Differences Between Film Openings and Trailers

For this task I am going to be looking at the differences between film openings a trailers so I know what a film opening consists of and to help me avoid creating the aspects of a trailer.

Trailers

·        Shows a montage of clips from the film by using fragmented narrative and discontinuous editing as they are trailers so they will include the most important/best shots to show off the film whilst giving a brief look at the story to grab the audience’s attention.

·        Between shots, transitions are often used which mainly involve fading to black.

·        They include non-diegetic background music and sound effects to set the mood and establish the genre. For example, in an action film a trailer may involve dramatic music and sound effects of guns and explosions but in a horror film trailer there may be creepy music to build up tension and sound effects of voices or footsteps. They may also have a voiceover to introduce the film and describe what’s happening.

·        They often briefly show the storyline so it’s enough for the audience understand what the film is about without spoiling the whole story which convinces them to watch it as they want to see more.

Example - Fast & Furious 7 trailer:

 

Film Openings

·        Continuous editing is used as it introduces the film.

·        It doesn’t give away the story whilst introducing it.

·        It includes the film’s title.

·        Not much dialogue it included but contains non-diegetic music.

·        It informs the audience with content shown on the screen which involve names of institutions, cast and crew. They often have the directors name at the end.

·        Transitions are sometimes used to make the shots flow.

·        It is meant to draw the viewer into the universe of the film.

·        They represent the theme of the film and set the genre as they often indicate the place and the types of characters involved (mise-en-scene).

Example - Fast & Furious 7 film opening:

Doing this research will help me when creating my own film opening as it has enabled me to look at all the properties of a film opening that I need to take into consideration when making mine and all the properties of a film trailer that I need to avoid.