I first answered a questionnaire below after watching the trailer for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword several times.
The trailer is a very effective advertisement for the film, in my view. It clearly signales the film's genre of historical fiction, fantasy and sci-fi. This made the film seem very exciting as there were all the features of a big feature film with high-production values, such as extensive VFX, battle scenes, quests in exotic locations, royal families with mise-en-scene, romance and danger.
The trailer outlined the broad narrative arc of the King Arthur legend, as story that I'm sure many people are familiar with through novels such as T.H. White's Sword in the Stone and Mallory, but with a modern twist, without revealing the outcome, thereby retaining the elements of suspense, enigma and peril.
The trailer contained all the institutional information that would help see the film such as release date and the names of the protagonists.
It also uses persuasive tactics such as "from the director of Sherlock Holmes..." which would influence many people, as Guy Ritchie updated that classic text to appeal to modern audiences with his use of digital technology, unconventional editing and humour. The clever use of this would influence many pre-existing fans of the Sherlock Holmes franchise to go and watch this film that has been directed by a well renowned director.
The trailer was not a shortened version of the film exactly; It contained a number of visually spectacular clips and fast-paced editing (spectacular montages) that took the audience through the film's narrative arc without revealing outcomes. This is known as cliff hangers as the outcomes of some events shown in the trailer are still unrevealed.
The strong and positive part of this trailer is that some of the most interesting and powerful moments of the narrative are displayed in order to make the film reflect the huge amount of action-packed and compelling events. Its musical soundtrack is orchestral, with percussion and strings reflecting the action and making the film sound gripping, tense and exciting.
The few lines of dialogue anchor the visuals at key narrative moments. It is an action film with several battle scenes, which would appeal to male audiences, but the trailer also acknowledged female audience's enjoyment of romance through scenes with a female love interest as well as family love.
