Research

Research

What is a teaser trailer and what purpose does it serve?

A teaser trailer is a short trailer used to advertise an upcoming film. They are usually between 30 and 60 seconds, and usually contains no actual footage from the film. They will usually be released well in advance of the actual release of the film. The purpose of a teaser trailer is to advertise the film and its release; it reveals the genre through it music and sometimes even through its actors and it reveals if there are any special of specific actors in the film. Both these revelations will attract audiences. They are usually part of a promotion campaign to launch a new film.

In what ways are teasers different from the movies themselves?

Teaser trailers are unlike movies themselves because they are short clips of film, that are used to give an insight to what the film is going to be about, in a sense they are a taster. They rarely contain actual footage of the film and do not tell the story. They are not narrative and will usually have non diagetic sound running throughout the trailer. They are used generally to get the theme across to the audience, and to attract their particular target audience. I have ensured that my teaser trailer will attract the specific target audience I have decided upon by following some of the regular conventions of romantic teaser trailers, for example the music that is used in the background will be typical or expected from this kind of film, which as a result will lead to the target audience relating this music to the type of film I am aiming to create. I am however still going to try and differ from other romantic movie teaser trailers as I do not want it to seem dull or seen before.

How much of a problem was the concept of narrative in your work?

When I began to first plan out the different shots in my film, I realised that deciding what is going to be in the clips was difficult because you automatically want to tell the story. As it stands I am pretty sure that I will have to edit my trailer down because I think that it tells the story too much already. This is a real problem because teaser trailers are not designed to tell you the story of them film, as then there would be no point to go and see the film because you will already know what is going to happen. A teaser trailer should do exactly that, tease the audience and make them want more.  In my teaser trailer I have used a strategy often used in the marketing of products, AIDA. This stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action; I will use this model as a way of making sure that my teaser trailer reaches all of these points, to ultimately lead the consumer to the ‘action’ stage, where they make the move or decision to watch the end product. The audience will be taken on a kind of journey through which they find a love, a problem a solution and ultimately they will reach a conclusion or ending. Although not being told the story they are being led on a journey where they need to see the film to fill in the gaps. This is what my teaser trailer will do, and ultimately will show. This is shown in the teaser trailer for the film ‘Dear John’ where the two meet, fall in love, however they encounter a problem that could break them up, they come up with a solution and ultimately an ending all from the trailer that you watch before watching the film.