How an opera trailer is made | Wonderproof Studio

An opera trailer has a hard job: in little more than a minute it has to let you hear the music, show the production and persuade someone to buy a ticket. Often someone who has never seen an opera live.

For Teatro Regio di Torino we have edited more than fifteen, each with its own problem. A comedy like L’elisir d’amore needs lightness; a drama like Macbeth needs tension; a lesser-known title like The Bear first has to explain what it is about.

Anatomy of a trailer

Every trailer is different, but almost all follow four beats.

The opening. The first seconds decide whether someone keeps watching, especially on social media. We start from a strong image or a recognisable note, never from a logo.
The world. Sets, costumes, lighting: in a few cuts the viewer understands where we are and what kind of show awaits.
The climax. An aria, a chorus, a swelling orchestral passage. The edit follows the music, cut by cut: the score decides the structure, not the other way round.
The close. Title, composer, dates, theatre. Clear and legible even on a phone, with the sound off.

Where it is filmed

Footage is shot during stage and dress rehearsals, when the production is complete but we can work without an audience. We look for whatever tells the show at a glance: a costume, a chorus movement, a face in close-up, a scene opening up.

The versions

Version	Format	Where it ends up
Main trailer	Horizontal 16:9	Theatre website, YouTube, foyer screens
Social cut	Vertical 9:16, shorter	Reels, Stories, Shorts
Snippets	A few seconds	Ads, newsletters, reminders before opening night

Trailer or the whole opera?

Sometimes a trailer is not enough. For Bellini’s I puritani, in May 2026, we also produced the full recording of the opera, now available on OperaVision, the European platform launched in 2017 with the support of the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, which streams opera free of charge worldwide.

It is a different kind of work. The trailer selects and compresses; the full recording must follow the whole score, never losing the soloists or the ensemble, respecting the staging rather than reinterpreting it. The trailer persuades someone to come; the recording lets those who cannot come see the show.