Theatrical Trailers and Teaser Trailers

Before starting on our planning for our teaser trailer, we had to explore the differences between theatrical trailers and teaser trailers so that our production would meet the expected conventions and not fall outside of the 'teaser' category.



I analysed many teaser and theatrical trailers, as well as researching the differences, and these were my main findings:

• The main noticeable difference between the two is that teaser trailers tend to be a lot short in length, lasting for as little as 30 seconds, up to around 2 minutes. This is usually so that they do not give away too many plot elements in advance and will then be eagerly anticipating finding out more on the theatrical trailers' release which can be up to 4 or 5 mintues long.


• Another difference is that the teaser may be produced prior to the main films production. This is particularly noticeable in teasers such as the 2009 version of Star Trek (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAEme33ZQHI) in which footage is used that doesn't necessarily appear in the main feature; it is just the construction of the ship, which links to the text 'Under Construction' in place of the usual 'Coming Soon'.


• The teaser trailer also tends to have a lot less information on the production personnel, release dates and cast. It will usually include institutions and a website, but not touch on these things. This could be due to these things not being set in stone if it is a long time in advance of the release, but also to 'tease' in relation to it's name.


• As far as editing of a teaser trailer is concerned, the cuts used are often straight cuts and a lot faster than that of the actual film and theatrical trailer. A sense of ambiguity is created through this fast-paced effect which creates more of an impact on the audience.

When planning and creating our teaser trailer, we will take all of the conventions of a teaser trailer above into account and make sure that our production well reflects them.