Trailer conventions (Slumdog Millionaire and Train Spotting)

 Which trailer conventions are present in these trailers?                                                   
 How are the trailer conventions used to promote the film to an audience?

The conventions that these trailers have presented are firstly through the use of it being fast paced/quick tempo which engages the audience attentions. Also these trailers use the notion of introducing the films name not at the beginning which helps to make the audience wonder the name off it, adding to its mystery.  The names of the main stars are put on screen early in both of the trailer. This is important as it lets audiences know who they can expect to see in the film. Audiences will often decide they want to see a film just because of the stars in it, so they try to include a whole variety of characters, hence broadening the audience of the film as the characters may include a variety of different ethnicities. The fact that there is question at the beginning of the trailer, gives the audience a choice and to make their own assumptions to choose whatever they want.

The trailers include key moments from the film which are not placed in the sequence of the film, and do not give away any crucial plot details, in the case of slum dog millionaire ,the audience are likely to wonder what is going to happen to the main protagonist, which makes the audience curious . The use of the director’s name being shown at the beginning of the slum dog millionaire adds reliability to the film being successes as the director is well known, hence increasing people wanting to watch it. Moreover the trailer of train spotting is humorous thus attracting the audience, to want to view the film.

The On-screen text gives important information about the film in the instance of slum dog, being the ‘winner of Toronto award’, this including the stars, director/producers, tag line, title and release date. The music adds to the tempo of the trailer, signifying that the film is likely to be fast paced. The music helps to bring all the elements of the trailer together. The use of shots is what makes both of the trailers work well, as in the trailer of train spotting use of cut shots is to portray the fast pace of the film. In slum dog millionaire the use of fade shots, makes the transition of the shots easier, as well making audiences question the characters persona. Also there is a use of point of view shot, which helps to gain the audience an insight to the characters perspective.

Which trailer do you think is more successful? Why?

I think that the trailer which is more successful is going to be Slumdog Millionaire because it consists of the main conventions which are effective in creating a successful film. Mostly because of the aspects of the conventions are more in depth than the other trailer, which hasn’t really got as much detail and power to grab the audience’s attention.