Theatrical vs Teaser Trailers

Trailers

Before the release of a film in cinemas, trailers are released in order to attract an audience. For this reason, they often contain the most significant or exciting parts of the film in order to gain as much excitement as possible.

A teaser trailer is released a long time before the film is released in order to 'tease' the audience. Usually they are around 1 minute 30 seconds in length compared to the 2 minutes and 30 seconds in a theatrical trailer. Usually, rather than showing parts of the whole movie, a small section is just shown in order to give a feel for the rest of the film. This way, companies can still get an audience excited for the film without actually revealing anything about it. Teaser trailers create a sense of mystery or enigma surrounding a film which draws people in, whereas if too much was shown they may get the gist of the film and therefore not bother paying to watch it. Larger films with bigger budgets will usually have a teaser trailer so people hear about the film early on.

In comparison, a theatrical trailer is released much closer to the release date of the film. Often when the teaser trailer is made, the film is in early stages of development and therefore there is not much footage, but as these are released during the end of production there is much more to work with and so they contain more footage of the actual film. Often audiences can decipher a brief plot synopsis from a theatrical trailer as they contain much more actual movie footage rather than just a clipped together series of shots. Most films will have a theatrical trailer, whereas many small films won't bother with a teaser trailer, especially if on a budget.

Comparison of trailers - Annabelle

Teaser Trailer

Below can be seen the teaser trailer for the 2014 supernatural horror 'Annabelle'.

 

Despite being the same length as the theatrical trailer, there are still several differences between the two. The trailer opens with happy sounding music, contrapuntal to later themes of the film. We are introduced to the main focus of the film, the doll, but nothing is given away about what actually happens.

 

 

The happy sounding music then gradually fades out to silence as the shot switches to one at night time. The silence is then interrupted by a loud noise during a shot of blood splattering the window in the house next door and eerie, suspenseful sound effects are played.

 

A low hum then begins to build up into louder, stereotypical horror movie sound effects to keep the audience on edge. A sharp, loud whisper of a woman saying 'I like your dolls' then cuts through the noise, drawing on the fact that the film is surrounding the doll seen at the beginning.

 

As the door opens, and ear piercing creak is played to further elevate the audience's fear. Several shots are then shown in the next few seconds, accompanied by a range of clashing noises, bassy, intimidating humming and screaming which then abruptly cuts into silence. The choppy sound is used to make the audience feel a sense of disorientation. At the end of the trailer, children's music box music is played; the use of children in horror is to make the audience uncomfortable as usually children are associated with innocence.

 

The editing in the trailer is choppy, and uses fade to black transitions between shots to imply the passage of time. The events in the trailer happen in chronological order and show the opening scene of the film, so as to not give away larger plot details in the main part of the film. Near the end of the trailer, short, rapid shots are pieced together with black transitions in the middle to separate them. The clips decrease in duration which means they build up, and then right at the end there's a lengthy shot of the doll sitting in the chair to contrast with the quick shots.

 

The first title to appear shows the producer, so people recognise that it's a large budget movie because they have a well renowned team.

 

The titles also set context as the film is a prequel of 'The Conjuring'.

 

Theatrical Trailer

 

 

In Annabelle's theatrical trailer, there are several differences. Instead of first introducing us to the doll, we immediately see the panic when the wife says she heard something next door. There is no background sound; instead the first thing we hear is "John, wake up". We then hear them begin to shout at each other frantically as a suspenseful sound effect builds up and then cuts off completely into the same "I like your dolls" whisper heard in the teaser trailer. Lots of rapid, short shots are then edited together with flashing black screens in between to create chaos while a fast drumbeat plays, imitating a frantic heartbeat. To set the audience more on edge, creepy, creaking sound effects are played, similar to the noises in the teaser trailer.

 

Rather than just the opening scene shown in the teaser trailer, this one contains footage from further on in the film to show how it progresses. Gentle music is played as we see the couple moving house before the woman finds the doll again. As the doll is connected with the murders in their old house, the music is contrapuntal. As it zooms in on the doll the music changes to a low, dramatic humming similar to what was heard earlier, and the mother talking to her baby in a way that sounds eerily like a child's laughter is heard. This strengthens the connection between children and horror which makes the viewers uneasy.

 

As the camera closes in on the doll's face and we see the door shut, a loud ticking noise is heard to suggest the idea of the couple running out of time.

 

Another contrapuntal soundtrack is then used, as relaxing music is played while we see a mysterious figure approach the baby.

 

Much more footage from different parts of the film are then shown, which allow the audience an insight onto different plot elements without giving away what happens.

 

In one shot, the shot switches between the woman using a sewing machine and odd occurrences going on in her house at the same time. Between each shot the sewing speeds up while the shot zooms in and the noise of the machine becomes even more and more aggressive to build up tension before the pan suddenly explodes into flames at the climax.