Teaser TrailersSophia Leiper

What are “Teaser Trailers”?Teaser trailers are either a sequence of short clips or one clip form a film that have been compiled to give a brief insight – they are normally between 30-60 seconds – into what a film may be about. They contain the minimum amount of footage so as to “tease” the audience. They often contain parts of the film that isn’t in the released version as teaser trailers tend to be released while the film is still being made or is in post-production. Teaser trailers are often made for “blockbusters”, big-budget, or popular themed films. Their purpose is solely to entice audiences to watch the film. A simplistic way to explain their purpose is to say that teaser trailers are used to build up the “hype” around the movie. This is possible due to the word-of-mouth process that is used to share news (which now includes social networking).

“Teaser” Trailers vs. “Normal” TrailersTeaser trailers are short and give the bare minimum of the plot away,

whereas full length trailers tend to reveal a lot more. As teaser trailers are released so far in advance from the actual film or the full length trailers themselves, they often feature dates such as “Next Summer” compared to the full length trailers that tend to have a date on them so as to encourage the audience to go to the cinema. Also, teaser trailers tend to move a lot faster than full length trailers because they want to keep the audience interested.

Conventions of “Teaser Trailers”As previously mentioned, teaser trailers tend to be used for “blockbusters” and the big-budgeted films, these tend to be action films and therefore, many teaser trailers are for action films. As trailers tend to use the “best” parts of the film (so as to get the audience’s attention), most of the teaser trailers are quite “dramatic”. Alongside this, the music used is normally “epic” sounding and is used to enhance the excerpts shown. Unlike full length trailers, voiceovers are only sometimes used often in teaser trailers – rather, they rely on the short and snappy sequences of action to entice and propel the trailer forward.

What do Teasers Include?

Teaser Trailers tend not to include a lot of information about the film they are promoting so as to leave the audience guessing and questioning what may be in the film. One of the many examples of this is the teaser trailer for the Da Vinci Code which doesn’t include any footage at all. Most teaser trailers include the name of the producer and/or director and often some of their more “known” works and the names of any major actors. This is because some of the audience will watch the film because they are interested in seeing the work by these people more than the film itself. These are often shown in inter-titles. Similarly, if the film has a well known logo accompanying it, the logo is usually shown – such as in Batman: The Dark Knight Rises.