The Purpose of a Trailer

Trailers can be used for television programmes, films, public events, products or other purposes. No matter what a trailer is used for, they all serve the same purpose - to promote something by reaching out to a large audience through advertisement.


History of Trailers
Originally, trailers were shown at the end of a film in the cinema. They were very short clips that mainly consisted of title cards and stock footage. They were seen as miniature episodes that may have been short storylines, cartoons or other forms of entertainment.


But as the cinema audiences began to leave after a film, trailers did not serve as much as a purpose being at the end of the film. They were then shown prior to a feature in the cinema and over time, began to hold much more content and serve the purpose to inform rather than entertain.


I will be looking at the purpose of a soap opera trailer and why they are used. To back up my points, I will also use images and soap opera trailers.

 Promoting an event
Soap operas often use trailers to advertise an important event in the story-line. It can be a wedding, a funeral, a disaster, an introduction of a new character or something along those lines.


An example of an event being advertised is Archie and Peggy Mitchell's wedding in Eastenders.

The trailer does not reveal the outcome of the event or show any other story-lines in the soap opera. This appeals to the viewer's sense of curiosity and causes them to watch that particular episode.


Attracting new audiences
Another purpose of a soap trailer is to appeal to a new range of audiences. This may be done by airing the episode at a different time, advertising attractive characters and story-lines or lengthening a certain episode for a special show.

The reason this technique works so well is because of socialising and word of mouth. When existing audiences hear that a particular episode is on at a different time or is twice as long, they discuss it with their friends, family or work colleagues. This, in turn, influences new audiences to want to watch that episode in order to relate to the existing audience and join in on a social level.


"We all do it. We share stories with others, gossip about a co-worker at the office, and tweet articles we find on-line to friends and family. But, what drives people to share, and why is some information shared more than others?


Jonah Berger, a Marketing Professor at U Penn's Wharton School has found the answer. In a paper  published a few weeks ago in the journal Psychological Science, Berger reveals arousal has a lot to do with it. Simply put, when we are physiologically aroused we are more likely to share information with those around us.

Physiological arousal is defined as activation of the autonomic nervous system, which affects bodily functions such as heart rate and perspiration - think sweaty palms and a beating heart. As it happens, arousal, whether stemming from the content of the information we are sharing or another source all together, boosts the social transmission of information."

Article collected from www.psychologytoday.com, titled "Word of Mouth- What Makes Us Gossip?"

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The Purpose of Our Soap Trailer
Using some of the ideas from above, our soap trailer will aim to attract new audiences through advertising an event.

Because our soap opera is brand new, there is not an existing audience. As creating a trailer is one tactic of reaching out to potential viewers, we will be aiming to attract as many audience members as possible by creating an engaging and interesting soap opera trailer.

The event we will advertise will probably be the introduction of a new character. This event is suitable for a new soap as a heavy, dramatic storyline could make it difficult for a new viewer to click with the soap. By starting off with a neutral storyline that generally gets more dramatic and tense, it represents the beginning of a film: easy to understand and keep up with.

Initial Ideas for Our Soap Opera Trailer

Using what I know about soap opera trailers and generic conventions, I created a simple spider diagram to map my individual ideas on the setting, storylines, characters and contents of our trailer.

My ideas for storylines came from the fact that all soaps have several events, relationships and dramatic situations happening at the same time. This grabs and keeps the viewer's attention for a longer period of time. The types of storylines I've mapped out are very dramatic and extreme situations, ensuring that the trailer content would be keeping to the use generic conventions used in soap operas.

My character ideas were inspired by Eastenders, as the range of ethnicity, age and social classes is wider than most other existing soap operas. This is evident in the 'Soap Opera Analysis' post when full episodes from Neighbours, Hollyoaks, Eastenders and Emmerdale were analysed in terms of characters, setting and storylines. Out of the four soaps, Eastenders had the largest variety of people by a long way.

This tactic is clearly successful as Eastenders has won 265 soap and television awards since February 1985. I believe that using this technique in my soap opera trailer would be ideal as it creates a sense of verisimilitude and makes it easier for audience members of different age, ethnicity and social class to relate to the characters in the soap.

All soap operas are set in a domestic location, and because keeping to generic conventions is an important factor of successfully resembling a soap opera, the types of locations are very limited. The main areas I've looked at are rural settings, urban settings, typical domestic locations and common public areas.

My ideas for location were inspired by Emmerdale, as it was originally called Emmerdale Farm and was set in a small, rural location. As the soap became more popular, it expanded and the setting changed from a farm to a village. This gave me the idea that starting a brand new soap opera in a rural location would be much more realistic as the soap would not be well-known.

The content of the trailer would use all of the typical conventions used in soap trailers, including fade-to-blacks, narrative theories, the enigma code and a cliff-hanger at the end. The most important content used in the trailer, magazine cover and poster would be the introduction of the brand new soap, the characters and the relationships between them.

By introducing the characters and how they interact with each other, you immediately grab the viewer's attention by appealing to their sense of curiosity. If the characters relations are extreme (eg. affairs, pregnancy, enemies, homosexual relationships, etc.), the viewers are more likely to feel obliged to watch it for the purpose of fulfilling a need for drama and gossip.

Evaluation of Student Film

I will be analysing one soap opera trailer produced by media students in the year above in terms of what works and what can be improved on. I will be looking at mise en scene, camera angles, editing and sound.

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Court Road

Strengths

• The over-shoulder shots at the beginning of the trailer are excellent, and give a really clear view of the characters.
• The establishing shot of the church where the couple are getting married works very well, as it relates to camera angles used in soap operas and shows the audience where the events are happening.
• The non-diegetic heartbeat sound effect builds up tension and is very dramatic, suiting the trailer and its story-line really well.
• The low-key lighting creates an ominous atmosphere, which goes hand-in-hand with the story line.
• The trailer successfully demonstrates the first 3 stages of Todorov's Narrative Theory, which shows a good understanding of soap opera trailer conventions.

 Weaknesses

• The font used is difficult to read and is not conventionally used in a soap opera trailer.
• The fade-to-black transition with the messages between frames is also unconventional and is more relative to a horror film trailer.
• The trailer was clearly advertising an event, but the time or date of the episode was missing from the information provided.
• The point-of-view shot used towards the end of the trailer is also unconventional, and is more likely to be used in a horror film trailer.
• The use of semiotics is not significant, meaning the trailer fails to send certain messages to the audience about the events of the soap opera. This makes the trailer harder to understand and less engaging for the viewer.

Improvements

• Instead of using a pan to follow the female protagonist as she leaves the room, leave the camera focused on the male antagonist as it allows the audience to form their own thoughts on what his next actions may be.
• Use a more simple font. The font used is too complicated and difficult to read, and a sans serif font would be much more relative to a soap trailer.
• Avoid using fade to black too much. It's often seen in film trailers, but the continuity used in soap trailers is more simple and more effective.
• Maybe they could have used an over-shoulder shot at the wedding like they did at the beginning of the trailer. This shows a connection between the characters and that they are in the same room, whereas without this camera angle, there is no evidence they are standing in front of each other.
• Show the face of the antagonist more. Facial expressions say a lot about how a character is feeling, and close-ups of character faces are much more conventionally used in soap opera trailers.
• Provide a time and date at the end of the trailer for when this episode will be aired. This allows people who watch the trailer to know when it comes on and can make sure they tune in to watch it.

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Valley Hill

Strengths

• There is a good demonstration of the types of emotions involved with the story line.
• The over-shoulder shots used successfully show a connection between the characters.

Weaknesses

• The locations used within the trailer do not reflect a domestic environment, which is unconventional.
• The fade-to-black transition with the messages between frames is also unconventional and is not associated with soap opera trailers.
• The trailer was clearly advertising an event, but the time or date of the episode was missing from the information provided.
• The use of semiotics is not significant, meaning the trailer fails to send certain messages to the audience about the events of the soap opera. This makes the trailer harder to understand and less engaging for the viewer.
• The natural lighting is not reflective of the events in the trailer.

Improvements

• Film a scene within a house or domestic building to show a greater understanding of soap opera conventions. This type of location would also allow the audience to relate to the trailer more easily.
• Get rid of the messages between the frames. It ruins the continuity of the trailer and takes the focus away from the events in the trailer.
• Provide a time and date at the end of the trailer for when this episode will be aired. This allows people who watch the trailer to know when it comes on and can make sure they tune in to watch it.
• Incorporate the use of connotations to tell the audience about the atmosphere of the soap opera and the role of the characters.
• The events of the trailer are very sinister, and using low-key lighting would create a more tense and engaging trailer as opposed to natural lighting.

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Helen How

Strengths

• The characters of the soap are excellently introduced as the trailer clearly shows the relationships between them and how the interact.
• The soap is clearly situated in a domestic area, which shows a great understanding of soap opera conventions.
• The female protagonist we see is wearing red lipstick and red high heels, which connotes love and romance. This demonstrates that the trailer has successfully included the use of semiotics.
• The non-diegetic music played in the background is up-beat and lively, which reflects the age of the characters and the editing pace of the trailer.
• There is a good range of camera shots, including close-ups, mid-shots and over-shoulder shots, which are commonly associated with soap operas.
• The natural lighting goes hand-in-hand with the relaxed natural of the clip.

Weaknesses

• The white transitions and fade-to-blacks ruin the continuity of the trailer.
• There were lots of long shots used, which made it more difficult to see facial expressions.
• The fact that the entire soap seems to revolve around one character goes against soap opera conventions, as there are normally several main characters and story lines.

Improvements

• The use of more close-ups would be more beneficial than using lots of long shots. Seeing the characters' reactions and facial expressions makes the trailer more engaging and effective for the audience.
• Remove the transitions between the frames. Because the character is constantly walking, continuity should be an important part of this trailer.
• If the trailer is going to revolve around one character, explain why (e.g. new character being introduced to the soap, centre of a story line, etc.).