Conventions of an Action Trailer

The main conventions of an action movie trailer consist under:

1. Editing

Usually action trailers are mostly if not entirely consistent of quick editing. The shots are very short action shots from the film that are quickly pieced together almost entirely using cut transitions. The style of editing is very important to an action trailer as it conveys the feel of the film. for example a trailer which is composed entirely of quickly edited short action shots, is likely to give the feel of a film which centres more around the action and visual effects, such as The Expendables. However a trailer for a film that includes fewer action shots intertwined with shots that give away some story, is likely to be a film that only includes action to aid the story telling, rather than being just a visually exciting film.

2. Music

The choice of music used in an action trailer can definitely effect the feel of the it, the majority of action films use either rock or orchestral music in the trailer. Orchestral is often used for more epic blockbuster films, like "Transformers". Whereas standard action films such as "End Of Watch" use songs from a more Rock genre. Orchestral is mainly used to emphasise epic and dramatic films. While on the other hand as Rock is more upbeat, its usually used for the more fast pace, trigger happy, explosion riddled actions films. It makes the viewers more pumped up and excited for the film.

3. Cinematography
How the shots are captured have a large impact on the whole feel of the video, each different type of shot is used for a different purpose to give a different effect or feel to the video. Low angle shots denoting power are often used to highlight the protagonist and antagonist. A variety of shot types are used in action trailers purely becuase they often have a large number of shots in them. The camera is usually handheld to give the effect that the viewer is more involved in the film.