Film Trailers and Openings

A film trailer:

• gives information about a film
• uses fades to black and montages quite often
• consists of titles, logos, actors/producers names and clips
• contains taglines and film's title
• shows sections of the film that will grab audiences attention (encourage them to watch the film).

A film opening:

• gives details of the cast, crew and institution producing the film (in a certain order)
• contains film's title
• introduces the audience to main character/character type
• gives an indication of place and historical period
• gives information on mood and tone
• gives an indication of genre
• introduces audience to signature theme tune
• sets the film up
• shows things viewers may find intriguing (makes them question).

Although both things give an indication to what the fiolm is to be like, there are some major differences.  The film trailer contains information about the film as a whole, without giving important details away.  A film opening contains information about, maybe, the main characters and the scene and genre, but that is all.  Another important difference is the orders the titles run in.  In a film trailer, the film's title is usually displayed at the very end, before the premiere date.  In a film opening, the film title is placed roughly 30 seconds into the opening, followed by more titles, before the film plays on after the director's name (which is always the last title).  Both the film trailer and opening want to intrigue the audience, however the film trailers always seem to be more fast-paced and contain more action than the same film's opening in comparison.

The Pink Panther (2006) trailer and opening


Within the trailer to The Pink Panther (2006) the clips that have been used are most probably the funniest and action-based ones in the film.  This captures people's attention and intrigues them into watching the film.  This trailer does also tell people quite a bit of background information on the film and what could happen in the storyline, however it cleverly does not show the reactions of some of the actions and therefore, does not give away too much.


In comparison, the opening is very vague.  It isn't a conventional film opening; where it sets the scene, or introduces the main character, however it is a very effective way of getting all the opening titles into the film whilst keeping the audiences attention.  It does hint at the comedy genre of the film and gives away small clues as to what the storyline could be.