{"id":7544,"date":"2020-04-07T06:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T06:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmconnection.com\/blog\/?p=7544"},"modified":"2020-04-07T06:00:46","modified_gmt":"2020-04-07T06:00:46","slug":"how-to-make-a-movie-trailer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/filmconnection.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/07\/how-to-make-a-movie-trailer\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make a Movie Trailer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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How to Make a Movie Trailer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For some movie audiences, watching the trailers is just as important as the movie they came to see. It could be an extended look at a highly anticipated blockbuster or a peek at a movie still a year away from theaters. These glimpses at upcoming movies get audiences talking and give them something to look forward to.<\/p>\n

If<\/em> they\u2019re done correctly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait for that movie to come out!\u201d is much better than \u201cThat looks sooo dumb.\u201d And there\u2019s a fine line between showing all the best parts of the movie without giving away too much of the ending. But there should be some coherence, too. Showing only explosions, love scenes, and one-liners can be very confusing.<\/p>\n

In a World\u2026<\/h3>\n

The trailer is used as a marketing tool to get an audience excited about the production. Usually around 90 seconds, trailers need to set a scene, progress a story, and leave enough to the imagination to keep them wanting more. And you\u2019ve got to do all of us in under two minutes.<\/p>\n

To save time, many trailers employ the use of a narrator or voiceover. A picture may paint a thousand words, but some well done \u201ctelescoping\u201d with a few spoken lines can save you from having to spend those precious seconds on lots of unnecessary exposition. Using a title card, in a mere few seconds you can set the time and place. You\u2019re now free to introduce characters, present the plot, and hit the movie\u2019s highlights.<\/p>\n

Film<\/span> plays a huge part in setting the trailer\u2019s tone. A dark screen with a simple bassline or single piano note, along with a character exclaiming something like: \u201cIt was supposed to be easy,\u201d can get the audience\u2019s ears to perk up, rousing questions like: \u201cWhat was supposed to be easy?\u201d \u201cWhat went wrong?\u201d and \u201cWhy does the voice sound so worried?\u201d<\/p>\n

Change the film<\/span> to a slide whistle or kazoo, and the audience can already tell the character off-screen is probably some kind of dope who got themselves into another spot of trouble. Change the film<\/span> yet again and the same five or six seconds can set the scene for a bank heist gone wrong, or another failed scheme by our hapless hero. All it took was a different instrument.<\/p>\n

The genre – thriller or comedy – has been set. From that jumping-off point, the director and\/or editor who\u2019s making the trailer needs to continue to draw that crowd in by explaining some<\/em> of what went wrong, highlighting or foreshadowing the consequences arising from what happened, and then hint at how the situation is resolved.<\/p>\n

Doing it just right i.e. not giving away too much while giving the audience enough to bite into is an art form in itself. Effective trailers give the always give the audience something to look forward to. Then, the movie in its entirety needs to make good on what was \u201cpromised\u201d in the trailer.<\/p>\n

So above all, be consistent! The trailer sets the mood and tone for your upcoming film<\/span> and audiences don\u2019t like being led astray. If your 120-minute drama has a total of three jokes, don\u2019t show all three jokes. Crowds might think they\u2019re looking at a comedy, not a psychological thriller.<\/p>\n

This parody trailer of The Shining<\/em><\/a> shows just how easily a movie can be cut for a completely different feeling. That was intentional – unintentionally misdirecting your audience will leave them confused, or worse, downright infuriated when watching the film<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Submitting The Trailer<\/h3>\n

In some cases, the trailer gets made before principal shooting has ended. Depending on the size of the production, finances can be an issue, so sometimes a trailer is used to drum up film<\/span> investors. For this reason, it\u2019s important to format your trailer so that it can be viewed in multiple ways.<\/p>\n

When choosing video editing<\/span> software, make sure you\u2019ll be able to output .mov, mp4, and other popular formats to make it easy for others to open. Posting the trailer to a video sharing site is a last resort – you don\u2019t want to depend on connection speed. Your video trailer may be the best ever produced, but if it keeps stalling during playback, no one will ever finish watching it and as for those investors, well you can take a guess of what could happen there.<\/p>\n

Good video editing<\/span> software should come equipped with a number of compression options, so make sure your file is less than 10 MB, is possible. Some email clients won\u2019t allow files much larger than that. You don\u2019t want your email to get lost in a spam folder or not delivered at all.<\/p>\n

Keeping the file size to a minimum will also make it easy to promote on social media. If a good trailer impresses the right influencer, all of your time and effort will be well worth it. Earlier we said a video-sharing platform isn\u2019t the best way to submit your trailer for possible investors. That\u2019s true but when it comes to getting the word out about your movie, it\u2019s a great way to reach that potential audience and show investors that there are people out there who want to see your film<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Trailer-Making with a Mentor<\/h3>\n

Not really sure how to use film<\/span>-editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro? Have tons of usable footage, but find it difficult to organize? Every scene was shot with a song or film<\/span> in mind, but at a loss about how to add it? Film<\/span> Connection has been helping filmmakers like you for decades.<\/p>\n

With the Film Connection Production and Editing Program<\/a> or Film Editing Workshop<\/a>, you will be placed inside a real-world production studio and paired with a mentor. You\u2019ll receive one-on-one guidance from an industry expert, including how to cut a film<\/span> or movie trailer to get the best reaction from an audience.<\/p>\n

Film<\/span> Connection externs learn the real-world fundamentals of the filmmaking process, from working with sound effects, to working with actors, to setting lights and running film<\/span> dailies, screenwriting, and more. Our programs are generally cheaper<\/a> than 4-year universities, are shorter than trade schools, and we\u2019ve got production houses and mentors located throughout the United States<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can save time, money, and frustration with Film<\/span> Connection if you\u2019re willing to dedicate yourself to your training. Show up on time, act responsibly, and have a great attitude. Training as an extern, you stand to make the industry connections that can help you launch your career in the movie industry<\/span>. Ready to get to work? Apply today<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For some movie audiences, watching the trailers is just as important as the movie they came to see. It could be an extended look at a highly anticipated blockbuster or a peek at a movie still a year away from theaters. These glimpses at upcoming movies get audiences talking and give them something to look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":14414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-101"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}