Teaser trailer and trailer comparison: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Trailer

Teaser trailer and trailer comparison: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Teaser Trailer

The Film Approval Box

As Ive been researching film trailers I noticed this green box is at the beginning of all of them, so i researched into what this box was and it said that the box confirms that the trailer has been approved of by the MPAA (The Motion Picture Association of America). This means the trailer is suitable for the age group viewing it. When we make our film trailer/teaser we will definitely make sure we include this at the beginning to make our trailer look more realistic.

What Is A Trailer?

A trailer is a look at the film that’s being advertised, their normally around 2 minutes long. Trailers are normally released a few months in advance of the films release but like teasers this may change depending on how big the film is, some films even have multiple trailers and sometimes multiple teasers. Unlike the mysterious teaser trailers, normal trailers tell the audience a lot more about the film, they usually include the main stars, a basic plot line and a couple of key scenes in the film to get people interested and wanting to see more. Trailers consist of selected shots from the film and since the purpose of a trailer is to attract an audience, the sections taken from the film and put into the trailer are usually drawn from the most exciting, funny, or best parts of the film without giving to much away. The scenes taken from the movie are not always in the order in which they appear in the film, a trailer has to intrigue and excite their audiences in less than two and a half minutes, the maximum length allowed by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America). Each studio is allowed to exceed this time trailer time limit once a year, if they feel it is necessary for a particular film. Some trailers use "special shoot" footage, which is material that has been created specifically for advertising purposes and does not appear in the actual film. One of the biggest examples of this was used for Terminator 2; the trailer featured big special effects scenes that were never intended to be in the film.

What A Teaser Trailer?

A teaser trailer is a short version of a normal movie trailer which is designed to intrigue and interest the audience. Teasers on the other hand are typically released months in advance, sometimes even as much as 18 months before the release of the film, they are used to build curiosity about the film and to get people talking about it. A teaser trailer normally lasts around 30-60 seconds, it may include footage from the film but they often use rough footage since the film has not normally been completed around teaser trailer stage. Sometimes a teaser trailer is an abridged version of a regular movie trailer, just with a little more mystery. Teaser trailers are usually only made for big budget and popular movies, their purpose isn’t to tell the audience about the movie's content but more to let them know that the movie is coming up in the near future, and to add to the hype of the upcoming release. Some big companies I have noticed like to make teasers that literally tease their audiences, for example, a teaser trailer might flash a few key images, followed by a title card with the date. 
This works best for iconic films and films in a series, as viewers become familiar with specific symbols. A good example of this type of teaser trailer would be the promotion of the Batman films, which flashed the famous Batman symbol on the screen, followed by a date. The brief advertisement of a teaser trailer is usually not terribly costly to make or expensive to air on television or cinema screens, and it easily sucks viewers in, getting people hyped up about a movie months before it is released is a great advertising bonus.

Stereotypical Slasher Movie Characters

THE HEROINE (HERO) 

 

This character almost always has these traits:

1) Female

2) Dark hair

3) Tall

4) Virgin

The heroine is never really part of the scene and she uses her wits to defeat the monster/killer, of course he/she never really dies, they are the person that will undoubtedly last throughout the whole movie, because they are probably the first character introduced and the only one with perfect moral values and an immense force of will. There is, however, one other possibilty: that they are the killer themselves. This is always presented as the unexpected twist but would the cheerleader or the jock really know how to be able to kill this killer on this wild weekend? I’d say no. Anyway, the heroine is always at least likeable.

THE WISEGUY

Also known as "the smart guy" and "the platonic best friend".  The wise guy is usually either the most likeable or most excruciatingly annoying character in the movie, because he's almost always the comic relief. He's either the first or last to die, figures out what's going on, tries to escape and is killed, or he lasts until the end, devises the plan to eliminate the threat, and dies as a sacrifice so that the heroine can carry out the plan. He's sort of a wuss, but you do feel kind of bad when he dies.

THE JOCK

 

This guy is simply there to be killed. He contributes nothing, no comic relief or suspense. He's more of just a pretty face so they get a female audience, but for the most part he's just a life waiting to be taken. Often he is the boyfriend of the useless cheerleader, and as a result he is almost always involved in the necessary horror movie sex scene which will get one of them killed.

THE CHEERLEADER

Once again, she's a body that's more or less there just to be killed. She generally bites it during the required sex scene of these teen horror movies. The cheerleader is always blonde, always says the most obvious thing, and has a voice so deafeningly screechy that it could cut through glass. Shes normally disliked by everyone there except the jock which doesn’t give her a lot of hope in the horror movie world.

THE COLOURED GUY

 

The generally accepted stereotype for most slasher movies is that the this guy is always the one of the first to die. But that's not always  true. The first one to go is either always the cheerleader or someone who deserves it. The coloured guy is the guy who always wants to turn back, who thinks that what the rest of the gang is doing is crazy, going out here exactly one year after those other kids were killed in these woods. In other words, he's the sane guy. It's always a shame to see him get cut down, because he's almost always right.

THE KILLER

There are two types of killers in slasher films: The supernatural killer who keeps coming back and who really doesn't have a pertinent connection to any of the other characters, and the friend that everyone is shocked to find out was behind it all along. The killer always has some kind of scary weapon and occasionally an outfit (scream) unless your some kind of monster then you already have a pretty unique look.

Horror films- Slashers

Lesson time

So this lesson we have been talking about the differences between trailers and teaser trailers; analysing and comparing some in a class discussion which was quite interesting. After the discusion I came up with an idea to a horror trailer/teaser trailer.

I'm not sure of what type of horror to do or wether it should be a trailer or a teaser trailer.

Mind map of trailers, teaser trailers and conventions of genres.

Analysing the trailer for Senna

Senna is the documentary of Ayrton Senna a very famous and popular formula 1 racing driver. The film focusses around his career, his death in the 1994 in the San Marino Grand Prix & the legacy he has left behind. The film is composed of the many interviews of Senna and outakes from the numerous races he took part in, the film also features the story of his life and how he first got into racing.
It is the only film that has been made about him since his death which gives it its unique selling point. The film is aimed at an older audience who may have watched him race or will know who he

Super 8

At the beginning of the super 8 trailer Paramount pictures logo appears and then fades out. The sound of crickets is in the background of a shot of a dark countryside and a starry night sky. The shot cuts to an old train going very fast then the caption ‘In 1979, the us air force closed a section of area 51’ then it quickly cuts to a train crossing sign warning that the barriers are going down. In the distance a cars headlights come in to view and the screeching of tires can be heard implies theirs some kind of emergency. Caption ‘All materials were to be transported to a secure facility in Ohio’.  The truck whizzes towards the camera spins ands starts to drive along the train track to wards the oncoming train. Producer Steven Spielberg’s name appears onscreen while muffled radio voices are heard in the background. Then a loud sound most likely the voices on the radio gets very loud and the scene shows the truck driving headfirst into the fast train destroying the truck, there’s a big explosion and the shot cuts to short and quick brief seconds of the train derailing and exploding carriage by carriage. Director J.J. Abrams Name appears. Everything goes quiet as the train wreck has settled, the camera slowly moves towards the wreckage, noise can be heard, squeaking and something moving, one of the carriages is moving like something’s inside trying to get out. The caption ‘IT ARRIVES’ appears onscreen which implies something not human is coming. One of the carriages of the train has a big door on it with a big steering wheel sort of handle, the US Air force logo is printed on the door of the train letting the audience know that this ‘thing’ is most likely alien due to all the speculation around area 51. The handle on the door begins to turn form the inside and big dents quickly start appearing on the door also from the inside, then the door fly’s off. The camera lens from the Super 8 camera in now the focus point of the shot and you see the film spinning round then the movie name ‘SUPER 8” appears on screen.

Super 8 is an action sci-fi film, it’s a very wide target audience because it stars a group of kids all around age 13, but its still a big action alien film directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg so everyone knows it going to be great, so I think this would be a family film aimed at ages 12-35 but I think it would appeal to most people. Super 8’s unique selling point is that it’s a very mysterious film, the plot was kept a secret for a very long time which intrigued a lot of people including myself and because its focused around area 51 it immediately intrigues every conspiracy nut in the world, its also based in 1979 which is a year not used much. The pace of the trailer starts slow but then quickly picks up and quickly cuts from one angle to another and then goes back to the slow pace as the camera approaches the train carriage. Special effects in the trailer was pretty good, the train looked very realistic but I wouldn’t be surprised if J.J. Abrams just blew up a real train completely.

Transformers: Dark side of the moon

At the beginning of the trailer Paramount pictures appears on screen followed by the date ‘July 20^th 1969’ then a human space shuttle is flying through space towards the moon and lands. The words ‘a generations greatest achievement’appears after. Non-diagetic inspirational music is playing in the background of the video clips on NASA Space station. Video clips of a lot of happy people taking photos and smiling are shown on screen. ‘Our nations proudest moment’. Radio sounds are heard over the music and then Neil Armstrong climbs down the ladder and says his famous line “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. Then the mysterious intriguing words ‘a secret hidden for 40 years’ appears next. The music becomes smaller and a clip of five men in a room looking nervous over something turn off the astronauts communication with radio control. “Mission is a go” big tension music starts to build as an alien spaceship comes into view as the astronauts walk over a rock. They search the ship looking for life but don’t see any, there asked to take photos and samples. The big bass music returns as director Michael Bay’s appears and executive producer Steven Spielberg. “We are not alone sir” small one-liners are used a lot in this teaser to build up excitement and mystery. The camera moves around the ship and locks on to a robots face, the eye comes alive, lights up and begins to move, all these small detailed mechanic movements turn into the construction of making The Transformers movie title name.

The genre for Transformers is an action sci-fi, id say their target audience would have been ages 12-20 but a much wider variety of people love the films including my 80 year old granddad. I’m going to say it’s a family film for all ages. I think the unique selling point for Transformers is NASA’s involvement, the whole idea of there being a secret moon mission is so original and a great idea, its one of the main reasons why I went to see the film. Shot types were mainly medium shots but long shots, low angles & close ups were used also. The pace was pretty slow because they were giving more of an opening look to the film instead of a trailer. Special effects in the trailer were the use of the big space alien space ship, the planets and the robot.

Real Steel

The screen is black but you can hear fait cheering and screams getting louder in the background. Hugh Jackman’s walking in slow motion down a dark alley and over the top a man says, “Charlie Kenton is in the house”, this tells us Charlie is well known at this place. Dream Works Film Company appears on screen. Hugh Jackman’s character Charlie begins to talk over images and explain his story as a voiceover. Quick black and white pictures of Charlie boxing quickly flick through. “Fighting has changed… but the crowd they never change” this implies that Charlie no longer boxes and is now out of the game and a new one has started which is bigger than he ever was. Crowds of people are cheering in stadiums and old warehouses get louder and louder, big robots are fighting and Charlie’s making his own, camera flashes and quick white lights are all on Charlie as he walks into a stadium. Quick shots of fighting, robots, money, girls, crowds and cars flick on the screen then it all stops and Real Steel appears on screen.

Reel steels genre is action and I think it would be aimed at ages 12-18 but i reckon a lot of people would go and see it, especially boys, its definitely a boys film but because of Hugh Jackman im sure some girls will be persuaded to go to. The boxing history and fighting robots I defiantly more of a guys thing. I think the unique selling point for this film is that the robots are man made, all robot films these days are all about alien robots, Transformers, Terminator, Thor, so I think more boys would want to see it because its just robots no space stuff. There wasn’t really any music in this trailers just a lot of cheering and robotic mechanical noises for effect. A lot of close up shots were used to show detail of the robots and a lot of long shots to show the fighting, crowds and stadium. This trailer was very fast paced, a lot of quick cuts, pictures, flashing lights and lines, you feel like you’ve got a lot out of this trailer and its just under 90 seconds. At the beginning of the trailer a voiceover is used to inform the audience what’s happened, whats changed & what hasn’t. Special effects in the film seemed to be mainly the robots but im sure the massive crowds and stadiums were probably special effects also.

Age of Heroes- Trailer Analysis

This is the trailer to the film Age of Heroes, it is a war film that is skewed towards men aged 16-35 years old. This can be identified by the fast paced editing of action shots where things get blown up and people get shot. This film would appeal to a younger audience due to its similarity to the Playstation/X-Box game Call of Duty which is a first person shooter game. Younger males roughly between the ages of 16-25 tend to enjoy lots of action, fast paced films with lots of blood shed. Danny Dyer is one of the lead characters in the film and has starred in films such as The Football Factory, Dead Man Running & Doghouse which are all popular with a younger male audience due to there violent content.
The film would also appeal to the older male audience as it stars Sean Bean who is very recognisable to the older male generation, the fact that it is a war based film would also appeal to an older audience who may be interested by the historical virtues of the film.
At the end of the trailer there is an advertisement for army charities which is an example of synergy. The fact that this is a film about servicemen may attract an audience who are interested in the armed forces due to the positive connotations that the British army get for serving in Afghanistan.

This fast paced trailer includes strong and loud male dialogue and epic non-diegetic music which aims to attract the target audience.

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