A teaser trailer is a short trailer used to advertise an upcoming film. The purpose of a teaser trailer is to wet the audiences appetite into watching the film, but not giving away the full content of it, therefore 'teasing' the audience. They are to add to the hype of the upcoming release and are shown to be a brilliant way in terms of marketing. Marketing is the commercial process involved in promoting, distributing and ultimately selling the product.
Teaser Trailers have a need in which to follow the general conventions of a genre specific film. Audiences have an expectation of what the genre consists of therefore the producers have to play up to that by using the general conventions, this enables the audience to be satisfied with the film. Many producers have now started to push boundaries within the general conventions, as long as the general conventions are still there and noticed I believe developing and challenging general forms and conventions is a successful factor in which to abide by.
The Ring (2002) has dialogue throughout the teaser trailer explaining the plot of the film and also grabbing certain lines from the film, this is shown to challenge the forms and conventions of other horror genre teaser trailers. The Ring also has an on going soundtrack which is shown to be paced, loud and dramatic as though building up for something big. Whereas our trailer, Alice, has no dialogue during the teaser trailer, apart from a scream, this uses forms and conventions of the horror genre. Alice has a soundtrack all the way through building up suspense and then at the end it has a little girl singing the nursery rhyme 'ring a ring a rosie' I think this song develops forms and conventions and plays a big part within our teaser trailer.
I will be discussing how my teaser trailer compares similarities and differences to a real media teaser trailer. The media teaser trailer I will be using is The Ring (2002). I will also address how my teaser trailer uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of my choosen media product and how effective I think my shots are compared to the professional ones.
1. These two shots both show the titles of the teaser trailers, both are similar in that they have black backgrounds and the titles are both centered and in white, therefore standing out. Our title has challenged forms and conventions of the ring as we haven't just introduced the title straight away we have also introduced the 'coming soon' whereas The Ring has introduced the release date later on in the trailer. I believe that having both title and coming soon on both shot have enabled more room for more important shots of the trailer and have not dragged on the text. I believe our shot does look professional against the real one shot as both are similar in simplicity.
2. These two shots show the website of the teaser trailers, both are similar in that again they both have black backgrounds with then white text in the middle of the shot. Differences between the shots are that our font is a plain and simple font, which makes it clear and easy to read, whereas the font of The Ring's website is shown in a more horror iconography way, which I think makes it harder to understand but then maybe relates to the genre more. I again believe our shot looks professional against the real one as they don't really differ in anything major apart from the text which i think ours has the upper hand on as it is clearer to read and understand, therefore stands out more. This can maybe suggest that our shot is again challenging form and conventions of the ring, by being too simple rather than always relating to the genre, however it has also used the forms and conventions in that the same colour scheme, centred text is present.
3. These two shots are similar in that they both show the teaser trailers equillibrium, before any other disruption has occurred. Both shots are conventional of teaser trailers in that something has to be normal to start with for something to go wrong, or to be off balance. The Alice shot is a long shot, and almost looks as though it is someone watching them than just an ordinary shot, as it is a slightly high angled shot. Whereas The Ring is a medium close up of the main character, or also the final girl. Lighting on both shots are natural, however the top shot appears to be brighter as it is outside in daylight whereas the bottown shot is inside in a more secluded area. The top shot is giving away the location of the scene as other props aswell as four characters are shown, whereas the bottom shot demonstrates a bit more of an enigma in that her location is hard to figure out. I think our shot has developed forms of conventions of this shot due to that more props and objects are used to develop the audiences understanding of the location and the setting, this enables the audience to connect with the characters more and also have a better understanding of the film.
4. Both these shots are similar in that they show children, I believe using children in horror films makes the horror scarier and children tend to get to the audience more. Both these shots show the children lost in the darkness of a black background, a black background enables the children to look set back into the darkness and also gives off an 'evil' feel. The first thing I noticed about both shots is the childrens eyes, both their pupils are dark with a little bit of light in the middle which i think signifies evil and mystery. Both shots are centered close ups, the top shot is the little boy laying down looking at something off camera, whereas the little girl is looking directly at the camera. I believe the little girl shot is creepier as she is directly looking at the audience, however the top shot gives of a mysterious enigma as to what he is looking at. I think our shot has worked effectively in comparison with the real shot, i believe they both send out the same enigma of evil, mystery and vulnerability, therefore both using and addressing forms and conventions of horror trailers.
5. Both these shots show a female actor screaming, the top shot is an extreme close up with natural/daylight lighting whereas the bottom shot is a medium shot in a black/night vision lighting. The shots are similar in that they both create suspense as to what the actors are screaming about, and both significantly denote a scream. They differ in terms of shot size and lighting, I think the top shot has a good effect on the audience by being an extreme close up, however I think the bottom shot is more horror specific in that the female character appears to be lost in the darkness therefore making it scarier for the audience to watch. I think our shot works well in that it is using forms and conventions of horror, we maybe could have made it look more realistic as the top shot does, however as it is only shown for a quick glance in the trailer, it seems to work effectively.
6. These shots both show the institutions who have made and are introducing the film. The top shot is the recognisable DreamWorks logo, an independent American film studio. The bottom shot is our groups made up instituion 'Channel Fix', this name was choose at random and we felt it worked effectively as an institution title. The DreamWorks logo fills up the whole shot as it is its own logo and institution whereas our logo is a typewriter font centered across a black background, which we thought worked well. I don't think the shots can be compared professionally as DreamWorks is a recognisable working title, however I don't think are logo is bad and is still using forms and conventions of horror within its colour scheme and its font style.
7. Both these shots are demonstrating a spirit, connoting a sense of a 'soul' or a 'ghost'. These have both been used to demonstrate a past life and signify a 'spooky' emotion related to the horror genre. The top shot is an extreme close up and shows a shot overlap, so that the little girls faint reflection is still noticed but not controlling the whole shot, I feel as though this gives the audience 'the chill' feeling in that they feel as though she is always watching. The bottom shot has a more significant outline of a 'ghost', the spirit is a medium shot and is shown in a fuzzy t.v effect which is content related to parts of the film where the 'evil spirit' is actually on the t.v. Our shot has challenged forms and conventions in that it is a shot overlap, because the overlap is only faint I believe it works well and doesn't become confusing. Both shots have the 'grainy' feel about them and are both black and white, I think this uses the forms and conventions and makes our shot look professional.
8. Although these shots appear to be different visually, I belive that they are both connoting the same feeling, which is innocence. Both shots show child like actions, being drawing and skipping, these are both demonstrating innocence from the children and a certain vulnerability. The top shot shows a canted image of a drawing which presumably the little boy has drawn, the drawing appears to be quite dark and does not clearly demonstrate what the drawing is trying to connote to the audience. I feel this is a good enigma as it leaves the audience wanting to find out more about what the little boy knows. The bottom image shows a little girl skipping across a field, the shot is dark and gloomy and is a long shot, watching her skip into the distance. Although the shot is not that clear I believe this works well with the horror genre and makes the vunerability of the little girl seem less innocent.
9. These last two shots are again visually different, however both show the same t.v effect. The top shot splits the image of a little girl into two fuzzier images and splits them as though they are on a dodgy t.v screen. I believe this is effective as it connotes that the little girl is again 'everywhere'. The bottom shot simply shows the effects of a fuzzy t.v screen. This shot shows a content specific iconography in that the 't.v' is a big part of the films story line and enigma. In relation to The Ring our shot would be challenging forms and conventions as the little girl is looking relatively normal, however the light she is holding gives of a mysterious sense and also plays part in our trailers storyline. I don't think I can specifically compare how professional our shot is against the real shot as it doesn't really show a lot, however I think both shots work well within their genre's and storyline.
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