Teaser Trailer

For our A2 coursework we have to create a teaser trailer so I've done some research into exactly what 'Teaser trailers' are and what they include in order to make mine as good as possible!

• A teaser trailer is a trailer that is made, mainly for Blockbusters just to get the idea of the film publicised in it's early days and not necessarily illustrate the actual plot. They often use a lot of action instead of dialogue, especially as sometimes they're made before the film is even filmed.
• They're different from 'normal' trailers in many ways which include: trailer length (teasers are often shorter), content (teasers are often more action and less dialogue) and many more.
• Teaser trailers are often made and released very early on in the production of the film, sometimes before any filming has even began.

As-well as having done some research into teaser trailers I've decided to find a few examples to analyse so I know exactly what sort of thing I'm going to be working on.

Scream 4 Teaser Trailer (Found on Youtube)



This uses many of the forementioned conventions of a teaser trailer. The trailer is made up largely of a series of quick-cut, fast paced action shots, to engage the audience. As the film is part of a very well known franchise it means that when creating the trailer they could use distinctive elements from the previous films to instantly familiarise and engage the audience. It starts with the very distinctive sound of the phone ringing (exactly how the very first film had started), and is then followed by a shot of the main character and a voiceover of the also extremely distinctive murderer on the phone. The trailer then has a series of very fast-cut shots of most of the main characters, giving the same effect of familiarising the audience. There is very little dialogue in the trailer, instead credits are used to give a general outline of the plot. This is a very typical teaser trailer, providing everything needed to engage the audience, without having to go into depth about the plot, with a very short running time.

Inception Teaser Trailer (Found on Youtube)

This is again showing many of the typical teaser trailer conventions I found out about in my earlier research. It starts with credits displaying the well-known directors name (Christopher Nolan), shortly followed by another credit stating that Nolan was also 'The Director of The Dark Knight', a fairly recent commercially successful block-buster. This instantly engages the audiences interest. This is followed by a rather epic and spectacular birds-eye shot of the city, engaging the audience further through the use of brilliant cinematography. The trailer then cuts to a shot of well-known actor Leonardo Di-Caprio, pulling in the audience even further, having still not included any dialogue nor any hint at the plot line. Following this are a series of fast-cut shots including: credits provoding a very basic plot idea, incredible cinematography shots and shots of Leonardo. All of this, as-well as a dramatic score meant that they could get audiences excited about the film very early on, without even having to explain the plot.


Twilight, Breaking Dawn Teaser Trailer (Found on Youtube)

This teaser trailer veers slightly away from the typical teaser trailer conventions that the other two used; there is a lot less action in it as well as being a bit longer than the others. However, other than that it uses a lot of the same conventions:

• Credits giving idea of plot-line
• Not masses of dialogue
• Voiceover
• Dramatic music

It, like Scream is also franchised and has used that to it's advantage, showing shots of the main characters one after another. Most similarly to the others, it manages to engage the audience with very little plot give-away, especially by ending with a shock/cliff-hanger.