Are Film Trailers Misleading?

Are Film Trailers Misleading?

Film trailers are made to advertise and promote a movie in order to entice a target audience.

As this is a potential problem that we may face in misleading our audience; I thought it was a good idea to research previous trailers that viewers have found relatively misleading and overall causing the film to be a disappointment to them.

Adventureland -2009

What Does The Trailer Tell us?

The trailer sells the film as a comedy set within the late 80's, consiting of 'so-so comedy antics' about growing up.

'From the director of Superbad' is more or less a way of attracting an audience that are expecting a teenage under dog trying to fight his way to the top under comedic circumstances.

What Is The Film Really About?

The film on the other hand is a story about relationships in which performances by Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart and Ryan Reynolds demonstrate a string of teenage issues.

However comedy isn't the focus of the film at all, and the trailer completley misleaded a number of audiences with a number of youtubers commenting on the trailer with their opinions.

As you can see this caused audiences to be unhappy with the difference in trailer and movie content; causing them to use social media in order to promote their film in a negative way.

This is a major issue as it could potentially put people off viewing the film altogether.

The Devil Inside - 2012

 

What Does The Trailer Tell us?

 

From the trailer, the devil inside is set up to be a true story compiled of 'real footage' that has been lost featuring a girl on the hunt for someone to exocise her mother as she believes she has been possessed. The trailer on one hand shows all the gruesome, scary action that the target audience are geared up to see.

 

What Is The Film Really About?

 

With this in mind, the trailer doesn't mislead the audience in terms of narrative however it does in terms of content. After watching the film, the trailer pretty much gives away any scary bit within the film, and the rest that is shown is relatively boring and action less.

 

This is the reason for it's terribly low reviews online with many 'reviewers' commenting and saying not to waste any money on the film.

 

 

With reviews like the one above, it is important that in terms of planning our movie we avoid these mistakes as through online social media and word of mouth, reviews will dramatically effect the success of our film.