Differences between a Trailer and a Film Opening

Film Trailers

A trailer and a film opening have distinctive differences. For example, a film trailer gives information about the film, this is done by showing a montage of a clip from the film, this is called fragmented narrative. By showing a montage of the film, by showing sections of the films that will grab the audiences attention which causes them to want to see more of the film, as they want to know why those clips of the montage is so important, and go into a cinema to watch the film.

Trailers always has the transition of 'Fade-to-Black', as well as voice overs, this creates suspension and time passing. The title of the film always appears at the end of the trailer as well as details of  the cast, and crew, however, the names of the actors, with important characters are  usually appear throughout the trailer, as well as character types, such as, super villain or super hero, and institutional logo's are usually found at the start of the trailer.

Film trailers also include:

• An indication of where it is,
• An indication of when it is,
• Information regarding mood and tone,
• Information to signature theme tune,
• Information about genre,

Most trailers include questions that the viewer finds intriguing and they will also have a tag line, an example of this is in 'The Dark Knight' when Joker says Why So Serious?':



Patters and types of editing that will be echoed or elaborated upon later in the film is used in the trailer, as well as Mise en Scène and cinematography. This makes the trailer more like the film, so the audience knows what type of film it will be.

A good example of a trailer that includes everything is:

Film Openings

The opening credits usually identifies the major actors, important crew and the director, as well as institutional logo's.
The order of this always starts with the institution that is distributing the film, these institutions will go first even if they have or haven't produced it. Such institutions include the likes of Universal, Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios etc.
This is then followed by the name of the production company that made the film or companies/investment groups that had financed a large sum of the film. For example, ''A ... Production'' or ''In Association with ...''.
The next title in the sequence would be the directors first appearance usually ''A Film by ... '' or '' A ... Film''
Then it shows who the main characters are played by, which is then followed by the name of the film.
The featured actors comes after the title, then it would be the casting director's name, the composer of the music that's used in the film. After this person would be the production designer.
The editor comes just before the director of photography, soon after, the producers, co-producers and executive producers will appear on the screen. If the film is based on a book or anything of the sorts such as a play, then they will appear after the producers, the same applies if the film is based on characters are based on a book, this would appear after the name of the book.
The next title in the sequence would be of the person who wrote the story on which the script is based on. This would generally be shown with a ''Story By ... '' title.
The second to last title would be the writers names in the form of ''Written by ... ''.
The final title always belongs to the director. This is shown normally by ''Directed by ... ''

Apart from just the order of the title sequence, a film opening tends to establish:

• Genre: 

- A way of grouping films with similar techniques or conventions together. E.g. Horror, Action, Thriller etc.

You can also get sub-genres and hybrid genres. Sub-genres are a substrate of a genre that has their own distinctive iconography and style, such as Psychological Thriller, Supernatural horror etc. A hybrid genre is when two genres are merged together to create a new genre, e.g. Romantic Comedy.

• Narrative: 

- The way a sequence of events, the plot, are put together for the audience.

• Character:

- Establishes what type of role the actor is playing, and how the audience views them. E.g. a protagonist is seen to be the good guy by the audience.

• Atmosphere:

- How the film feels, this includes the pace, a fast paced scene would make the audience anxious, however, a slow paced scene would make the audience feel relaxed and comfortable.

• Theme:

- The underlying subject in the film. an example of this is Love or Revenge, etc.

• Setting:

- Where and when the scene is set. It includes iconography of the place and time, of which the audience will pick up on.

• Sound:

- Is what can be heard to convey an emotion or meaning to the audience. For example, soft violins connotes sadness etc.

• and Titles:

- The layout and when the title appears on the screen tells the audience what roles are played and how significant they are to the production of the film. For example the main character will be the first person to be shown in a title sequence. 

By establishing this means that the audience will be more engaged and 'Hooked' which means that they would want to watch the rest of the film.