Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventional Teaser Trailer

• One minute long

• Establishing the concept and the genre of the film

• Released months before the film or the theatrical trailer 

Teaser trailers are very different from conventional theatrical trailers 

• Two – three minutes long

• More detailed, showing clips from the actual film 

• Precise details of the film - actors, actresses, director, release date 

We looked at the teaser trailer of Batman- The Dark Knight on YouTube, which we believed was a very successful teaser trailer, only being 55 seconds, with a voice over revealing very little about the plot. The only image shown throughout the trailer is the iconic symbol of Batman and no footage from the film.

For us it was important to make sure we stuck to the conventions of a typical teaser trailer, throughout our trailer we do not reveal the storyline, only the genre of psychological thriller.  The scenes included may not even be incorporated into our actual movie, this would add a surprise element to the audience. The Train Spotting teaser trailer is another trailer we found on YouTube that we felt was very effective. 

The clip is not shown throughout the trailer, and we wanted to use and develop this idea so that we could really grasp the brief of creating a conventional teaser trailer, this is similar to our trailer because you would not actually see the girl writing on the wall, like shown in Cause Unknown and if it is shown it would only be very briefly. The reason that we decided to show this in our teaser trailer is because we wanted to reveal the concept of mental illness, for the audience to question what she is doing and why she is doing that. This may generate sympathy for the young girl or in fact the complete opposite it may cause the audience to fear her because her actions are not a social norm.


Representation of the girl 

• Blond hair 

• Blue eyes 

• Young

• White/Pale pink dress 

The way in which we presented the girl was very important because we needed the audience to feel sympathy towards her, she is young, with blond hair and blue eyes and this stereotypically suggests innocence, vulnerability and purity, this was then emphasized with the dress. However, we also wanted the audience to feel uneasy, and potentially fear towards her because although she stereotypically looks this way, she is suffering from a mental illness. We therefore felt it important to make the wall she was writing on dirty and scruffy, making something once clean and pure, dirty, used and discarded.




 

Our trailer challenges media conventions because the majority of the trailer is a time lapse, fragmented by short clips of moving image and then moving image at the end of the trailer. We do not introduce the audience to the character until the end of the trailer, and even then it is very briefly, on top of this we do not have any speech or set up a storyline, only a concept. 

 

What Makes An Effective Teaser Trailer? - Symbolism

Exactly, what DOES make an effective teaser? A good trailer - regardless of genre or media type has to be remembered. Teasers do exactly what they say, the tease the audience in an attempt to get them to find out more, and to get them to watch the film. Unlike a theatrical trailer, teaser trailers do not give much away about the film in an obvious way, you have to really dig deep to find meanings. Looking at the video game trailer of 'Hitman Absolution' we see symbolism used greatly, as this 5th feature in the series, fans (the people likely to see the trailer) will be able to distinguish the meanings.  Firstly, we see a shadowed man , putting a silencer on his gun. In the next scene we see a handgun, know by fans to be 'ballers' with the agency logo displayed. The gun is surrounded by a snake, which represents danger, but also stealth and silence, the qualities of an assassin. Finally we are shown the most effective symbol, and also the most recognisable, the trademark barcode, ending in 47 (shown red), this instantly tells the audience that the trailer is about Agent 47. Although only three clips have been shown, the audience is engaged, and left wanting more. The audience will then go to the web address displayed.

The Dark Knight Rises teaser trailer is also a good example of symbolism in teasers. After the idents are show, we hear and see memorable extracts from the first film, along with 'Every journey has a beginning', shortly followed by 'Every journey has an end'. This immediately has the audience engaged, and they then hit us with 'From director Chistopher Nolan', which tells the audience that this film will be just as spectacular as the last two. The loud motorbike is then contrasted with new footage of commisioner Gordon, in hospital murmuring. You then see the camera ascend, followed with Gordon mutter the word 'rises' and a man climbing out of a hole. this is a symbol of what is to come in the film; batman rising over evil to inevitably defeat it. Images are then flashed periodically of Bane, the villain of the film, followed by the camera rising upwards toward the Batman logo, which could be perceived as Bane rising to face batman, as a clip of a large shadowed figure (Bane) facing batman is shown, which ends the trailer with the title 'The Dark Knight Rises'.