Trailers are a great way to catch the attention of potential readers and customers. They give you an opportunity to make a quick impression and entice people into buying your book or watching your movie. However, they can also be tricky to create.
How to Make a Trailer That Captures Your Audience
When making a trailer, the goal is to hook your audience and create an emotional connection. This means you need to find the right story, a compelling plot, and the best visuals. The most successful trailers use these three things to deliver a satisfying experience.
1. Tell Your Story
To create an effective trailer, start by writing a script for the project. A good script will tell your story in a captivating way, and it should include an outline of the main events that take place in the story.
2. Add Sound and Music
A soundtrack can help your trailer stand out from other videos on YouTube. It can also help evoke the appropriate emotions and tone for your story. In addition to background music, add special effects and motion to create cinematic scenes.
3. Focus on Your Characters
The best trailers focus on the characters’ personalities and storylines. This helps viewers feel a strong empathy for them and keeps them invested in the film.
4. Set Up a Cliffhanger That Leaves the Conflict Unresolved
The most successful trailers introduce the main character, establish the central conflict of the story, and then end on a cliffhanger that leaves the story open-ended. This makes the rest of the film more suspenseful and exciting.
5. Build on a 3-Act Structure
It’s important to structure your trailer in a similar way to the film it’s promoting, with a beginning, middle, and end. This will help your trailer feel more like a mini-story and less like a video advertisement for the film.
6. Highlight the Cast Run
A cast run lists all the actors and other big-name players in a film, and it’s often displayed at the end of a trailer as it approaches its climax. This includes the actors’ name, the role they play in the movie, and their director or producer.
7. Get Creative with Music
The music in a trailer is an essential element to creating the proper mood and evoking emotions. It can also help you tell the story effectively, and it will be used in your trailer’s titles and voice-overs.
8. Don’t Overdo It with Cuts
A trailer’s purpose is to sell the story, not spoil it. You shouldn’t cram too much of the story into your trailer, as it will only confuse your audience and cause them to lose interest.
Fortunately, there are plenty of great tools for creating movie trailers. Whether you’re working with Apple’s iMovie or Adobe Premiere, there are tons of options for editing your video. Choosing the right software is crucial to making an effective trailer.