The Purpose Of A Trailer

What is a marketing campaign and why is it needed?
Film making can be cost effective, takings at the box office in order to cover the costs of production, pay investors as well as make money for the next release. When a film is realised it only takes a short amount of time to become a hit at the box office. The marketing campaign plays an important role in informing potential audience about the film by encouraging people to see the film in the cinema. The distributors need the film to be success in order to market it as a film that is valuable to watch and the result of this is that the distributor earns a better profit if so.

Why is the trailer important?
A trailer is important as it can create an atmosphere, sounds and action that a poster could not. This is why a trailer is vital in a marketing campaign. Trailers also can influence and stir our emotions and give us an essence of what the actual film is about which still images cannot do.

When is the trailer produced?
Most trailers are created and produced at the same time of when the film is being edited. The timing of a trailer campaign must be shown far enough in advance to generate excitement about the film’s release, but not too early otherwise people may forget the film. A ‘teaser’ trailer is used to create a ‘buzz’ about the film’s release. These teaser trailers are usually seen online due to websites that accompany the film’s release. After the ‘buzz’ is created, theratical campaigns and television spots will start to maintain the initial ‘buzz’.

Global Releasing
When a film is released in different countries, the date maybe different in each country. Therefore the film trailers need to make sure the release date is correct in that particular country it is aired. Any films we see in the UK are from America as trailers use American vocabulary and accent in the voiceover. The trailer may be re-cut in different countries, with a different voiceover and dubbed speech. Changes in media technology have had a big impact on the way that film titles are released internationally. In Europe for example they can have pirated versions of US movies. As a result of this box office profit is at risk. To ensure this doesn’t happen, people who promote a film need to carefully control the process of its release. This is why films are increasingly released on a ‘day and date’ which means that the film is released around the world on exactly the same day.