Trailer (promotion) - Composition

Composition

Trailers tell the story of a film in a highly condensed fashion that must have maximum appeal. In the decades since film marketing has become a large industry, trailers have become highly polished pieces of advertising, able to present even poor movies in an attractive light. Some of the elements common to many trailers are listed below. Trailers are typically made up of scenes from the film they are promoting, but sometimes contain deleted scenes from the film.

Most trailers have a three-act structure similar to a full feature-length film. They start with a beginning (act 1) that lays out the premise of the story. The middle (act 2) drives the story further and usually ends with a dramatic climax. Act 3 usually features a strong piece of "signature music" (either a recognizable song or a powerful, sweeping orchestral piece). This last act often consists of a visual montage of powerful and emotional moments of the film and may also contain a cast run if there are noteworthy stars that could help sell the movie.

Voice-over narration is used to briefly set up the premise of the film and provide explanation when necessary. Since the trailer is a highly condensed format, voice-over is a useful tool to enhance the audience's understanding of the plot. Some of the best-known, modern-day trailer voice-over artists are Don LaFontaine, Hal Douglas, Mark Elliot, John Leader, Corey Burton, George DelHoyo, Peter Cullen, Morgan Freeman, Ashton Smith, Jim Cummings, John Gary, Tom Kane, Ben Patrick Johnson, Tony Rodgers, and Brian Cummings. Classic voice-over artists in film trailers of the 1950s and 1960s included Art Gilmore, Knox Manning, Reed Hadley, Fred Foy, Karl Weber and Bob Marcato. Hollywood trailers of the classic film era were renowned for clichés such as "Colossal!", "Stupendous!", etc. Some trailers have used voice over clichés for satirical effect. This can be seen in trailers for films such as Jerry Seinfeld's Comedian and Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.

Music helps set the tone and mood of the trailer. Usually the music used in the trailer is not from the film itself (the film score may not have been composed yet). The music used in the trailer may be:

• Music from the score of other movies. Most-used titles include Requiem for a Dream's main theme "Lux Aeterna" by Clint Mansell, Come See the Paradise by Randy Edelman, Aliens by James Horner, Stargate by David Arnold, Bram Stoker's Dracula by Wojciech Kilar, The Life of David Gale by Alex Parker and Jake Parker, and Backdraft by Hans Zimmer.
• Popular or well-known music, often chosen for its tone, appropriateness of a lyric or lack thereof, or recognizability. The most often used of these is O Fortuna from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, as well as the works of E.S. Posthumus.
• "Library" music previously composed specifically to be used in advertising by an independent composer. There are many trailer music library companies which produce trailer music, some of the best known are Two Steps From Hell, Immediate Music and X-Ray Dog or SFX and Music libraries like the ones from Moss Landing, Gerrit Kinkel Productions or redCola.
• Specially composed music. One of the most famous Hollywood trailer music composers, credited with creating the musical voice of contemporary trailers, is John Beal, who began scoring trailers in the 1970s and, in the course of a thirty-year career, created original music for over 2,000 film trailer projects, including 40 of the top-grossing films of all time, such as Star Wars, Forrest Gump, Titanic, Aladdin, Braveheart, Ghost, The Last Samurai and The Matrix.

A cast run is a list of the stars that appear in the movie. If the director or producer is well-known or has made other popular movies, they often warrant a mention as well. Most trailers conclude with a billing block, which is a list of the principal cast and crew. It is the same list that appears on posters and print publicity materials, and also usually appears on-screen at the beginning (or end) of the movie. Studio production logos are usually featured near the beginning of the trailer. Until the late 1970s, they were put only at the end of the trailer. Often there will be logos for both the production company and distributor of the film.

Many trailers are mixed in Dolby Digital or any other multichannel sound mix. Scenes including sound effects and music that are enhanced by stereophonic sound are therefore the focus point of many modern trailers.

Trailers preceding feature films are generally presented in the same format as the feature, being either 35 mm film or a digital format. High bandwidth internet connections allow for trailers to be distributed at any resolution.