Are some trailer conventions more prevalent to specific genres?

The word ‘genre’ refers to the basis on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. Most theories of film genre are borrowed from literary genre. There is a great deal of debate over how to define and categorize genres in the literary context. The basic distinction in literary genre is between fiction and documentary, although film genres can be categorized in several ways.
Fictional films are usually categorized according to their setting, theme topic, mood, or format.
Setting - the environment where the story and action takes place.
Theme - refers to the issues or concepts that the film revolves around.
Mood - the emotional tone of the film.
Format - refers to the way the film was shot or the manner of presentation.
An additional way of categorizing film genres is by the target audience.

Action films

Common action film trailer conventions include explosions and plenty of gunfire, such as 2006 Mission Impossible 3 although most action movies employ elements of both. Voiceovers with slow paced shots showing, followed by fast paced shots of action and loud, non-diegetic music playing are also common in action film trailer, such as in the 2010 A-team trailer. In terms of colour codes, dark colours are often used, particulary to emphasise the villian. Bright reds, oranges etc are used for explosions and the characters are often male, as men are more associated with action and danger than women, hence, attracting an audience of more males than females.

Comedy films

Conventions of comedy film trailers are to incorporate jokes from the film, tell them while there is upbeat non diegetic music playing, and stop the music while the punch line is being delieverd, this technique is used to emphasize the punch line and make it funnier for an audience, attracting them to the film and making it obvious that it is of the comedy genre. Lines from the film are put together cleverly like a jigsaw, for example, if one character asks a question, another answers from a scene later on in the film. This compiles the film together and creates the general story for the audience. Colour codes are mostly bright, vibrant colours, emphasising the connotation of happiness and humour and showing the film is realistic. Comedy films vary from having a mainly female cast, such as with the 2011 film Bridesmaids, to the majorly male cast of the 2005 film, 40 year old virgin.

Drama films

The drama genre is usually a subgenre, followed by another category such as crime drama, political drama, courtroom dramas etc. Conventions of these types of film trailers are that they tend to start with soft non diegetic music, which is followed by louder, more dramatic, suspenseful non diegetic music. Dissolve edits are also very common in drama film trailers, seen in trailers such as the 2011 Girl with the dragon tattoo. In terms of colour codes, dull colours are often used to highlight the acting, characterisation and storyline than the mise-en-scene, this is seen in the 2010 film, The Black Swan.

Horror films

Horror film trailers are the most stereotypical, and share the most similarities and conventions. These conventions include voice overs, use of foley sounds such as 'whoosh', 'slashing' and 'cutting' sound effects into different shots, fast pace clips, suspenceful non diegetic music, and black and red colour schemes. These conventions are all used to inflict fear. Sound effects enhance the action shown on screen such as in the 2011 film trailer, Final Destination 5, and zooms into close-ups and extreme close-ups of faces of the victims' are also often shown, like in the trailer for The Thing, 2011.

Musical films

Like trailers for horror films, trailers for musicals are also very similar. They use conventions such as playing nondiegetic songs from the film throughout the trailer, showing the audience what type of music to expect. Choreographed dance is also common, along with the main character always situating centre screen, such as in the 2008 film, Mamma Mia. Similar to comedy films, musicals also fit pieces of dialogue from the play together to give an overall idea of the storyline for an audience, rather like in the 2010 musical film, Burlesque. The general colour schemes of musical films are a variety, lots of bright, vibrant colour, glitter and sparkle in the titles are used to emphasise the happiness and 'showbiz' elements of the film, which attracts audiences from all ages, although gender-wise, tends to attract more of a female dominated audience.

Animated films
The mise-en-scene throughout animated film trailers are always animated, such as in the 2009 film, Up. Other conventions animated films use are always colourful, include all the characters of the film, and use diegetic and non-diegetic music to attract child audiences. Voice overs are often used to introduce films such as Monsters Inc. 2001. Key scenes are used to advertise and entice audiences to want to watch the film.

Western films

Common conventions of western film trailers are the typical spaghetti-western non diegetic music playing throughout, close-up shots of the main characters, emphasis on gunfire and explosions, and desert-like locations like in the 1966 film, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. The casts of western films are usually male centred, which attracts a male centred audience. There is however a damsel in distress shown in film trailers, such as in the 2010 film, True Grit.

Science Fiction films

The 2009 film, Avatar is an example of a science fiction film. In the film trailer, and other science-fiction film trailers, typical conventions used are frequent the use of graphics, creating creatures that are supnatural or not human. These creatures are often neutral, natural colours such as blue; the colour of the Avatars, and green; like the character Yoda in the 1999 film, Star Wars. Reds are often used to highlight the villain, such as Darth Vader and the light saber of the villian. Explosions and flying machines are also usually seen in science-fiction film trailers, along with non-diegetic, triumphant music.

Romance films
Common conventions of romance films are that they start with soft non-diegetic music, usually piano, or the song that plays an important part in the film, such as Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On in the 1997 romance film, Titanic. Water is also a theme in most romantic films, as it shows the calmness and tranuility of the film. This is shown in both Titanic and The Notebook, 2004. The characters shown in romance film trailers are always the main couple of which the love story revolves. Fade outs and slow paced scenes with a voice over are all conventions used in romance film trailers.

War films
Common conventions of war film trailers are the use of non diegetic, triumphant music to set the tone of victory and battle, and the use of diegetic explosion and gunfire sounds along with action onscreen of locations being bombed, characters being shot or stabbed, and fast paced movement of characters and sometimes horses. An example of the action coming mainly from horses is in the trailer for the 2011 film, War Horse. Characters are majorly men, as reinactments of actual wars must produce an accurate take on such events, when women were not allowed to fight in wars. An example of an all male cast in the trailer is Saving Private Ryan, 1998. The action onscreen is often fast pace while fade outs to a black screen with titles on are slow paced to add to the intensity of the trailer.

Thriller films

Similar to war film trailers, thriller film trailers also use the convention of having fast paced action on clips, contrasting with slow paced fade outs to black to add to the intensity of the trailer. They also use voice overs and non diegetic suspenceful music to add to the excitement. The trailer for the 2010 film Inception uses suspeceful non diegetic music., it also uses graphics to create other-wordly happenings within the trailer, like at one point where the horizontal ground becomes vertical. This effect is also used in many other thriller films, such as the 2008 Dark Knight trailer.