The purpose of a trailer

There is many purposes to a trailer for soap operas, they can contain different hints at story lines or anything to entice a new audience to watch the soap. Here is a list of different purposes of a trailer:

• To make people want to watch a specific episode or storyline.
• Provide information on a storyline
• Includes little hints at what will happen in the show
• To bring new viewers in
• Advertise the soap to a wider range of the public
• To make people engage with characters and story lines

Eastenders- Judgement Day for Max:



This trailer is an example of a trailer being used to entice people into watching the episode for a certain storyline, this could also make more people want to watch it as it creates the feeling that many different outcomes could occur so makes people want to watch.

Coronation Street: Peter and Leanne's Wedding Trailer:



This is another example of a trailer for a specific episode, this one contains clips from the show that it is previewing. This is different from the Eastenders trailer as that places characters away from the usual settings but this one shows them in the normal settings.


Hollyoaks- Fire Trailer:



This trailer is advertising a storyline but the outline of which is not clear, this is a teaser for the storyline, with the use of fire it shows how the storyline may contain death or other sinister things. This trailer is different to the other trailers as it doesn't advertise single episodes, this is verging on advertising the soap as a whole and not a single section of it.

These trailers show how the purpose of trailers can change for each storyline or soap. Trailers are predominately used to make people want to watch the soap, the difference between many of these trailers is that some advertise the entire soap as a whole, others a large storyline and others show can advertise a single episode.