Guardians of the Galaxy, The Fate of the Furious, The Wolf of Wall Street, and hundreds of other successful movies are loved by millions of people from around the world. It would seem that there is nothing they have in common. Nevertheless, there is one thing that can be called their commonality – nice trailers. In this article, we’ll focus on how to create excellent movie trailers at home with the help of your computer only.
The first impression of the film depends on the trailer. A good trailer draws the viewer’s attention to the picture and puts the premiere standby in a person’s head. An unsuccessful trailer, on the other hand, creates a misconception about the film and repels you from watching it.
If you are interested in the art of creating great trailers, you are just in the right place. Let’s find out more about all the details of creating really impressive trailers.
Trailer Structure
In the first part, the viewer is introduced to the hero and the situation they face. For instance, in the trailer for the movie “Parasites,” the first footage shows the poor living conditions of the family and their lack of work. The Joker trailer first talks about his mother’s optimistic hopes for his life. Immediately, footage of him being mocked appears on the screen. This contrast makes it clear to the viewer the main problem of the character – rejection by society. All in all, the first part of a trailer opens the veil of the hero’s world so that the viewer wants to know more about them.
The second part of the trailer is the most exciting one—the most spectacular moments of the film alternate. The dynamics are accelerating. The tempo of the music is picking up. The main thing is not to turn this part into one big spoiler. The third part relies on an element of intrigue. The main problem of the hero is shown, some kind of a hopeless situation. The viewer becomes interested to know the solution.
Don’t confuse the structure of the trailer with the structure of the movie itself. It would be a mistake to put the frames in chronological order. The viewer will receive a short retelling of the plot, and the picture can become boring for them.
Features of the Genre
Each genre dictates its own canons to the movie trailer; it is essential to take it into account.
Comedy trailers start and end with funny moments. In the case of a biography, the first part of the acquaintance with the character is used. For action films, the dynamism of the trailer is especially important. Experiment with the frame rate and alternate between different dynamic passages. In horror movie trailers, a sense of growing fear helps convey the delay in a single but atmospheric slow frame.
Expand Your Audience
Using some simple techniques, you can attract different groups of viewers to the trailer. Action movies are in demand mainly with a male audience, but if you add shots with a romantic line, you can interest more women.
Starring
It happens that a well-known celebrity plays a small cameo role in a film. The presence of this person in the trailer helps promote the film. So, the characters of Andrew Scott and Benedict Cumberbatch appear in the film “1917” for a very short time, but their participation in the project was indicated in the trailer and caused the interest of the audience.
Two Parts of a Whole
There is no rule indicating there should only be one trailer. Try to go beyond proven concepts and come up with new ideas for videos. Two different points of view can be combined in two trailers or in one trailer, so choose what you like more and feel free to experiment.
Sound Power
Music creates an atmosphere, sets the necessary emotions, emphasizes the most intense moments. It is the music that helps the trailer find its integrity. It is necessary to approach the choice of music responsibly. It is better to choose music on special resources and pay attention to the license. It depends on its type at what price and on what conditions you can insert a track into a video. Free music sites with attribution you can use are the following:
- The Soundcloud resource allows you to find free songs using the search box. Enter Creative Commons as your request, and the site will show you matching selections or individual tracks.
- Free music on Youtube is in your personal profile in the “Music Library” section. The criteria for mood, genre, instrument make the search more convenient.
- Free Music Archive contains compositions with different kinds of Creative Commons. They differ in their purpose of use and in the ability to change tracks.
- The site dig.ccmixter.org specializes in music for films and games. Tracks can be used with attribution or under the Royalty-Free license, which allows you to pay once for a track and use it in your works as much as you like.
Choose the Right Software
You can practice creating a trailer with the help of the following tools:
- iMovie offers creating trailers from templates. Depending on the theme of the movie, each option has its own fonts and transitions. All you have to do is to arrange the frames in a certain sequence. This option is suitable for a family movie, for example.
- On the Renderforest website, you can find templates for movie trailers, social videos, video presentations. The resource makes it possible to upload and edit videos online.
- Movavi products. Movavi offers a range of products that can satisfy even the most demanding video makers. With the help of editors from Movavi (online or downloadable), it is possible to perform various tasks with a video and make your trailer really impressive. If you are looking for the best MOV-to-MP4 converters, Movavi video converter can help with it.
- Lightworks. It is another good cross-platform video editor. Support of all formats, numerous filters, adjusting sound – this is not the full list of features offered.
- Shotcut is a multi-platform, codec-independent, free video editor for non-linear video editing. It supports 4K and almost all modern video formats for both import and export, as well as HTML5 as a source for filters, videos, etc.
- FXhome products also can do a great job for your trailer. Here are what the company offers: HitFilm Pro, HitFilm Express, CamTrackAR, and more.
Conclusion
All in all, creating a trailer can be extremely enjoyable and helpful for improving your skills. With the help of modern software with its numerous capabilities, it will become a true pleasure.