Purpose Of A Soap Opera Trailer

Trailers are used to advertise a film or television programme, they are one of the most strategic marketing techniques because they enable the audience to have an insight into the film and its plot. Trailers are exciting and are used to attract the audience into watching the film or programme, they can be shown in the cinema in the trailers shown before other films and this attracts a large audience that go to the cinema. They can also be shown on TV, either on film channels or in the adverts of other TV programmes. If it is a film trailer it will generally be shown in the cinema, on TV, radio and Internet. TV channels promote their new programmes using trailers and these are cleverly shown at prime time to attract the most viewers into watching their shows. Prime time is around 8 and 9 when most young people and adults from Category C1, C2, D and E audiences are watching popular soap operas , reality shows and other TV series. Showing a trailer in prime time will in effect attract a huge audience to the show. The first movie trailer came from the Loews Cinemas company in 1913 for a film called "The Pleasure Seekers." Since then trailers have evolved and are used in a variety of ways and in different styles. Soap opera trailers in particular are now using many different styles to attract audiences. Eastenders and Hollyoaks have trailers that are used to appeal specifically to all audiences and there are some trailers that are targeted specifically at younger audiences. For example, the Mitchell Sisters trailer that was used by Eastenders to promote the two new characters Ronnie and Roxy, it didn’t promote any story lines or even use any real footage from the show, instead it showed a party in the Queen Vic with Ronnie and Roxy being the new barmaids and made use of Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory in order to sexualise the female Mitchell sisters and attract a male audience.



Similarly, as Hollyoaks is aimed at a younger Category D and Catergory E audience, its trailers are quirky and unique in order to attract younger people, particularly students. For example, many trailers have popular songs on them which a younger audience can relate with, the trailer for the death of Calvin Valentine featured the song Heads Will Roll by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs which is a popular song and the unique trailer would appeal to a younger audience. The trailer was also a tie-in to promote how the actor who plays Calvin was starring in the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing and this would also attract audiences from the BBC show particularly members from C1 and C2, middle class families.