Trailers and Films ComparisonBY TOM ANDREWS-FAULKNER

Length Similar Different

Trailers are usually very short and only last 2-3 minutes so that the audience does not get bored but also gets an insight into the film and get to know some of the characters enough to make them want to watch it. On the other hand, film usually last over and hour and half, some lasting more than three hours. This means the audience has enough time to be steeled down and enjoy the film instead of it just being a quick few minutes video. This is shown by Chinatown (1974) where the full film lasts 132 minutes whereas the trailer only last 3minutes 24 seconds (which is linked below).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T37QkBc4IGY

Narrative

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Trailers usually only show a brief overview of the narrative of the full film. This can be done through a montage or a combination of the most exciting parts of the film which will draw the audience in. In comparison the full film has the whole narrative progress as the film goes on which can involve many narrative devices such as enigmas. A trailer does not have enough time to show off this narrative development so does not do this in most cases and just involves the parts of the film that will make the audience want to watch it. Trailers can also give parts of the narrative but not give much detail on them so the audience is suspenseful when they watch the actual film. This is done in the trailer for Psycho (1960) which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and the trailer was him giving a tour of the Bates’ Motel. (linked below)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps8H3rg5GfM

Editing

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Trailers are usually edited so that they are a montage with lots of short takes to give a brief overview of the film to try to sell it by inducing the most important things in the film. This makes it fast paced as there is usually a lot of action in it and the short takes used makes it appear like a whistle stop tour of the film. Films will use many different editing types to develop the storyline which can include different types of cuts, transitions and devices such as continuity editing. They can also use montages as well as trailers as shown in Rocky (1976) (linked below) which shows time has passed as he becomes stronger. Transition such as wipes can be used to show a different place at the same point in time which is used prominently in crime films where a character is talked about then it will transition to them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtKX1PUGSdw

Sound

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Voiceovers are commonly used in trailers such as Don Lafontaine's voiceovers which have been used in many trailers such as Shrek (2001) (linked below). This gives a overview of the film form a narrator’s perspective; voiceovers can also be done by the characters in the film as done by Robert Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005).Films usually use many different types of sound but on the whole will have similar themes of sound to their trailer. They will usually have similiar music and the characters will be the same in both so the dialogue will also be the same. As clips from the film are usually put into the trailer there will be crossovers in the dialogue and sound so some parts of the trailer will be the exact same as the film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W37DlG1i61s

TitlesSimilar Different

There are not many titles during trailers, as the focus is on the action, but there may still be the main actors or director/producer mentioned in a title (if they’re famous). The whole cast is not shown as trailers only usually last around 3 minutes and there is not enough time to show all of this. On the other hand, films have a title sequence at the start in which main production roles and main characters are included and then at the end there is the credits in which everyone involved in the making of the film is mentioned (in the link below from Toy Story - 1995). There will usually be the same title design for both the film and trailer so that they are not confused as different films and the audience will be able to see it distinctively. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul8C5xWoFVQ