The Theory of Trailers

What is a marketing campaign and why is it needed?
The marketing campaign plays a big role in advertising an upcoming film to it's target audiences. The companies who loan the film to cinemas to show for a period of time are called the distributors.

Film producers pay a Sales Agent to sell the film to a distributor, who then sells to a cinema. Its quite simple when you think about it. It is said that 25% of a film's total budget goes towards marketing, which is a huge amount when you think about it, given that the film is massively expensive to produce.
Before a trailer is made however, a test screening of the film is shown to an audience of mixed social, race and gender groups. These people watch the test screening and vote for which bits are best to pick out and go on the film trailer. Also, if the audience do not enjoy the film ending, they can give ideas how to change it, so the producer can then quickly film a new scene. The older scene is then put as an alternative ending inside the film's DVD package.

It is important for a trailer to show the genre of the film because the audience need to know if they are going to see the film depending on what genre they enjoy watching. Film trailers need to show evidence of genre which we, as the audience, can decode as we watch. Things like the film Title can give away the genre. Acting, Props, Music, Location and Script can also show the genre.

When is the film trailer produced, in terms of the production timeline?
Most trailers are produced at the same time as the film is being cut and edited.