In what ways has my trailer adhered to

In what ways has my trailer adhered to or subverted typical

media conventions?

Niaomi Twiss

Typical Trailer Conventions

Make the audience want to watch the full film Give a suggestion of the storyline Set a genre and setting of the film Introduce some of the main characters Draws audience by displaying attention grabbing footage Has an exciting ending Include music, voice over's and narration Inform the audience of who made the film Made up of quick paced clips May include a theory of narrative being displayed

through the storyline

How my trailer adhered to these conventions

My trailer questionnaire results showed that most of my target audience wanted to watch the full film once they had seen the trailer

It gave an introduction into the 3 main characters by having taking a ‘close up’ of all of their faces and displaying this to the audience with text to display the characters name all within the first 20 seconds of the trailer

Narration was provided in the voice over as the main character was telling the story from the outset of the trailer to give the audience a clear image of what the film was about

How my trailer adhered to these conventions> It gave an insight into the storyline shown in the following clips..


Trigger words were used to attract the target audiences attention. As the target audience was tennis fans the famous John McEnroe saying ‘You cannot be serious’ was used early in the trailer by the main character. These are also used in other sports trailers so that the sports fans can relate to the type of humour the film trailer is trying to convey.

My trailer also displayed Todorov’s theory of narrative. At first we see a state of equilibrium where a tennis champion is bidding to win Wimbledon. Then we see a state of disequilibrium where her coach finds her a new doubles partner who isn’t good enough. Later equilibrium is restored as the partner gets better.



It included appropriate music for the type of mood being portrayed to the audience. When the coach was talking, inspirational medal ceremony soundtrack was always playing in the background. Also when the two girls were training, motivational upbeat music dominated the sound at the time.

The length of the trailer was 1.31 this typically fits the convention as most trailers are between 0.50- 1.50 minutes long.



How the trailer subverts typical conventions 1. My trailer challenges the typical conventions of sports films as you normally find that the male

characters are the Antagonists during films and the Females are the Protagonists. My trailer challenged this as the main female character was shown as a Antagonist and the male main character was the Protagonist. I did this to market a new generation of sports films to the target audience.

In the bend it like beckham trailer the 3 stills taken show the main female character being the heroine by standing up to the boys and the victim by being told she cannot play football by the Antagonist male character.

The two stills from my trailer show the main female character making a nasty comment towards her partner and being the Antagonist whilst the male Coach is being the Protagonist by reassuring the underdog.

How the trailer subverts typical conventionsMost sports trailers end with a typically exciting ending. Mine doesn’t it ends simply with the two

girls walking off screen in slow motion. I did this because I felt that the middle section of the trailer was more exciting than you typical sports film trailers therefore I would be ‘overdoing’ the excitement factor if I was to end with an exciting part.

The trailer for Coach carter isn’t as interesting as mine in the beginning as we see the introduction of the characters, firstly by a vertical pan and eyeline match of carter, secondly by the show shot of the two team mates displayed as friends. However in the ending we see a high angle of the grand final basketball match, making the end exciting. Viewers however may have already got bored by this stage so may not take notice.

In my own trailer we get an introduction into what the characters are like and their relationships with each other through the action shots shown at the start and middle of the trailer. Towards the end have a ‘milder’ ending to display the change in relationship between the two characters. I engage the audience early doors with the excitement so they are more likely to take notice of the

mildly exciting parts.

How the trailer subverts typical conventions

The trailer challenged the typical conventions by the use of the voice over being the main character and not the stereotypical ‘deep male voice’ that you would normally get in a sports trailer like Bend it like Beckham and Coach Carter.

I did this for a number of reasons; I wanted the audience to get an image of what a ‘brat’ the main character was by

manipulating her tone of voice to display ‘cocky’ to the audience

The audience were then given a contrast between the attitudes and personalities of Niaomi and Kayleigh, therefore they would be more likely to feel sorry for Kayleigh

I didn’t want to include too much dialogue as other trailers do, this gives away too much of the storyline and makes consumers less likely to purchase the movie or want to watch it. The use of the main characters voice over allowed me to show an abundance of action shots whilst explaining what the film was about to the audience from the voice over.

All of this wouldn’t have been possible to achieve with a stereotypical deep male voice as

it cannot connect and be judged by the audience in the same way that a character can. There is too much risk of it sounding ‘robotic’.

Where did I get the inspiration for my trailer? I got the inspiration for different parts of my trailer from different sources.

I modelled the bratty tennis champion on the main female character of Wimbledon. I wanted them to come across very similarly. As you can see they both pull similar facial expressions and have the same body language as If to say ‘don’t mess with me’ to the audience.

I got the inspiration to involve lots of ‘sports training’ action shots from the Coach Carter trailer. I thought the audience would be able to relate to how hard athletes work to get to the top as most of them are probably sportsmen. The coach carter trailer involves men running through cones and ladders in similarity to Niaomi and Kayleigh performing ‘high knee’s’.

Where did I get the inspiration for my trailer?I got the inspiration to show the coach in ‘two lights’ from the coach carter trailer. It is typical that a sports coach is mean and driven to get people to the top as shown in the two shot of carter telling worm off and the close up of Keith blowing his whistle harshly. It is also typical in sports films that a coach can be nice outside of the sport. This is shown in the mid shot of carter telling the team he is proud of them and the close up of coach Keith reassuring the underdog (Kayleigh). It is important to make the trailer as realistic to life situations as possible, in a life situation coach’s personalities often replicate this. Displaying to the viewers that the film isn’t completely ‘unrealistic’ which may put them off seeing the film.

Overall How did my trailer subvert to or adhere the typical media conventions?

Overall I think that I did a good job in adhering to the typical conventions. I kept most conventions the same as you would see in most sports film trailers. The trailer was kept professional as it provided the ‘standard’ trailer conventions like the institutional logo and made the target audience want to see the full film.

However I did subvert to some of the typical media conventions like the use of the main character for the voice over, but the media conventions I did subvert to were done by intention to make my trailer ‘unique’ to other sports film trailers.

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In what ways has my trailer adhered to