How to Make a Movie Trailer

Co-authored by Melessa Sargent

Last Updated: March 4, 2024 References

The movie trailer is a work of art that stands on its own, separate from the movie it's advertising. Great trailers "tease" the full movie without revealing too much, building excitement for the movie and giving the audience an alluring taste of the final product that leaves it wanting more. Making the perfect movie trailer is no small feat — accomplishing this task will take planning, persistence, and a set of skills that's slightly different from what's needed to make a feature-length movie.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Organizing a Basic Trailer

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1
Start with brief screens to display production company information. Think back to the last movie trailer you saw &dash; unless it was for an extremely small-budget independent movie, there's a good chance that the first thing you saw in the trailer wasn't footage from the movie itself, but instead a few quick screens showing the logos of the studio that made the film, the production company or distributor, and so on. These images, though brief, are important &dash; the people involved with the film want to receive due credit for the time and money they've spent on it & dash; so don't forget them.
- Note, though, that you don't necessarily have to wait until these images have finished displaying to start introducing your audience to your film. In fact, most trailers use the precious seconds spent showing these logos to start playing music that establishes the mood of the trailer (more on this below) and/or playing audio dialog from the film.
- Note also that, in rare cases, the standard logos of the studio and/or production company are creatively modified to fit the mood of the trailer. For instance, the original trailer for Office Space (1999) displays the iconic "gold-text-and-spotlights" 20th Century Fox logo by having it print from an office Xerox machine.
2
Establish your mood, genre, and main character. Don't waste any time introducing the basic facts of your movie to your audience. Within about the first ten to thirty seconds of your trailer, your audience should have a rough idea about what kind of film the trailer is for, who the main character is, and what sort of mood the film has (i.e., grim, lighthearted, ironic, etc.) There's no single "right" way to do this, but often, trailers do this by showing a quick clip of the main character saying or doing something that clearly establishes the general mood and content of the film.
- For example, let's look at the first 20 seconds or so for the trailer for the 2014 film Whiplash starring J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller.
  
  We open with a shot of a New York City street at night. We see Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller), a college-age young man, talking to Nicole (Melissa Benoist), a woman of similar age, in a deli.
  NICOLE
  This place is nice.
  ANDREW
  I really like the music that they play - Bob Ellis on the drums.
  Nicole laughs, we see the couple's feet touch under the table.
  ANDREW (Voiceover)
  I'm part of Shaffer's top jazz orchestra - it's the best music school in the country
  As Andrew speaks, we see brief clips of him standing outside of his school, then see him practicing drums. As he continues, we see a clip of Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), an older man, walking into a room and hanging up his coat and hat. We cut to Fletcher talking to Andrew as he leans against a wall.
  FLETCHER
  The key is to just relax. Don't worry about the numbers, don't worry about what the other guys are thinking. You're here for a reason. Have fun.
  We cut to Fletcher cuing his band to start playing.
  FLETCHER
  Ah-five, six, and...
  
  In just twenty seconds, the Whiplash trailer tells us a wealth of information about the movie: that Andrew is the focus of the film, that Andrew is a young musical prodigy, that the film has a romantic component, and that Fletcher has a teacher/mentor relationship with Andrew.
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3
Introduce your film's central conflict. Once you've established your film's "status quo," introduce its main conflict — the people, things, feelings and events that will form the basis for the story. In other words, show the audience why it should care about the characters and themes you've just introduced it to. Try to answer questions like, "What dramatic thing happens to set the plot in motion?", "How does this make the characters feel?", and "How does the main character try to solve the conflict?" In the words of Jerry Flattum of Scriptmag.com, "Storytelling is based on conflict. Without conflict there’s no drama. Drama is conflict."^{[1]
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- Let's return to the trailer for Whiplash to continue with our example. After the trailer establishes the film's foundation, it quickly reveals its central conflict.
  
  We see Andrew confidently playing drums in a jazz band while Fletcher conducts. Upbeat jazz music plays on the soundtrack.
  FLETCHER
  (Praising Andrew) We got Buddy Rich here!
  The band resumes playing. Suddenly, Fletcher signals the band to stop.
  FLETCHER
  (To Andrew) Little trouble there. You're rushing. Here we go! (Fletcher cues the band to start playing) Five, six, and...
  Andrew and the rest of the band resume the song. Without warning, Fletcher hurls a chair at Andrew, who ducks out of the way at the last second.
  FLETCHER
  (Angrily) Were you rushing, or were you dragging?
  ANDREW
  (Meekly) Uh, I don't know.
  We cut to a closeup of Fletcher leaning over Andrew. Fletcher slaps Andrew hard in his face.
  FLETCHER
  (Furiously) If you deliberately sabotage my band, I will gut you like a pig!
  Andrew starts to cry.
  FLETCHER
  Oh my dear God. Are you one of those "single tear" people? You are a worthless pansy who is now weeping and slobbering all over my drumset like a nine year-old girl!
  
  The Whiplash trailer establishes the film's central conflict to shocking effect. Fletcher, who at first appears to be a normal teacher, is revealed to be a cruel, ruthless, and abusive tormentor. The conflict is clear without the film having to spell it out explicitly: will Andrew, who wants to be a great musician, be able to survive the extreme stress of tutelage under Fletcher?
4
Tease at the film's rising action (without spoiling the plot.) After you've established the film's characters and central conflict, you have a little more freedom in how to continue your trailer. Many modern trailers choose to hint at the progression of the plot by showing quick, snappy clips of key lines or events in the film in rough (though usually not exact) order of their appearance. Note, however, that moviegoers may resent trailers that reveal too much about the film's plot, especially if any surprising plot twists are revealed, so be discrete — don't give away too many of the film's surprises!
- The Whiplash trailer explores the basic plot beats of the movie while revealing surprisingly few specifics. The brief snippets below are taken from the trailer; to keep the length of this article manageable, some snippets have been omitted:
  
  Andrew and his father Jim (Paul Reiser) are shown talking in a dimly-lit kitchen.
  JIM
  So how's it going with studio band?
  ANDREW
  (Subtly ill-at-ease) Good! Yeah, I think he... likes me more now.
  We cut to a clip of Fletcher screaming at Andrew as he plays drums. No lines are heard; only the grim, driving score plays.
  
  Various short clips play as Fletcher speaks in voiceover: Andrew walks down a dark concrete hallway; Andrew drums furiously onstage, dripping with sweat; Andrew runs through a parking lot with his equipment bag; Andrew punches through a snare drum in a fit of rage while practicing.
  FLETCHER (Voiceover)
  I push people beyond what's expected of them. I believe that is... an absolute necessity.
  
  Andrew and Nicole sit in a restaurant.
  ANDREW
  I want to be one of the greats. And, because I'm doing that, it's going to take up more of my time... and this is why I don't think that we should be together.
  Nicole looks on, stunned.
  
  These brief clips give us a good idea of how the plot is going to progress in Whiplash without spoiling any big reveals for us. We now know that the stress of drumming under Fletcher is going to gradually creep into Andrew's home life, we know that Fletcher views his harsh teaching philosophy as a way to push young talented musicians to greatness, and we know that Andrew and Nicole will begin to experience romantic tensions as drumming eats up more and more of Andrew's time. We don't know, however, exactly how Andrew's relationships with Nicole and his family members will be affected in the long run. Most crucially, we don't know whether Andrew will truly become "great" by the movie's end.
5
Spell out the film's central message. As your trailer nears the end of its runtime, leave the audience with a strong, lasting impression by acknowledging your film's main theme in an exciting or compelling way. According to A Handbook to Literature by William Flint Thrall et. al., a theme is "the central or dominating idea in a literary work." In other words, you'll want to try to show your audience what the film is about — not in terms of plot, but in terms of subtext. What single question or idea is your film trying to relate to the audience? How can you boil the main conflict of your film down to a single memorable line or image?
- The "central" moment of the Whiplash trailer comes near the end:
  
  Various clips play as Fletcher slowly speaks in voiceover: Andrew sits in a long dorm hallway alone; Andrew leaves a building late at night; Andrew stares with a worried expression in a drab band room. Finally, we join Fletcher and Andrew in a dark room — Fletcher's final lines come from him directly as the score swells.
  FLETCHER (Partial voiceover)
  There are no two words in the English language more harmful than "good job."
  
  Here, the trailer hints at the thematic question at the heart of Whiplash: Are Fletcher's cruel methods justified if he is able to produce truly great musicians? If our young, promising musician doesn't have to go through this metaphorical hell, is he somehow less likely to achieve the greatness he longs for? The trailer wisely chooses not to answer these questions — we'll just have to see the movie to find out!
6
End the trailer with a particularly memorable line or image. The last few seconds of your trailer are your chance to give the audience a "parting shot" or an enticing hook to make the idea of seeing your movie even more irresistible. You don't necessarily have to be as profound here as you were when you revealed the film's central theme earlier — here, it's often effective to simply end with a witty one-liner, a provocative image, or a few quick shots that are exciting when shown in sequence but don't reveal too much about the film's plot.
- Whiplash takes a somewhat unique approach here — rather than ending with a single clip, it ends with a flurry of fast cuts that build in a crescendo of speed and tension. There is no dialogue — just the slow, steady beat of a snare drum that gradually gets faster and faster as the cuts between clips become more and more frequent. The drumming reaches a loud, powerful zenith, then stops suddenly — we are left with a close-up of Andrew at his drum set, sweating, with an implacable look on his face as a single piano cord reverberates on the soundtrack. This crescendo of action leaves us tense, exhilarated, and wanting more, though it reveals no plot details.
7
Add credits/legal information at the very end. Finally, nearly all movie trailers end with a quick credit page containing information about the film. Usually, this is limited to the studios and production companies behind the film and individuals who played major roles in its production, like the director, executive producer, starring actors, and so on. Minor roles like stagehands, key grips, and so on are usually not included.
- Note that, in the United States, the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) has a comprehensive system of rules in place for assigning credits on films that fall under its jurisdiction. Other movie-related guilds and unions, like, for example, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), have their own similar rules. Major film releases must adhere to these rules — it is not enough to simply display as much information as the creator of the trailer believes to be sufficient. Films and trailers that break these rules may have difficulties being released due to lack of support from these organizations.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Making Your Trailer More Effective

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1
Use the best equipment possible. If all other factors are equal, it's hard to hurt the quality of a trailer by ditching low-quality equipment for top-of the line hardware. Trailers that are shot with crystal-clear, high-quality cameras and microphones and put together with professional-grade editing software will have a much easier time looking and sounding amazing than those shot on a shoestring budget with inferior equipment. While it's certainly possible to create beautiful, effective trailers while working around these types of budget and equipment limitations, this requires extra work and planning.
- Note that trailers are usually (but not always) pieced together from footage from the movie, not shot on their own. Thus, to be clear, it's often best to shoot the movie itself with this high-end equipment, rather than reserve this equipment for the trailer alone.
2
Storyboard or draw out your trailer. Planning is absolutely crucial for making a gripping trailer. Even if you're making your trailer entirely from preexisting footage you shot for your movie, it's still very wise to have a shot-for-shot plan before you step into the metaphorical editing room. If you don't have a plan, you may find that your time is wasted: with a feature-length movie's worth of footage to work with and no roadmap to follow, it can be extremely difficult to even get started.
- This being said, it's important not to devote yourself too heavily to your storyboard. In the world of cinema, plans are meant to be adjusted on the fly occasionally. You may, for instance, find that certain clips that you thought would play perfectly just don't "work" in the greater context of the trailer — in this case, be prepared to adjust your plan to correct these errors and make your trailer as good as possible.
- Never created a storyboard before? See our storyboarding article to get started.
3
Keep your editing snappy (or find someone who can do it for you.) Good trailers have a natural "rhythm" that's almost impossible to describe adequately. The images and sounds in the trailer seem to "flow" into each other in a logical yet effortless way. Each clip is the perfect length — not so short that it's hard to tell what's going on, but not so long as to be boring or distracting. This requires precise editing and a good "feel" for the visual language of film, so if you're not an experienced editor, work with one as you piece the footage for your trailer together.
- Because of the time and energy required to carefully edit a movie trailer together, many studios now hire third party companies to do some or all of the work of creating the trailer. If you have the money, consider contacting one of these firms (or an experienced freelancer) about helping you with your trailer. You may find that you even saver money in the long run by reducing the development time of the trailer.^{[2]
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4
Choose music and sounds that fit the mood of the trailer. Sound (and especially music) can be a big part of what makes a trailer effective. The best trailers use sound and music to magnify the impact of the action on screen and establish the mood of the trailer (thus hinting at the mood of the movie itself.) On the other hand, bad trailers may use sound and music in a way that doesn't complement the action or may make the music the focus of the trailer, rather than the action itself, distracting from the trailer's message.
- One example of a great use of sound and music in a movie trailer is in the third official trailer for Nicolas Winding Refn's 2013 crime drama Only God Forgives. While the movie itself was met with middling-to-negative reviews, the trailer is truly memorable.^{[3]
  X
  Research source} The trailer opens with images of confrontations between criminals, complete with implied violence. These shots are accompanied by a 1980s-inspired, driving, arpeggiated synth line that perfectly fits the retro, neon-drenched aesthetic while conveying a sickening sense of dread. Later, the sound cuts out during slow-motion footage of a gang shooting except for the twinkling, almost childlike keyboard melody of a ballad by Thai indie band P.R.O.U.D. for a truly chilling effect.
5
Consider adding voiceover or text cards. Not every trailer relies solely on footage from the film to relay the basics of plot, setting, characters, and so on — some take a more direct approach by including voiceover narration or text cards to help give context to the footage onscreen. However, this option must be considered carefully — if overused, voiceovers and text cards can distract from the footage itself and lend the trailer a cheap or run-of-the-mill feel. When in doubt, abide by the common sense rule that, in art, it's usually better to show than to tell.
- One trailer that uses voiceover work in a restrained way that compliments the trailer itself is the trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's 2014 adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice. In the trailer, a coy female voice relays the basic plot of the film in a humorous, deliberately campy fashion that fits the early 70s California setting and the comedic tone of the film. The narration appears only at the beginning and end of the trailer and never distracts from the action. The narrator sleepily delivers sarcastic lines like "Doc [the main character, a "slacker" detective] may not be a do-gooder, but he's done good ... good luck, Doc!" and ends the trailer with the self-aware "Coming just in time for Christmas."
6
Refine your trailer to about two and a half minutes of footage or less. As a general rule, trailers should be no more than a minute or two long. Typically, full-length trailers run about two and a half minutes, though this is not a "hard and fast rule." In fact, the National Association of Theater Owners has recently spearheaded an effort to restrict trailers to a strict two-minute runtime.^{[4]
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Research source} Regardless of the content of your film, try to squeeze all the important beats in the section above into a short, tidy package. Remember — the longer your trailer, the more of a chance your audience will have to get bored with it.
- Trailers longer than three minutes are very few and far between. One semi-recent example of this type of long-form trailer is the nearly six-minute "Extended" trailer for the Wachoski sibling's 2012 adaptation of David Mitchell's novel Cloud Atlas. Though the longer format does lend itself to the film's complex narrative, which is woven between six different settings and time periods, the creators wisely chose to also release a standard-length version.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Broadening Your Perspective

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1
Be willing to play with (and ignore) the "rules" for making a trailer. The steps in the sections above should help you create an exciting, effective trailer for most films. However, truly great trailers — those that are remembered for perfecting or re-defining the art form — are often considered classics because their creators were bold enough to disregard established trends in trailer-making. If you're shooting for greatness, stick to your artistic vision — even when it guides you away from conventional trailer techniques.
- One great example of a trailer that pushed the boundaries of the art form when it was released decades ago and that has retained its status as one of the greatest trailers of all time (if not the greatest) is the trailer for Ridley Scott's Alien. The trailer is more a disjointed collage of unsettling images from the film than a traditional trailer, but the impression they give is one that's unforgettable. The only bit of guidance the trailer gives the audience is in the now-iconic tagline that appears in the uneasy silence at the end of the trailer: "In space, no one can hear you scream." The connection between the images and the film is (ingeniously) left to the audience's imagination.
2
Participate in the dialogue surrounding trailer-making. Movie trailers as an art form have been written about, dissected, and analyzed a great deal — especially with the dawning of technology that makes such discussion convenient for average people to participate it (like internet forums, blogs, podcasts, and so on.) If you want to distinguish yourself as a creator of great trailers, it's a good idea to become involved in this ongoing worldwide discussion. Below are just a few jumping-off points to get you started — it's up to you to explore as deeply as you'd like.
- One good piece of reading to start with is John Long's 9 (Short) Storytelling Tips From A Master Of Movie Trailers, an article written for fastcocreate.com. In the article, Long, who is a co-founder of a trailer production house, discusses the techniques his company uses to create trailers.
- Several free podcasts discuss the film-making aspects of modern and classic trailers. Among them are The Trailer Home Podcast, an up-to-date Iowa-based podcast, and Trailerclash, a podcast available through iTunes.^{[5]
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  Research source} Many more can easily be found with a quick search engine query.
- Finally, community sites like Reddit usually are home to lively discussions as soon as a new film trailer is released — consider joining one of these communities and stirring the pot!
3
Learn from the greats. Having a hard time finding a concept for your trailer? Seek inspiration from the noteworthy, boundary-pushing trailers that have already been made. As immortalized by the words of Isaac Newton, greatness is achieved by "standing on the shoulders of giants."^{[6]
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Research source} In other words, don't be afraid to reinterpret the ideas of trailer-making masters through your own unique directorial lens. Below is a short list of films regarded as having outstanding trailers — there are many, many more than can be listed here. Note that not all of the movies that followed the trailers below were well-received.
- Alien (1979) — discussed above.
- Watchmen (2009) — great use of music, atmosphere.
- The Social Network (2010) — subtle tension, eerie atmosphere.
- Cloverfield (2008) — establishes the non-traditional shooting style of the film, creates an air of mystery.
- The Minus Man (1999) — uses a conceptual trick to spark interest in the film. The trailer isn't about the film itself, but, rather, about a fictional couple that has just seen the film and can't stop talking about it.
- Sleeper (1973) — noteworthy for its bizarre quality: director Woody Allen talks about his new movie in detached, pretentiously intellectual terms. This discussion is inter-cut with footage of outrageous, silly slapstick comedy from the film.

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How do you become a movie trailer editor?

Melessa Sargent
Film Producer
Melessa Sargent is the President of Scriptwriters Network, a non-profit organization that brings in entertainment professionals to teach the art and business of script writing for TV, features and new media. The Network serves its members by providing educational programming, developing access and opportunity through alliances with industry professionals, and furthering the cause and quality of writing in the entertainment industry. Under Melessa's leadership, SWN has won numbers awards including the Los Angeles Award from 2014 through 2021, and the Innovation & Excellence award in 2020.

Melessa Sargent

Film Producer

Expert Answer

You need to learn how to edit first—there are programs that you can check out on the internet that can help you learn, like Movavi. From there, you have to figure which parts are best-suited for the short trailer that will draw people into the movie.

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Isn't it possible to show the menacing bad guy in a couple of scenes without giving away the plot? Since he is a central character in the movie, I believe he should be seen in the trailer.

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You could show clips of this character when he is not speaking or just show him speaking a few lines instead of a whole scene.

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What are movie trailers for?

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Trailers help build interest in movies before they are released.

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Tips

Generally, it's a bad idea to start work on a trailer before you've wrapped shooting for your film. If you still have footage left to shoot, you essentially have an incomplete collection of scenes to choose from for your trailer, limiting your possibilities.

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The modern movie trailer is very, very different than the sorts of trailers that were typically shown in earlier decades of film. Consider seeking out trailers from the past to get a better understanding of the evolution of trailer-making (and, thus, a greater pool of knowledge to pull from as you shoot your trailer in the present.)

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