Even though the purpose of the film trailer is to enticingly seduce the target demographic into viewing an overall film in it's entirety, it would be no mistake to suggest that film trailers are obliged to follow a narrative structure to systematically reel in unsuspecting audience members. In our trailer we would like to conform to the narrative structure set out in most trailers as evidenced from being exposed to the experience of viewing many of them. By conforming to the narrative structure the hope is that the trailer we create for our project as a subsequent result of prior research into existing trailers, will be all the more accurate for conforming to the expected conventions of the narrative structures seen in a trailer. The Narrative Structure of a trailer is a more simplified narrative structure that would be seen in the full movie, to be expected as the purpose of the trailer is to promote the full film, The Narrative Structure of a film trailer is as follows:
- Opening: establishes setting and introduces the characters of the story to the audience.
- Build up: Relationships between the characters are established. Development of characters and the world of the film.
- Problem: The character(s) face a dilemma or series of complications. Characters are faced with an obstacle to overcome a mystery to solve.
- Events: a series of events/action as characters try to overcome obstacle, solve problem, discover truth and so on. Further complications may arise in the process
- Resolution: the protagonists are victorious, problems are solved, truth revealed
- Ending: characters reflect on events, reinstate relationships and look forward.
