Producer’s Requirements to Film Trailers: From Movie Trailer Houses to Film Packshots

Abstract

Research methodology. In the scientific article, an empirical method of investigation as observation has been applied. Within this method we have chosen the object of research – electronic articles of trailer makers with requirements regarding the structure and features of the production of this type of advertising. During the processing of electronic materials to distinguish in these rather unstructured articles various types of requirements, tips, and recommendations for creating effective film trailers a general method of analysis was used. And the third method that became useful during this study was the method of induction that was, through the study of individual and special producer’s requirements to the trailer by the we formulated the general rules for making film trailers as a specific type of advertising.

Results. It is found out that movie trailers must be made by professionals those work in advertising companies named movie trailer houses company. The most famous are American, Australian, Mexican, German and Swiss movie trailer houses company, among those the most are American.

The film trailer, as an advertisement, must fulfill its main task – to bring the viewer to the cinema. On the basis of an example of successful Hollywood trailers it’s concluded that the effectiveness of the trailer directly depends on the following main factors: the duration of the promotional campaign, which should consist of several commercials that will be shown over a period of time; structure of the film trailer; matching of the film trailer tone to the movie genre to avoid misleading the viewer; the absence of spoilers that reveal the main idea of the film, otherwise the viewer will not need to watch the film;  the clearly defined length of the movie trailer so as not to delay the show and not overload the viewer with the information; concordance to the cultural specificity of the film trailer perception.

Special attention is paid to the titles / subtitles and the pack shot as effective tools for creating an advertisement, in particular the trailer.

Novelty. For the first time the article highlights the following basic requirements of professionals and amateurs to the film trailers: the first trailer for a new film should be released approximately 12 to 10 months before the premiere of the film; the trailer should be created with a clear structure that can be built on the basis of successful foreign films; the movie trailer must clearly convey the genre of the film (the tone of the action movies or horror films is easier to convey, the comedies are more difficult); the trailer should not contain a spoiler that will reveal the film’s solution, or be the collection of the best frames of the film; Approximate limits for trailer duration – from 30 seconds. up to 3 min.; the trailer should be targeted at the target audience, in particular a certain people group or a nation.

Practical significance. Research results can be used to teach such subjects in the theory of advertising as «Advertising in Mass Media and the Internet», «Advertising on TV», «Theory of Advertising», and also will be useful to specialists of advertising companies working on the creation of movie trailers.

Key words: advertisement type, film trailer, movie trailer, movie trailer house, film trailer requirements, effective film trailer’s structure, dynamism and spoilerity of the film trailer, titles and subtitles, pack shot.