When creating a radio trailer for a film, the main aim is to entice a potential audience into watching the film. In order to entice an audience, the radio trailer should make use of elements from the original film. The radio trailer should be able to entice an audience using:
Voice overs:
Radio trailers usually include voice overs in order to provide information about the film. For instance a voice over may reveal when the film is released, reviews, the actors/actresses in it and the director. This is crucial information for an audience, as anyone of these may encourage or discourage them from watching the film, so it is important to ensure that this is in a radio trailer.
Dialogue:
Any radio trailer for a film should really use sound from the actual film. Dialogue from the film can entice an audience to watch a film as it gives the audience an insight into what the film consists of and the storyline. These quick snippets of dialogues between the characters may act as a way to encourage an audience to watch a film, as they may touch on topics that an individual may find interesting such as relationships, family or friendships.
Narration:
Radio trailers sometimes use narration from a character in order to put across the character's view. If the film has heavy narration throughout it would probably be a good idea to use this in the radio trailer to ensure consistency. This can be effective as a narrator could ensure that before an audience even watches a film, that they sympathise with the character without even hearing the narrative. It can also be effective if it is from another person's perspective as it could provide an audience with knowledge about a character or event, which an audience may find interesting and then want to watch the film.
Music:
Music is also useful in a radio trailer as it can portray a mood/atmosphere to the audience in order to ensure that they feel a certain way, such as relaxed or worried. Radio trailers usually use the same music from the film in order to maintain consistency. This allows the audience to make connections between the two if they decide to watch the film.
How do we plan on applying this to our radio trailer?
We plan on incorporating all of these conventions into our radio trailer. We plan on taking the music and certain dialogue from our film and placing it in our radio trailer. For example we want to use "This penny has brought me years of good luck, I want you to have it," as this is probably the most crucial part of our film, as Dorothy gives Sarah the penny that causes her to have bad and good luck. The audience wouldn't know the importance of the penny from our radio trailer, however, they will be provided with enough information in order for them to make the decision as to whether or not they want to watch our film based on the dialogue and music provided so far. We also plan on using voice overs to provide information about our film name, reviews and when it is released. This is important information for the audience so we plan on having it clear so that the audience doesn't need to look elsewhere for this information.
A radio trailer shouldn't be any longer than 40 seconds, as they are supposed to provide an audience with a quick insight into the narrative rather than the whole plot. Because we have made a short film it would probably be more appropriate to create one at around 20 seconds due to the minimal dialogue we will have available. We only want to provide the audience with an insight into our film, and because of this, 20 seconds should be enough time.
Radio trailers only get played on appropriate radio stations. For instance, a hollywood blockbuster film is more likely to get played on Capital FM. A radio trailer needs to be played on an appropriate radio station in order to target their audience. For instance, a family film such as Shrek is more likely to place a radio trailer on Hallam FM than Classic FM, as more families listen to Hallam FM. We need to take this into consideration when planning our radio trailer. If we had to chose a radio station, the most appropriate would have been Hallam FM as our film is from the age 10+ and this radio station is more likely to target this audience than any other radio station.
Example of a radio trailer: Superman the movie 1978
(Stop at 29 seconds)
The trailer begins by introducing the name of the film, Superman. This is effective as a radio trailer should be used to entice the audience straight away into the film and by providing the name of the film, they will be aware of what they are listening to. The voice over goes straight into reviews about the film, for instance from News Week. This is another effective element as it informs the audience that the film has brilliant reviews and encourages people to watch it as some people base their likelihood of watching a film on the reviews it has been given. There is then some dialogue taken from the film to give the audience an insight into the film. This is another effective element of the radio trailer as an audience may be intrigued about the scenario and use this as an incentive to go and watch the film. The radio trailer continues to pick reviews given for the film and sections of dialogue from the film. This acts as a way to build up tension. It is an effective way to get an audience to watch the film as all the way through the radio trailer has been emphasising the good reviews given by critics, so why wouldn't someone want to watch it? The radio trailer ends with the name of the film again in order to ensure that the audience remember it. Because it is the last memorable voice over, an audience is more inclined to be able to recall the name and go watch the film. The age rating and certificate is then spoken in order to alert the audience to who can watch the film or who the film is suitable for. This then can inform an audience whether or not they can watch it and may encourage them to go watch it at the cinema. Throughout the radio trailer, there was constant music playing. This also acts as a tool for building up tension. The music is not too loud nor too quiet, so the audience can still be encouraged to watch the film through the voice overs. The use of music is effective as it makes the radio trailer more interesting, and links it directly to the film as similar music will be heard throughout the film, which the audience would then be able to link the two together if they go and watch the film. The radio trailer is effective as it is short. It captures the audience's attention and provides information about the film in a short space of time, which would have ensured people went and viewed the film, to find out more about it. The radio trailer encompasses the different elements required in order to ensure an effective radio trailer. We plan on taking inspiration from this radio trailer when making our own. We plan on encompassing reviews, dialogue, music and voice overs in order to create an effective radio trailer, in hope that people will then be influenced to watch out film.
