The difference between a teaser trailer and a theatrical trailer

Theatrical trailers are shown just before the films release on TV and cinemas. They are usually much more longer than teaser trailers. 

Teaser trailers are meant to tease. They do not reveal much of the plot and are supposed to be a minor glimpse of what the film is about. On the other hand a theatrical trailer provides plenty of detail about what the film. There have been many complaints that they give away to much information and ruin the plot of the film. Teaser trailers only reveal the most important clips whereas theatrical trailers contain more clips of the film. Usually teasers starts with an establishing shot setting the scene which is telling us where the action is going to take place. 

teaser trailers I have analysed

Harry Potter and the Half Blooded Prince

Camera angles- Establishing shots, mid shots, wide shots, high angles, over the shoulder shots

Sound- Non diegetic music is used. Ochestral type of music is used and goes at a slow pace and is quiet.

Editing- The beginning the trailer starts of at a fast pace but becomes slower towards the end of the trailer. Many cross cuts are used as well as fades in between scenes. Black outs are also used in many parts of the trailer as well which reveal a sense of mystery.

Mise-en-scene- All the characters appear to be wearing black robes which reveals that they are at a school or some kind of important work place, also there are many shots of a big building which reveals most of the setting and the train coming past so the audience know this place is very close. The lighting is dark and there is use of props such as wands, hats and books.

Characters- Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Megonigal Dumboldor, hagrid and Malfoy. These are the main leading roles.

Locations- It is set in a school which is a big castle in the middle of nowhere in the country.

Narratives- The story is about a boy wizard and his attempts to try and save the school from the evil wizard trying to take over.

Themes- Danger and thrill

Visual style- voice overs, use of dark lighting, black outs and fades also used

Genre- fantasy

The Omen

Camera angles- close ups, wide shots, over the shoulder shots, camera pans

Sound- diegetic sounds like the sound of a swing as damien is swinging. This is the only sound that we can hear.

Editing- slow pace editing and continuous editing. There are no cuts or fades used.

Mise-en-scene- Set in a playground, a lot of trees and greenery around including the leaves on floor,the lighting is quite bright but there are trees in the way, the only people in the scene are Damien who appears to be wearing red and a black dog 

Characters- Damien, his parents and his demon nannies

Locations- Set in Italy 

Narratives- A boy is born but his mum dies while giving birth so he is given to another set of parents who happen to be famous politicians. The boy is the devil child and has 666 marked on his head. They soon realise the boy is becoming evil and he kills his mum and his demon nanny helps him. Then his dad dies at the end as well which then leaves Damien parentless and to ruin more peoples lives.

Themes- Evil and the devil

Visual styles- bright lighting, stays on the same piece of action throughout the trailer, only 2 characters appear in the trailer

Genre- horror

Jennifer’s Body

Camera angles- establishing shots, long shots, close ups, mid shots, extreme long shots, over the shoulder shots

Sound- non diegetic music, rock type music mainly played

Editing- Fast pace editing, quick cuts, black outs, at the beginning words appear after every time we see the main character walking

Mise-en-scene- Set in a school, the main character Jennifer who wears tight fitting clothes that show of a lot of clevage, the other characters are wearing casual clothes, its full of people in the scenes as its set in a school, bright lighting is used

Characters- Jennifer, Needy and Chip

Locations- High school in America

Narratives- The story is about a girl who gets sacrificed to the devil but it backfires and she becomes a man eating zombie instead.

Themes- zombies and possesion

Visual styles- bright lighting, lots of people are in most scenes, voice overs and many cuts are used

Genre-horror 

Information on the theatrical trailers I have analysed

Casino Royale

The name of the film is shown at the end of the trailer. This is to give a sense of mystery to the film. It also builds up the tension and excitement as many people who are Bond fans would be looking forward to finding out the name of the film and it makes them watch it to the end so that they can see the whole trailer. 

We are told who the actors/actresses to entice the audience because some of the actors are quite well known, famous actors. So people that are fans of the actors would go to see the film.

All the information is given to us at the end of the film. This keeps the audience waiting, therefore they will watch it to the end.

The music is suspenseful which gives away the genre of the film which is a thriller. 

There are voice overs of the actors which is useful as it lets the audience know the actors starring in it before we see them. 

The voice overs were chosen so that we can establish who the actors are so that fans of the actors are more likely to want to see the film.

The pace of the trailer is faster than an actual extract from the film. This is because  more information needs to be included and audiences need to be given a  wider variety of experiences. An extract, however, is only one part of the film, which can be developed over a longer period of time. 

The conventions of most trailers is to introduce a series of longer cuts to begin  with and then culminate in a series of fast edits, but because the genre of this trailer is very much action and adventure and a new James Bond is being introduced to the audience, faster cuts appear much earlier to demonstrate the athletic qualities and dangerous situations that the new 007 has to face.

The information concerning the film is shown at the end of the trailer and this includes the name of the film,  the release date and the website for the film. 

Pearl and Dean have used the audience demographic for Die another Day to provide statistics for the newly released Casino Royale. According to the data gathered by Pearl and Dean,  63% of the audience was male and aged between 15-24. This is typical of the audience demographic the film is film is targeted at.

Shaun Of The Dead

The name of the film is shown at the end of the trailer,  this is a typical convention because research has shown that people are likely to remember the ending of a trailer as apposed to the beginning. 

The actors are not mentioned on the trailer this is because they are not well known actors so it is not a unique selling point of the film.

The information is given to the audience is in the form of a series of news bulletins and voice overs. Although  this film is obviously a comedy the use of news footage helps to creates a sense of authenticity, even though the scenes they are showing are more comic than scary. 

The majority of  the scenes including the trailer shows newly made zombies  indiscriminatly attacking members of the public and certain individuals fighting back. 

The music used in this trailer is light hearted and typical of the kind of music you would expect to hear in a comedy. 

The trailer doesn’t use a voice over in the conventional sense but a series of voice overs belong to the news can be heard commenting on events and providing information to the audience. 

The speed of the trailer has a different pace to one of the scenes of the clips from the films. The pace of this is faster because it is a convention of trailer and increases the levels of tension and excitement for the audience.

The name of the film is a pun and many horror fans would immediatly see the link between George Romerio’s ‘dawn of the dead’ and Simon Peggs  ‘Sean of the dead’ 

From the Pearl and Dean website we find out that the film appeals to 45% 15-24 years old and 63% more males than females.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

The name of the film appears at the end of the trailer. This is to build up the tension and suspense to the film.

The names of the actors do not appear on the trailer. This is because they are not famous, well known actors therefore it does not do anything to promote the film.

The information is given at the end and the beginning of the trailer. The writing is written in red with a black background. This is to give the sense of  terror and lets the audience know that this is a horror film

We see the main actress floating around on a bed and being beaten to death. We also see the main character ‘Freddy’ brutally murdering someone  and chasing somebody. 

The music in the trailer sounds very frightening and screechy. Its slow and ochestral. This gives it a sense of being unhappy and unpleasant and gives us a clue to what the genre is going to be. 

There is a voice over of somebody narrating the film. The sound of the voice is deep but goes at a slow pace. This brings a sense of terror and makes it more frightening for the audience. 

The speed of the trailer goes at a slower pace comparing to a clip of the film. The slow pace editing brings out the terror and gives it more time to show the scarier parts to the film which brings more attention to the film and makes it seem more scary. 

Most of the information is given at the end of the trailer but the name of the distribution company is given at beginning.

From the pearl and dean website we can see that the audience type is 15-24. This is because the horror is not suitable for for people under this age but would not appeal to people in the middle ages and it is a fantasy type film.

Theatrical trailers I have analysed

Casino Royale

Camera- establishing shots, snapshots, close ups  

Sound- diegetic music of the james bond theme tune, main character talks over it

Editing- fast pace, starts of black and white then becomes colour, blackouts, quick cuts and many cross cuts

Mise-en-scene- there are different locations everytime, all characters are dressed smartly, starts of in a secluded location which adds a sense of mystery then it cuts into the casino which adds a sense of excitement

Characters- mainly James Bond, M, a man who gives the audience the impression that he is an  enemy of james bond and an attractive women who appears to be helping him

Locations- different locations so it starts of in a mysterious black, secluded location then goes onto a casino and then from that it goes onto a train and then the beach and then a road where he is driving

Narrative/Plot- James Bond basically saves a casino from being robbed 

Themes- heroism and terrorism 

Visual style- use of black and white, fast cut editing, fast pace music, use of black outs, voice overs

Genre- thriller and action

The main character is introduced to us on the beginning scene. He is the first character to appear coming out from an plane then it cuts to a person talking to him about becoming 007 which makes the audience become apparent to who is James Bond.

The music starts of slow and then becomes faster and louder during the course of the trailer. This shows the audience that the films action and suspense builds up as it progresses.

The film starts of dark and dreary then it suddenly becomes lighter and more colourful. The pace also starts of slow and then becomes racier and more fast pace. It cuts quickley from scene to scene. The music also builds up as the trailer goes on. 

The audiences expectations of it is that it will be exciting and action packed full of suspense and tension.

I think James Bond is targeted more at the male audience as  they tend to go for more action films and also they have many beautiful, sexy women which is also an attraction for the male audience. The statistics on the pearl and Dean website reveal this as well. 

Shaun Of The Dead

Camera- Establishing shots, continuos shot, close ups, extreme shots long shots

Sound- diegetic music, sounds happy and joyfull non diegetic sounds of a news reporter so a voice over

Editing- zooms in, cross cut, quick cuts, fast pace, black outs

mise-en-scene- sean always wears a suit, its mostly outdoors, different settings, the others wear everyday clothes, its done in the daytime, most places look like a rough cancel estate 

Characters- Sean (main character), Liz (Sean's girlfriend), Ed(Sean's best friend), David (Liz's friend), Lucy (Liz's friend), Barbara (Sean's mum), Diane (Sean's neighbour)

Locations-  rough neighbourhood in London

Narrative/plot- Zombies start to take over Britain and they have to try and save they’re loved ones while trying to defeat the zombies

Themes-zombies

Visual Style- fast pace editing, scribbles in between each scene, still images, black out when somebody gets run over 

Genre- comedy, horror

The  2 characters Sean and Ed appear in most of the scenes which gives the impression they are the main characters.

The music is non diegetic. Its starts of really serious then its becomes jolly and happy. This tricks the audience into thinking that it is a serious, scary film.

It starts off really dim and makes out that is a serious film so the music is really grim, then the lighting becomes lighter and it cuts to sean and his friend which brings out the funny side of the film so the music then becomes happier and starts sounding like clown type music.

It is supposed to give the impression of a scary film as we can see from the beginning of the trailer and also from the posters but then we can tell from some of the scenes shown that is really a comedy film. So we expect it to be funny with a frightening element to it.

I would be the target audience and people my age according to the pearl and Dean website. The bits where they kill people and you see them turn into zombies is what appeals to me and is proberly supposed to appeal to the target audience.

A nightmare on elm street

Camera- high angle shot of boy looking up at the ceiling at the girl, mid shot of the dad and the police man speaking, close ups of boy and girl speaking to eachother, low angle shot of freddy walking through the gate, establishing shot of freddy jumping out of the glass, extreme close up of the girls eye, establishing shot of the house 

Sound- Ochestral music that starts of sad and slow it then gradually builds up then becomes deeper as it goes on.  

Editing- face pace editing, writting goes over scene of her drowning in a bath, zoom in on the characters eyes, cross cuts from her in her house, finishes with blackout and red writting spelling out ‘a nightmare on elm street’, begins black and red, camera pans in the room, cross cutting is used in the bedroom scene as well

mise-en-scene- outdoors, soft lighting at the beginning, blood appears in most scenes, a lot of the lighting is red and black which is the colour that freddy is wearing, they wear normal casual clothes, a lot of scenes are shot at night, big house, safe looking neighbourhood, colour of the bedroom is a similar colour to what the police officer wears

Characters- Main character is freddy kruger. The rest are his victims and their family.

Location- A big friendly looking neighbourhood, a big house within that neighbourhood and a hospital

Narrative/plot- A man who died years ago who was a child abuser comes back to life in peoples dreams and tries to kill them

Theme- horror

Visual style- black and red, fast cut editing, black outs

The main characters appear at the beginning and appear throughout the sequence. Freddy also pops up at parts throughout the scene but he is wearing distinctive clothes and appears to be doing nasty things to people in their dreams.

The music starts of slow and sad then builds up as the trailer goes which builds up the tension. The trailer reveals what the story is about during the coarse of it. It tricks the audience into thinking that the film is a normal teenage film then when the music starts getting heavier it starts showing blood and violence. 

The lighting is colourful and bright at the beginning when the music is slow then the lighting gets darker and the music becomes deeper and has more of an angrier tone. The editing the starts becoming faster as the music gradully builds up. Every time the writing comes onto the screen the music sounds sreechier and more violent.

From viewing this trailer I expect it to be horrific and gorey. Also we can tell that this is a horror trailer by the level of tension and the scenes containing violence. 

Me and many young people ages between 16-35 is the target audience for this film. This is what I found out from researching the pearl and Dean website. One of the reasons why this is, is because the film contains many young actors/actresses and the story line is not as scary as most horror films and realistically the audience can tell that there is not any truth in this and it is not based in real life.