The Effectiveness of the Techniques Used in Film Trailers in Persuading Their Target Audiences

The Effectiveness of the Techniques Used in Film Trailers in Persuading Their Target Audiences

Media is communication. The main purposes of media are to entertain

and to inform. Television, newspapers/magazines, adverts and the

internet are the most well known forms of media. Trailers are designed

to advertise the film, giving a good impression in a small amount of

time so that people will either go to see the film, or buy the film,

hence making money for the people involved. The trailers chosen were

'Charlie's Angles - Full Throttle' and 'Terminator 3 - Rise of the

Machines'. They were chosen because they had a large appeal and both

used a wide range of presentation techniques. The genres of the

trailers contrast, so other elements in the trailers such as target

audience and style of presentation would also be different.

The genre of 'Charlie's Angels' is action adventure/comedy. The target

audience is mainly females who can either relate to, or admire the

characters. It is a 'chick flick' and so would appeal to a

teenage/young adult audience. It would also attract a male audience

due to its sex appeal. This is perhaps an unusual target audience for

this genre of film, but due to the almost superhuman features in the

characters it works quite well. In this trailer the characters all

wear extremely stylish clothing; the stylishness of the film would

appeal to the young female audience because people in this group like

to be fashionable. The sex symbolism of the actresses is played on

quite a lot in the trailer using scenes of the angels in bikinis, and

of the girls dancing in the club at the start to appeal to the male

audience.

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...is the most effective is 'Terminator

3'. The trailer is well constructed, and uses many different effects

to draw in an audience. I especially like the start, as the high angle

shot of the earth being bombed is attention-grabbing and has excellent

graphic quality, showing the high budget of the film. However, both

trailers are very effective to the right audience. 'Terminator 3'

earned $418.3mill. at the box office, while 'Charlie's Angels' only

earned $252.6mill., showing that overall more people went to see

'Terminator 3' at the cinema. This could be due to the success of the

trailer, or any other number of advertising strategies. Sex appeal

proves to be a very good way of attracting an audience, as it is even

used in a serious film such as 'Terminator 3'. In conclusion,

'Terminator 3' has the most effective trailer.