Composition

Trailers are an interesting form of promotion as they must attract a great number of people by providing only a condensed version of the movie. Therefore, they must be composed in such a way as to include all the necessary information to lure the viewer to the cinema. Here are some elements of a trailer’s composition.

Basic structure

Most trailers have a 3-act structure:

Act 1

Setting up the story.

Act 2

Development of the story, showing its main elements. Sometimes this part ends with a dramatic climax.

Act 3

Powerful music piece (strong orchestral soundtrack or a recognizable song) that goes with a visual montage of action, emotional, funny moments from the movie (depends on the genre, of course). This part sometimes includes the cast members, especially if they are known celebrities, to help the ticket sellout.

Length

The length of movie trailers for TV and theaters is fixed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The general limit is 2:30 but studios and movie distributors are allowed once a year to extend a movie trailer if they think that a particular film is good enough to have one.

Information found at

 “Why Short Movie Advertisement Clips are Called ‘Trailers’“

Mstrailer.weebly.com

Music

Music is essential as it sets the tone and mood of the trailer (sometimes giving you goosebumps). Usually the music does not come from the film itself because most often, the film score may not have been composed yet. Possible origin of trailer music:

  • Scores from from other movies. Most-used: Requiem for a Dream, Come See the Paradise, Stargate, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Backdraft by Hans Zimmer.
  • Popular or well-known music, often chosen for its tone, appropriateness of a lyric or lack thereof, or recognizability. Songs from top-charts.
  • “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.

The whole movie trailer is narrated by a voice-over, which explains the story due to the condensed version of the trailers. The phrases often used are “In a world where…” or “… beyond imagination!” The most famous American voice actor who recorded more than 5,000 film trailers was Don LaFontaine (1940-2008) known for his powerful, deep voice.

Information found at

Nicolae Sfetcu, The Art of Movies

Mstrailer.weebly.com

More information on trailer music:

Interesting sites and articles: