Research: What is the difference between a teaser and a trailer?

A teaser trailer is a short trailer that is designed to entice and build up 'hype' for a film. It can be released months before the release date of the film or even years in order to make the most potential target audience for the film.Whereas, a theatrical trailer is much more in depth and offers s a lot of insight into the film, in order to bring people to the cinema to come and watch it. A theatrical trailer has usually been created at the end of a films production and therefore shows a lot of scenes from the film itself,unlike a teaser which is made before the movie and therefore shows little scenes from the actual film as its only purpose is to give a little taste of the film rather than in-depth storyline.

A theatrical trailer will give more information about the exact release date of the film such as the month or even the day, whereas the teaser does not share any information other than the basis of the film. Therefore, a teaser is much shorter than a normal trailer as its sole purpose is to 'tease' the audience. This means it last from 60 seconds to about 90 seconds, unlike a trailer which will run for 4 or 5 minutes.

Although a teaser ceases circulation when the film starts getting exhibited, a trailer carries on playing through out this period aswell.

Research: Teaser trailer: Red Eye - Psychological thriller

The trailer begins with upbeat music and the shot of the outside of an airport. The shot has been speeded up to create a face paced atmosphere which coincides with the music. It is nightime in the shot, which shows that the film may take place during the night.
The sky is a mixture of reds, blues and purples which makes the shot more eye-catching and grabs the viewers attention.
The next two shots are of a plane landing against the nights sky, with a voice over of a women from the airport, reinforcing the viewer that the airport is a crutial part of the films plot.

The next shot introduces the main character to us, but we only see her shoes, which builds up a sense of mystery and makes the audience want to watch more. 
There is another shot of a busy aiport, which has also been edited to speed up, keeping the pace of the trailer very fast. The shot zooms out of the corrider and then pans rapidly, whilst the women can still be heard making an announcement of the speaker.
As she says the words 'delayed' there is a zoom in shot of the main character, who is recognisable as Rachel McAdams, a well known popular actress, thereby setting an immediate target audience for the film. As she fustratedly walks through the airport she is met by a women who accidently knocks her drink all over her.
Following this scene, another character is introduced to the audience as he engages with the main character about the delayed flight.

An over the shoulder shot shows a relationship developing between the pair as they talk over coffee whilst waiting for their flight to be ready.
The music is still up paced and the characters create a friendly atmosphere, tricking the audience into thinking this will be an upbeat film.
As the trailer zooms through the plane, again fast- paced, there is a shot of the main actress greeting the man once again, as they are seated next to eachother.

However, the music soon changes to a slower, more dramatic tune, as she asks the man what he does. The mise-en-scene becomes darker and there is a hole transition to show his eye, which is red, which gives connotations of danger.

Research: Teaser trailer analysis: Legally Blonde 2: Comedy/drama

                        

The trailer opens with an institutional reference to Metro-Goldwin Mayor. This immediately gives the film an audience as anyone who is a fan of MGM and know of the many successful films MGM have produced, will be interested in watching the trailer as they suspect the film will be good.

The music starts almost instantly and is upbeat and dramatic, hinting that the film could be from a drama genre. The establishing shot is an aerial shot of the city of Washington, which again is a good location for the drama genre.  Under the mise-en-scene the lighting is rich and warm and the sun is shining in the shot, creating a happy atmosphere and conveying that this is a ‘feel good’ film.

There is a voiceover instantly juxtaposed with the images of Washington, as the man says ‘Washington DC’. This sets the place for the film and brings the audience to the time and period that the film is meant to be set.  There is a montage of images of the city whilst the narrator reads out powerful impacting statements such as ‘the heart of democracy’, ‘the centre of power’. Although the statements are serious, the over exaggeration of the dramatic music combined with the narrators dramatic voice, gives the trailer more of a comedy feel rather than a serious atmosphere.

Just as the narrator is saying ‘and the home of the’, a quick pan to the left reveals Reece Wetherspoon as the narrator says ‘the blonde?!’ His voice changes in tone and becomes more comical. It also destroys the use of the narrator as they are meant to have the illusion that they are all knowing, however the narrator is as shocked as the audience which makes this a funny scene.

She is stood in a bright pink dress, with her blonde her perfectly styled, showing that she is high maintenance. However, the audience can recognise her as Elle Woods, a well- known character from the hit film ‘Legally Blonde’.

It then becomes clear that this is the teaser trailer for the sequel legally blonde 2.

The music, then cuts to a happier, carefree upbeat song, that represents her character as bubbly and care free.

There is then a shot of her sat on the title ‘Legally Blonde 2’.  This cuts to a shot of her sat in the cinema with her beloved well known dog Bruiser. She whispers be quiet to Bruiser who is barking and then says ‘The film’s about to start’. This whole trailer shatters the illusion of a film. As characters are never meant to look at the camera or talk directly to the audience, however Wetherspoon does which makes the audience pay more attention to her and the trailer.

Research: Teaser trailer analysis: The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford: Western

In the opening scene, there is an establishing shot of forest in winter in a medium long shot accompanied by a strong beat, immediately dramatizing the teaser and grabbing the audience’s attention. Under the mise-en-scene, the lighting is bright and there is focused lighting on the clouds, which have been sped up conveying time passing but could also link to the genre of the film as it is a western and there is a sense of nostalgia in this opening shot as there is for the western.

This shot lasts momentarily before fading out in order to keep the audience’s attention. The film company logo fades onto the screen, revealing who will make the film but also increasing the audience’s interest as Warner bros pictures is a well established film production company that have turned out high quality films before. A cross dissolve reveals another film company ‘Virtual studios’ who are less well known however this does not matter as the audience are already interested. Meanwhile, the music has intensified and along with the strong beat there are violins increasing in pitch to build excitement and a sense of mystery.

The next shot is beautifully cinematographed as it fades in to a medium long shot of a mysterious man. As he walks past the huge steam train, the consuming smoke falls around him and a tracking shot reveals he is wearing a black suit, black hat and a bandana revealing only half his face, conveying he is a dangerous man. The gun in his hand and other iconography show the reader that he is a cowboy. This shot is accompanied with a voice over telling the audience ‘Jesse James is bigger than you can imagine’. This short sentence has immediate impact on the viewer as the unknown voice gives the sense of Jesse James being a mythical creature, who is dangerous.
The shot then fades into a picture of the character ‘Jesse James’, who is instantly recognisable as Brad Pitt, engaging the audience as he is a very well established actor who is known for his roles in western films. The mise-en-scene of the photograph teleports the audience back to the 1890’s as it is of very basic quality, in black and white and has a worn out look to it.

The narrator continues to reveal ‘ you go to him wanting to be with him’ with the next shot of the other main character, played by Casey Affleck. The close up of Casey looking out of the window, anger and envy in his eyes accompanied with ‘wanting to be like him’ conveys to the reader that this character wants to be like Jesse James. The shot then fades to an intertitle reminding the audience of who is making the film. At this point the strong beat can still be heard and there is now a repetitive refrain of a piano playing, which gives an eery atmosphere.
The next shot of Casey reveals he is the one narrating the teaser as he is pictured in a medium close up finishing his sentence with ‘ and you come away always missing something’ which implies that Jesse James is some kind of celebrity and that no one can be like him.
The next intertitle confirms that Brad Pitt is the main actor, followed by a shot of him in medium close up marginalised to the left against a beautiful sunset, showing that there is more to this character than just a dangerous man.

Research: Teaser trailer analysis: Jaws 3D: Thriller

The teaser begins with no visuals other than a black screen, with the narrator’s voice accompanied with an atmospheric piano tune. This is immediately draws in the audience as it is unconventional and focuses their attention on what the narrator is saying. His voice is deep and husky, conveying that he is an older man, which places the idea that he is wise and makes the audience trust in what he says. “A creature alive today has survived millions of years of evolution. It lives to kill, a mindless eating machine that will attack and devour anything” he says, instantly telling the films main themes, engaging the audience and leaving no time for them to become bored.

A small rectangular frame fades on the screen, positioned to left giving the connotations that it is yet a part of a much bigger picture that will later be revealed. This teases the audience as they are forced to continue watching, wanting to know what will happen next. Within the frame, what looks to be a part of the ocean and the sky can be seen, already conveying what type of creature the narrator may be describing. Under the mise-en-scene the lighting is merky and the clouds are dark and heavy, giving connotations that there is a sinister side to the image. The narrator continues with saying ‘One terrified like nothing you’ve ever experienced, when it captured your imagination and tapped your fear like no movie before it’. This immediately throws away the convention that narrators are not meant to acknowledge we are watching a constructed image, rather than an entertaining story. It also reveals that the narrator is talking about a movie with sequels as he continues to say ‘Then, just as you thought it was safe to go back into the water, two continued the legend and spread the fear’. Simultaneously a second rectangular frame appears on the right hand side, and along with the narrator’s voice, the audience have realised that this is for the film Jaws. Meanwhile the contrapuntal non-diegetic sound has not increased in the tension until finally the third frame fades onto the screen, where the audience can instantly recognise the two piano keys associated with the film Jaws. 

The narrator continues to talk about the release of the third dimension of the jaws sequel. Simultaneously, the three frames begin to enlarge slowly as the music rises in tension showing that the teaser is about to climax. Within the middle frame, a small grey moving object can be seen, and as the audience know this is for the Jaws sequel, they can recognise this is a sharks fin.
Finally the music breaks out into a fast beat of the two piano keys, as the fin gets closer and closer, until finally the third frame enlarges and fills out the entire frame and there is a full image of a sharks fin in the sea.

The fin swerves to the left of the frame juxtaposed with the title ‘JAWS 3D’, which flies in and each letter makes a new frame so that the background can still be seen, giving the sense of the 3D effect. At the same time, the music reaches climax and becomes very loud and dramatic, giving connotations of terror and danger.

The title then turns a bright red colour, with the use of yellow behind the lettering in a 3D effect, making the title seem 3D and stand out from the plain black background. The colour red also gives the connotations of danger. The yellow then fades away as the narrator says ‘The third dimension is terror’ conveying that the sole purpose of the film is to terrorise the audience. As the music settles down, it turns more sinister as the writing ‘Coming to a theatre near you’ fades onto the screen, leaving the audience with a taste of what is to come. The writing is in capital letters, in a bold font, making it very dramatic and the use of the colour red gives connotations of blood and murder.

Research: Teaser trailer analysis: The Amityville Horror

The teaser opens with an institutionalised reference to MGM, immediately drawing in the audience as MGM is a well-established production company that already have an audience for their films.

As this fades, another reference to ‘dimension films’ appears, whilst simultaneously tense music is beginning to play, hinting at the genre of the teaser. With no visuals and quiet tense music, sudden foley effects of gun shots can be heard, increasing in the tension and grabbing the audiences attention.

There is a black and white shot of a policeman, in medium close up, recognisable by his clothes, hat and police badges, with a man to the right of him, holding a microphone to his mouth, conveying to the audience that he is a reporter. As the policeman says ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’, the audience are left wondering ‘seen what? What he is talking about?’, so they continue to watch the teaser. The shot cuts out much like a damaged video after the tape has spun out, fitting in with the conventions of horror films.

A intertitle reveals that the film is ‘Based on a true story’ which is also a frequent convention of horrors as they tend to treat the footage more like real archive footage rather than a constructed image. A woman can be heard, saying ‘tell us what you know about the murders’; her shrew, ruthless tone, conveying that she is a news reporter. The music all the meanwhile is building in tension.
There is quick paced editing, and a number of shots juxtaposed to reveal clues to the murder, all shots in black and white, giving connotations that this murder took place a long time ago.
A zoom in of the headline ‘Family slain in L.I home’, cross dissolved with a picture of a head investigator, picking up the key words ‘ in bed’ ‘shot’ ‘..and killed’, and intercut with images of the scene of the crime, tells the audience more about the murder.
The music is edited in order to fit in with the timing of the intercuts, which makes the teaser more frightening and builds an eery atmosphere.

A mans voice can then be heard stating ‘Isn’t is unusual to have six members of a family,on two separate floors, shot, and nobody moves from their beds’, accompanied by the text ‘November 13, 1974, Long Island, New York, 412 Ocean Avenue’. Here the audience have realised which murder the people in the teaser are referring to as it is a valid murder case, making the teaser even more frightening. More shots are quickly revealed, with electronic beats of music, much like the sound of video footage breaking up. Another reporter can be heard telling the audience the murderer ‘Ronald Joseph Defeo, Jr claimed he heard voices coming from within the house telling him to murder his family’. This is narrated over mug shots and articles of the murderer, adding to the fear as the story of a man murdering his own family is very disturbing and then seeing articles makes it feel even more real to audience as if we are transported back to when the killing happened.

Research: Detailed genre specific research into psychological thriller teaser trailers

Signs





Characters

The characters in this trailer are represented as a middle class family. However, they are not stereotypical as instead of a mother and father there is a father and an uncle. Here, the protagonist is a middle aged man, played by Mel Gibson. In a low angle shot, he is shown as powerful and high up in his community and highly respected. He is also shown as a family man as there is a lot of scenes where he is pictured with his children who are both quite young. As there is no mother figure present, it seems he has taken the role himself.

It is not clear if the antagonist is a person or a group of people as there are frequent shots of crop circles, a sign of aliens.

Location

The location is based around the house. This is a typical genre convention of psychological thrillers. There is a clear threat to the location as there are a lot of areal shots, of the house with crop circles around it. This conveys that the family are surrounded and represents the danger to them.

The house itself is quite big and abandoned, another convention of psychological thrillers as the isolation means that there is greater danger as it would be hard to find help.

Sound

The sound in this trailer is eery and creates a tense atmosphere. There is repetition of the same sounds building in tension, with matches the genre perfectly. The same key notes are repeated over and over, whilst building in pace and volume. The pace of the music gets faster and faster towards the end of the trailer. When showing the crop circles there are shot quick booms, which makes the scene more impacting.



Vanilla Sky



Characters

Here, the protagonist is a man in his thirties called David, played by tom cruise. He appears to have no family as he is only pictured with other women. He is shown as quite a wealthy city man, as his clothes are smart and his appearance is clean and polished. There are a lot of shots where he is pictured wearing a mask, which conveys that there is another side to him, a frequent convention of a psychological thriller.

Again, there is no antagonist present, is seems more as if there is an inner battle that David is having with himself, as the editing merges the two images of david in and out of his mask. When he is wearing the mask his behaviour is very odd and sinister, whereas outside of the mask he seems 'normal'.

Themes

The themes present in this psychological thriller are complex and mature, which is key to the genre of a psychological thriller. Although there is not a binary opposite such as good vs evil there is a battle of identity with David as to who he is.

Sound

The sound of this teaser trailer begins unconventional as it is quite upbeat and casual. It stays this way till half way through the trailer, until it changes when David finds himself all alone in a city. The music becomes more serious and there is a lower tone. However it is then back to being upbeat and fast-paced, which is juxtaposed with images of David losing grip on his reality, which makes the trailer more effective.



Inception







Characters

The protagonist in this teaser trailer for Inception, appears to be a man in his early forties. He seems to be wealthy as he is often dressed in smart clothing or a suit, which is frequent in thriller films.

There are shots of two men fighting, showing a physical battle between two binary opposites good vs evil. The antagonist is not known which is typical for the genre as psychological thriller often keep the antagonist revealed at the last minute and it is usually someone who is unexpected.

Themes


The themes for this trailer seem to match the genre, as the intertitle reveals 'Your mind is the scene of the crime'. As mind games are often a convention of psychological thrillers, the themes present convey to the audience what genre this is. Crime is also another convention however it is not a physical crime like in crime thrillers of action thrillers.

Location


It is clear that the location for this film is in a big city, likely to be New York. This fits in with the conventions as psychological thrillers are either in very abandoned places in remote countrysides or in big, bustling cities such as New York. Accompanied with aerial shots of the city traffic and a helicopter taking off, the graphic images of buildings which finally construct the words 'Inception', makes it effective and highlights the fact that the location is key to the genre, which is true of the thriller genre.


The Sixth Sense






Characters

Here, the characters consist of a young boy, aged around 10. Young children are often used in psychological thrillers as the characters normally develop some sort of psychological abnormality in childhood, therefore this aspect of the film plays to the conventions of psychological thrillers.

An elder man is also a main part of the story line. He is also a conventional character as he has to battle conflicts of his mind and does not have an accurate view of reality: a frequent convention of this genre.

Location

The locations used in this trailer are very conventional. Often they are in a house, which is decorated with mirrors and has long hallways, which are used in thrillers to build suspense in a particular scene. There are also a lot of shots of stairs. Stairs are often used in thrillers in order to portray the character walking down the stairs ( running away from danger) or walking up the stairs (entering danger ). In this trailer, the young boy walks slowly up the stairs before being attacked, which keeps to the conventions of the genre.

In every location, low key lighting is used in order to create fear and low level lighting makes shadows. Shadows are often used in thrillers as they heighten fear and anxiety as there it highlights the character's vuneralbility.

Themes

The themes of this trailer consist of conflict of the minds and psychological unstability, which are the two frequent themes that run through psychological thriller films.

Editing

The editing in this trailer begins slow paced, with shots lasting around 5-7 seconds each. As the trailer goes on the pace picks up, with shots lasting just over 1 or 2 seconds. This editing technique is often deployed in psychological thriller trailers as it builds up tension and anxiety.

The Machinist





Location

The location featured in this trailer uses and challenges the conventions of psychological thrillers. The first location to be seen is an underground tube. This location can be used in a thriller film as the mise-en-scene suits the genre. There is low key lighting, shadows against the walls and an eery atmosphere. There is also a sense of claustrophobia, which is a convention of a psychological thriller as it makes the audience feel unneasy and anxious. 

Characters

The character used in this trailer represents the genre well as he appears to be a troubled character. His body language reflects the inner struggle he is having and the conflict with his mind. This is shown in the shot where he is looking into the mirror. Here, the mirror acts as a metaphor for the fact that there are two sides to him, and the audience are able to see both. This is conventional and can be seen in a lot of psychological thriller films.

Music

The music featured in this trailer follows conventions of psychological thrillers as it creates an eery and tense atmosphere. There is also a use of sound effects that highlight the important parts of the teaser trailer, which is very effective as it makes the audience listen/watch carefully to these parts.