What is a trailer?

Trailers are a great way of marketing a product to get an audience interested. Trailers for films, TV programmes and TV advertisements have been used for a while however, only recently trailers have been produced for the live medium. With such sites as YouTube, distribution of videos is much easier and can reach a wider audience. They also fit well into social networks for example, it is easy enough to find a trailer, post it onto a social networking site and either promote how well you enjoyed the performance or get people interested in going to watch it. It is also a great way of attracting audiences even if the production hasn’t started rehearsing, with so much software available to make animations and so on it is possible to set the tone and mood of the production without showing any bits of performance material.

What makes a good trailer?

A good trailer needs communicate a theatre company’s inspiration for the production not just the production itself. Theatre company’s also need to produce a trailer aimed at the audience they wish to attract. Of course it is possible different people will be interested but if it is a specific performance for a specific audience this must be communicated. Music is integral to a good trailer since it sets the mood for the piece. The music used should reflect the production and be used in the production so the audience have a connection. If possible, examples of the production should be included as this gives the audience an idea of what they can expect. A trailer should also be treated as an extension of the production, a piece of art in its own right, otherwise it could just look like a copy of a film trailer.

Examples of theatre company trailers

1927 Presents: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

The trailer didn’t give too much away which gained my interest as it made me want to see more. I could see that it would be a multimedia performance which also made me interested. However, the scenes were too quick and it was difficult to read everything that was on the screen. This made it difficult to really understand what the performance was going to involve.

1927 Presents: The Animals and the Children Took to the Streets

The company had learnt from their previous attempt and the scenes were slowed down. This made it easier to read and get an understanding of what the performance would involve. It still didn’t give too much away but enough to gain my interest.

Imitating the Dog: The Zero Hour

Although I was interested it seem quite long. There was too much information at the beginning to concentrate on for instance, I began listening to who was speaking but once examples of the performance were shown I started concentrated on that and blocking out what was being said. I got a sense of what the performance involved but not a lot was giving away nevertheless this made it more interesting and made me want to more.

Blast Theory: A Machine to See With

This trailer included information about who they are, what they do and why. This was good background information but was presented in a poor way and not all of it was necessary, for that reason after a while I began to lose concentration. I understood that it was a site specific performance however I did not quite understand what my role as an audience member would be. Would I be the one on the phone or watch the person on the phone? Even though this was confusing it also made me want to find out what this production would involve.

Using the previous examples, a good trailer must give a clear inclination about the type of work they are producing, for example multi-media, by possibly showing clips of the performance. However it must not give too much away and keep the audience wanting to see more. As well as this it must not be too overloaded on content so the audience are able to gain interest and have an idea of what is expected of them. Music is essential, since all of the examples included it in some form, as it is a way of giving an impression as to the mood of the performance. Most importantly it must interest the type of audience the company are aiming for.