Comparing Teaser & Theatrical Trailers

In our group we have been watching teaser trailers to compare them with theatrical trailers. We have discovered some differences and comparisons between them. The main obvious difference e discovered was the length of the trailers. Theatrical trailers are approximately 2:30 minutes whereas teaser trailers tend to vary from about 50 seconds to 1:30 minutes. A teaser trailer is released quite a few months before the theatrical trailer is, most do not include the story line. Their main objective is to make the audience aware of the upcoming film; a teaser trailer may include the main location of the film and some of the main characters. The narrative is shown in the theatrical trailer and not a lot is given away in a teaser trailer.

Teaser trailers have much shorter scenes approximately about 2 seconds long. The shots change quickly, not many include dialogue at all and the concentration is on music. This non diegetic sound is used to build suspense and tension and sometimes give an idea of what the genre of the film is. The similarities between teaser trailers and theatrical trailers are that they both use narrative texts which are quotes that explain the plot of the film. They also both use fade in and out transitions between shots. They also both begin with the production and institution logos to promote the film companies. They both show a release date although teaser trailers only show the month or season that it will be released in whereas the theatrical trailers show the exact date.

The title of the film is shown towards the end in both teaser and theatrical trailers. The institution is shown again at the end of the film. This is so that the institution is the first thing that the audience sees and the last. Both include a vary of shots and camera angles, this is to make the trailer more interesting and to be perceived as more exciting.

In theatrical trailers sometimes include a voice over to explain the plot more. Voice overs are not normally found in teaser trailers. Scenes in theatrical trailers are usually longer than in teaser trailers so that the audience can get more of an idea of what the film is about. Conversations between characters are shown and more characters are introduced into the film. Theatrical trailers could include more transitions like over lapping of scenes.

In theatrical trailers they follow a more narrative structure because scenes are shown from the beginning, middle and end of the film. This way the plot of the film can be more understandable by the audience because scenes could be shown from the equilibrium, disequilibrium and resolution. This makes the trailer flow more, but in reality scenes from the end of the film, could be shown at the beginning of the trailer.

All trailers follow similar codes and conventions even if they are from different genres. They all have a basic structure, for example, they all show the institutions, and show clips from the film. The main aim is to entice the audience and make the viewer want to know what will happen in the film. The trailers normally all end with the film name and release date.