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How to give your research (and video) abstracts the PUNCH of a movie trailer [in 5 steps]

Updated: Jul 2


A stylised digital illustration in flat design shows a cinema audience cheering while watching a projected scene of engineers preparing a rocket on a launchpad


Everybody loves a good movie trailer. It gets you excited - nay, pumped! - in under 3 minutes and, if done correctly, can be enjoyed again and again like any true piece of art. But in the end, all a movie trailer really is, is a vessel to make you care for the movie itself. In that way, research paper abstracts, and especially video abstracts that are gaining popularity, are much the same. It is meant to tell people in just a few sentences, or a trailer-sized video, why they should care about your research. Why it matters. If it’s done well, people will be just as pumped to learn more about what you’ve discovered. If done poorly, or worse, if it’s boring, they will simply scroll on past. So, how can you use what works for great movie trailers to write better abstracts or make better video abstracts? Let’s find out.


Think of how you choose what to watch on Netflix or any of the other streaming services. First, you scroll through the thumbnails (effectively movie posters, and we have a lot to help you with good scientific graphics or posters on our blog already). If the poster catches your eye, you watch the trailer to see if it piques your interest. Researchers will do well to keep this analogy in mind when drafting abstracts. With over 5 million papers published every year, other scientists are also scrolling past most of it to get to what is most relevant and interesting to them. And with video abstracts gaining popularity, the movie trailer analogy becomes even more important. Video abstracts are generally about the same length as a movie trailer (and should be, for reasons stated below).


Furthermore, research shows that papers with video abstracts receive

  • more citations (+20%)

  • a higher altmetric score (+25%)

  • and more article reads (+35%)


Source: Zong et al. 2019, Bonnevie et al., 2023.


So it is not something to ignore. Let’s get stuck in to see what gives a good movie trailer its punch, and what you can learn from it for your own abstracts.



1. Hook’em quick


Movie trailers need to grab people’s attention before they can smash the “Skip” button. That is why trailers always start with something that immediately hits home. Look at the first trailer for The Matrix, with Trinity at full tilt, jumping between buildings, and Neo responding with “Woah!”. There are countless examples, just think of any decent trailer and you’ll get the idea. For abstracts, what works well is to start with why the research was done in the first place. What was the question that needed answering? What is the problem that needs a solution? Why is it urgent? Anything that will give people pause and make them go “Mmm” and decide to not click or scroll away.



The second part of this first point is the importance of brevity. You need to keep it short and sweet. Simply put, if your abstract is more than a quarter of a page or 2 minutes of video, most people just won’t bother. So cut, simplify, refine, combine and do whatever you need to do to keep it punchy (this also helps your video abstract to more easily slot into social media posts).



2. Set the scene and the stakes


Your abstract should explain what you did and why, plainly. You need to clearly and simply articulate your research goal. Trailers are all about setting the scene and what is at stake. There’s a reason so many trailers (albeit, not the good ones) start with, “In a world…”. Viewers or readers want a clear promise of what sort of ride they’re in for. For trailers, they want to know if this is a comedy, a tear-jerker, a thrilling whodunnit, or a superhero spectacle. And also, what is at stake in this story: A love lost? A next victim? A sports victory? People don’t want to guess what a movie will deliver. They’re fine with guessing the mysteries of the plot (in fact, they crave plot mystery), but they want to know what sandpit they will be playing in, and a promise that this will be about something important.


Think of the trailer for Avengers: Endgame. Half the Avengers (and humanity) have been turned into dust, the world is a grief-stricken place, and the universe teeters on the brink. After watching the trailer, you know the gravity of what is at stake. So, tell people what your research aimed to achieve, and the obstacles that needed to be overcome to achieve it.




3. Wow them (make’em feel)


This is where a movie trailer kicks into high gear. Everything is thrown at the screen to wow the audience: A moving score, sound effects (like Hans Zimmer’s famous and endlessly imitated BRAAAM! sounds for Inception), visual effects, CGI, grand cinematography and whatever else will make the audience go “Woah!”. In short, quick cuts and money shots! Think of the trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road. Two and a half minutes of pure visual mayhem.



For obvious reasons, this one is difficult for paper or video abstracts (visual effects and stunts are expensive). But what all of these wow-moments have in common is that they are simply meant to make people feel something. And that can be done in many ways.


For abstracts, this will usually go back to the stakes of the research. The big lesson here is that emotion always outranks exposition. What will happen to society (and specific peoples) if your research isn’t understood or publicised? Who will be affected, and how? Feeling equals remembering, equals possible citation or funding. Whether it’s nostalgia (like in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer), fear (like the Oppenheimer trailer) or cheeky humour (like the Barbie trailer), feeling beats an info-dump.


For video abstracts, this can more easily be done by creating relatable characters the audience can latch onto: A scrappy young researcher out to save the world from pollution, an uncontacted tribe at risk of disease if not left alone or a Bangladeshi girl at risk of losing her home due to climate change-related sea level-rise. Make. People. Feel.



4. So what


This is the crux of your abstract. What did you find out? Why is this more important than everything else vying for people’s attention? Why should people care? You need to drop your main findings and clearly explain the impact of your research - or the impact if your findings should be ignored. For some abstracts, like in many, many movie trailers, this could literally come down to “Because the world is going to end!”. Nevertheless, you need to tell people why in brief, understandable terms, and what can be done about it. The Oppenheimer trailer is a great example. It quickly and clearly explains that the Manhattan Project is a national emergency, that if the Nazi’s get an A-bomb first, it would be disastrous, but also that no one really knows what will happen when the button is pressed - including if it might end the world. High importance, global stakes. All in 3 minutes.




5. Tease smartly


This one is tricky, because this is where movie trailers differ somewhat from abstracts. In movie trailers, the idea is to tease and entice without giving away any spoilers about how everything will play out (otherwise, why watch the movie). To reveal enough cool material to excite, but never the plot twist, the outcome or the final showdown. Think of how the award-winning trailer for The Social Network takes a familiar story (the founding of Facebook), and imbues it with deep mystery while teasing major conflict (”You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies”).



For abstracts, only teasing won’t do. If you don’t include your main findings, most other researchers or potential funders or policy makers simply won’t care (and much less the public). However, you also don’t want there to be no reason for anyone to actually read your paper and get the full, proper context for what you are trying to convey. So you need to tease the full paper in some way, if you can. Something like, “The analysis in the paper reveal unexpected anomalies,” or “The conclusion outlines fertile ground for further impactful research,” or “Read on to find out where scientists are taking things next”. You can hint at surprise anecdotes, obstacles or exceptions - things like that. Tease that the full picture and the details are only available in the paper itself. If you can make the abstract feel like a tiny movie (problem-conflict-solution), while leaving people wanting more, you will have won the day.


To make things even simpler, below is a handy little cheat sheet to summarise everything we’ve learned:


Quick movie trailer ‘cheat sheet’ for your next abstract

  1. Hook: State the gap/problem in ≤ 12 words.

  2. Goal: Explain what you did, plainly.

  3. Wow: Make people feel.

  4. So what: Drop your top finding, and one sentence on impact.

  5. Tease: “Details in the paper.”


Do let us know if this works for you, or if you have other movie trailer-related tips and tricks for abstracts. We’d love to hear (or see) them!


Feeling like you’re ready to yell ‘action!’ on your own video abstract? Kick things up a notch with our online course on producing top-quality, captivating science videos.👇



In just 3 hours of self-paced learning, award-winning science communicator Dr. Tullio Rossi shares his decade of video-making wisdom. From crafting compelling scripts to mastering beginner-friendly software, this course will turn you into a video-making whiz in no time. Enroll today and gain all the skills you need to make your video abstract punch like a top-tier trailer!

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1 Comment


tonyadam0202
2 days ago

This is a brilliant analogy that makes academic abstracts not only more accessible but actually exciting, like turning Buckshot Roulette research into a story worth watching. I love how it breaks down the science of engagement into practical, trailer-style steps that any researcher can apply!

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