Codes and conventions of film genres

Horror

• The setting for horror teasers are unique. However, it's very common for the characters to be isolated from the rest of society. Having the villain and victim alone in the middle of a woods is a popular example used to create tension and suspense.
• The colours of the text used is normally red or white on a black background, the red representing blood, danger or passion and the white representing purity or coldness.
• Sound effects are often used; wind, storms, screams, breathing clocks ticking etc
• Lighting within the trailers is expressive and non-nauralistic, where low-key lighting is used to create dark shadows.

Action

• The setting is normally presented within an action trailer through an establishing shot, the setting is normally a big city such as New York or London.
• The actor's voice is sometimes used as a voice over for the trailer, making it more theatrical.
• Not a lot of the narrative or plot is shown but a brief outline of characters and setting is presented.

Comedy

• The characters are nearly always shown in comedy trailers, along with dialogue, which is uncommon for trailers of other genres.
• A brief idea of the plot/narrative is presented but with missing slots to draw the audience to go and watch the film.
• Comedy trailers frequently consist of 'best bits', where the trailer is a montage of various scenes with the 'funniest' dialogue- sometimes shots with one word-dialogue are shown.
• A musical soundtrack is normally played in the background.
• The camera work within the trailers tends to be very naturalistic, medium shots are used generally throughout to present dialogue and facial expressions.
• The typical setting is presented in the trailer; bright, well populated towns and cities.

Social realism

• Text is used often within social realism films, either a sentence regarding the narrative or a film review and rating.
• Music is often played at a low volume whilst various shots of the film are shown at a fairly fast pace speed.
• Dialogue is often presented overlapping different shots, hinting the narrative/plot.