a normal convention is the introduction of characters. The Blumler and Katz' 'uses and gratifications' theory centres around this idea that, one of the reasons we are consumers of media is that, as an audience, we like to identify with characters within films and TV programmes. The establishment of the characters is important because of this as it makes it relatable to the audience so that they become more engaged and then are likely to consume more and more.

Also, the ident which  usually shows the production company logo. This can give you an idea of what the film will actually be like - if the production company is Warner Bros. for example, we know that it will have a huge budget and may have very well known actors playing the main roles. This will entice the audience to a film by seeing actors that they have liked previously in other films and so may go and see the film purely because of who is in it without any consideration of the storyline.

Next, the soundtrack of the trailer is an important convention. All trailers have some sort of sound accompanying the clips of film, whether this be a music track, dialogue or a voice over (or often all 3). The soundtrack to a trailer can help set the tone of the film and carrying the story along, adding depth and a overall feel to whatever type of trailer it may be. For example, if there is a music track that is upbeat or romantically slow paced, the chances are that the film will not be a horror, similarly if the soundtrack of the trailer features screams and high pitched violin screeches then it is very unlikely that the film will be a family feature. Voice overs are used to guide the audience through the initial plot of the film, whether this is the voice of a character in the film or an external voice usually depends on the film/ type of trailer that it is used on. This can be done in many different ways and a lot of the time is used for foreign films to make it accessible for a wider audience in different countries.

Another important convention is the actual title of the film that it is advertising. This is clearly a necessity, as if it wasn't a convention of a trailer, we wouldn't be able to identify or relate to anything that the film is about or set a branding that is clear to an audience. The font and colouring of the font also gives us an indication of the genre of the film, and will usually be closely linked to the title font/ colouring within the advertising campaign. This is done to create synergy between different media platform, creating a brand (just mentioned).
One of the most, if not the, most important convention for big budget, Blockbuster is if the actors/ actresses who play these characters are well known and famous, their names may be included as captions underneath. This may help to sell the film as many people may go to see a film with their favourite actor/ actress in it, even before they know the plot of the story. Not only the actors/ actresses can have their names featured on the trailer - the director's name can also be an important selling point for the film. 
Several directors have a large fan base around their work, and most often then not, the audience will relate the film to the directors previous work/ films and if they have liked all of their previous projects, this may be an incentive alone to go and see the film. Examples of these directors include; Quentin Tarantino, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Tim Burton. A lot of these directors have individually stylistic uniqueness about them and so even if the audience don't know who the director is from looking it up, they will be able to tell by the style and the way the film i shot, who it is that directed the film. For example, in films directed by Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are almost certainly going to be featured, and Wes Anderson directed films almost definitely feature Bill Murray in some way, and may include actors such as Owen/ Luke Wilson,  Jason Schwartzman, Anjelica Huston, Adrien Brody and other actors that he usually works with). 

Furthermore, another convention is the release date. This allows people viewing the trailer to have an idea of when they are able to see the film in the cinema (which is obviously the key reason behind trailers - to entice the viewers to go and see the film to get money), and without a release date, the viewers would not have any idea of when they'd be able to go and see it. This usually appears right at the very end of the trailer along with the billing block so that it is the last thing the audience will take away with them from viewing the trailer, to make it stick in their minds. 

Finally, A lot of trailers follow Todorov's narrative theory as the structure of thriller which carries the storyline through. This consists of having equilibrium to begin with, then some form of a disruption of that equilibrium. In the trailers, it doesn't usually tell you wether this disruption gets sorted out and returns back to equilibrium because this would give the whole film away which defeats the purpose of having a trailer to tease you. Trailers will usually just show the consequences of the disruption which will be the main body of the trailer, with either tense or suspenseful, heartbreaking or action packed scenes and transitions.