Trailer Analysis

Back to The Future Trailer

The trailer for back to the future shows the genre of this film very well. The genre is sci-fi and you can instantly tell this when the DeLorean is shown and the voice over says it’s a time machine. The time machine has components and wires everywhere and they light up during time travel or even when the car is stationary and this is very cliché of sci-fi films. This film has the usual sci-fi clichés written all over it because it has the light up time machine and it even has the crazy looking scientist that makes the time machine. When the trailer says that Marty is sent back 30 years this again starts the clichés because he ends up making his parents not fall in love and he then has to fix the future. Most time travel films have the person that corrupts time and has to fix it before they can leave and go home but then this film has a twist because when Marty does all this he still has to catch the lightning and go home. Then what happens? Another cliché, when trying to capture the lightning to get home the wire comes undone and it is only reattached just in time. This is not just a cliché of sci-fi films but it is also a cliché of most action films to add tension and make the audience sit on the edges of their seat.

The voice over in the trailer is very enthusiastic about the film of course because they want it to sell at the box office but it also provides crucial information. It uses enigma codes to get the audience involved and ask questions about what is going to happen next and this makes people want to watch the film and find out the answers.

The sound effects used in the trailer are very futuristic and are again cliché of sci-fi films because they are not normal. They are very piercing to show the audience that they are there and to make sure they know that it is a sci-fi film. They add to the whole effect of the trailer and it gets the audience to look at it and examine more because they can see what is happening and also here the full effect of the film. This helps to engage the audience in the trailer and get them to see that the film really is.

One child mentions aliens and thinks that the car is a spaceship because of all the lights and because of his comic book but we of course know that this boy will not have seen a modern looking car before and won’t for some time because they are completely different to what they are now. This again shows the sci-fi elements of the film and tells the audience it’s a sci-fi. The more important bit of the scene is the mention pf aliens because a lot of sci-fi films have aliens in for example war of the worlds but this film is different and doesn’t have the alien elements usually shown but they show this to try and show that the film is different and not your well known sci-fi film that has aliens in.

Overall the trailer for back to the future show the sci-fi elements usually shown to create a good and interesting trailer that will capture the audience and make them want to come back to the cinema and watch this great film.