A2 Media Introduction

What is a trailer?

Trailers consist of a series selected shots from the film being advertised. Since the purpose of the trailer is to attract an audience to the film, these excerpts are usually drawn from the most exciting, funny, or otherwise noteworthy parts of the film but in abbreviated form and usually without producing spoilers. For this purpose the scenes are not necessarily in the order in which they appear in the film. A trailer has to achieve that in less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the maximum length allowed by the MPAA. Each studio or distributor is allowed to exceed this time limit once a year, if they feel it is necessary for a particular film.

Naiem:

This is an example of the "Human Centipede 2" trailer:

We notice that throughout the trailer of 'Human Centipede 2' it is edited in a grayscale effect, where this has a mixture of tones between the colours of black and white. I believe this effect was used as it symbolises mystery and fear which resembles the genre of the film (horror) strongly. I believe that the trailer produced is well constructed as it shows concise little snips from the film which in one way doesn't give away the storyline fully but can also be very persuasive for the audience to watch the film as they'd be intrigued to know what actually happens. I personally believe that the sound editing plays a fundamental part in this trailer as it easily hooks the audiences attention. The different sound effects used which changes quite oftenly makes it very hard for the audience to lose interest and attention as at the same time there is a constant change between the pitch of the sound. The use of credits as well may also make it hard for the audience to lose its attention as they're associating with the trailer. There's also an echo and unfamiliar background sounds such as screaming which is played frequently in the trailer. This easily manipulates the audiences thoughts and opinions based on the storyline. Essentially, the film has a surreptitious storyline, which in my opinion, it is more of a successful outcome than the audience actually having a vague or rough idea of what is going to happen in the actual film.  For example, 'Pacific Rim' where this is explained below. This is because the main concept and aim of a trailer is to attract the audience to watch the film. In circumstances where the trailer leaks most of what the film is literally about, the audience would lose its interest in the film as this is deemed as a 'predictable' film. The key negative point of this trailer is that it can be taken into a different perspective by the audience where they could potentially find it unacceptable and gruesome as it reveals a lot of violence as some may say 'imitable' behaviour. This would therefore mean that the purpose of producing the trailer may not result into such a successful outcome as expected. 

Umed:

This is an example of the "Pacific Rim" trailer:

The trailer for 'Pacific Rim' is one which is easily match-able to the action genre. In my opinion the heavy use of special effects and vibrant lighting, alongside the many scenes of cities crumbling and combat scenes do not help the film attract audiences to come and watch the film. The film which has a few power moments with sound effects and voice over is the only thing  which helps it attract audiences and make them feel in the presence of something powerful. However the trailer for 'Pacific Rim' gives away too much about the film. It shows the beginning of the film with the rise of the monsters, the middle, when humans fight back by creating massive robots to challenge the monsters, and the end, the final battle between a powerful monster and the robot. The trailer fails to draw attention to the characters and fails to help build a connection between the audience and characters and instead forces us to try and build a connection with a robot which does not have any human emotions we can empathise with. Also there are brief moments where by humour is tried to have been implemented, however these moments feel forced and does not make me want to go see the film anymore. It also contradicts the main objective of the film. We question that a film trying to enforce itself as a movie in the action genre and being a serious film with serious themes. In a film like this where monsters are destroying the world would we find people joking and laughing. I think not. 

What is a teaser trailer?

A teaser campaign is an advertising campaign which typically consists of a series of small, cryptic, challenging advertisements that anticipate a larger, full-blown campaign for a product launch or otherwise important event. These advertisements are called "teasers" or "teaser ads". A teaser trailer for an upcoming film, television program, video game or similar, is usually released long in advance of the product, so as to "tease" the audience.

Naiem:

This is an example of a teaser trailer for "Human Centipede 2":

At the start of this teaser trailer, it begins with the production logo, 'Monster Pictures'. From the name of the production logo, there is a slight implication of what the genre of the film is. Not just from the production title 'Monster Pictures' can we identify what the genre of the film is, but by the use of colours, this emphasises more on the genre of the film. The use of dull colours such as black and a range of green shades creates an element of misery and gloom. Also, the sound effect used engages the audience immediately, which enhances the dramatic atmosphere. This effectively has an immediate response on the audience as the audience at this point may experience feelings of fear and anxiousness. At this rate, the audience may be in a 'edginess' condition due to the intense feeling, but at the same time, this leads to a gain in interest and eagerness as they would want to know what might happen in the film. This implies how easily the production logo can have an impact on the audience just from sound, colour and visual elements used. 

There are a variety of sound effects used throughout the teaser trailer. We hear a dog hounding and repetitive stumps which signals a mixture of violence and intensity. This is followed by a range of background sound where you can hear screaming and disturbing noises. At the same time, it shows the viewers watching the unpleasant scenes and what they're experiencing. The teaser trailer portrays Human Centipede 2 as an 'intolerable' film through the viewers expressions and emotions where they show signs of distress and unease. This is further emphasised through the horrifying noises made. The stumps begin to get louder and become more continual, which builds a sense of tension and draw the audience in a jittery position. 

We notice that the teaser trailer doesn't show any scenes of the film which in my opinion, has both advantages and disadvantages. The key advantage and purpose I believe is to make the audience even more keen to see the film just by watching other viewers reactions and what they're witnessing. This technique would highly influence the audience to watch Human Centipede 2 simply by watching other viewers reacting in such way which may make them more intrigued to experience the feeling, as just by watching it over the television or internet etc. it seems very oppressive. The glimpse of sound effects extracted from the film was also a key element in manipulating viewers to see the film. Also, another advantage of not showing any scenes from the film in the teaser trailer insures that the story plot isn't easily identified but mysterious, as this is sometimes a common reason why the audience may change their views upon a film from watching the trailer. 

Looking on the positive side, there are also some disadvantages where I personally believe the teaser trailer is arguably misleading  and exaggerated. As the viewers watched the film in a van, the viewers watched the film in a different condition as to where majority of the audience would usually watch the film. This therefore means the audience's experience could vary significantly when around different environments. Also, I personally think this is in a controlled environment which by all means that the producers had encouraged the participants to exaggerate their emotions and feelings. This is simply because it seems fairly obvious that the participants are overacting, reducing the realism of the film. As previously mentioned, showing snips of the participants behaviour could intimidate the audience to watch the film, however, I believe there are two perspectives and outcomes in using this technique. This could also 'put off' the audience by the expressing the film as irrational. This would therefore increase the chances of misinterpretations of the film and criticisms. I believe my point is further explained through the credits played thoroughly. For example, "harm is likely to be caused to potential viewers". Audience may potentially feel disturbed from the credits used. This also explains as to why I feel the teaser trailer lacks realism, as the audience may feel that they're trying to be too persuasive through text and actors but in reality the film itself may not be as good shown. 

Umed:

This is an example of a teaser trailer for "Man of Steel":

The teaser trailer begins by showing the production companies involved in producing the film. This is done by shortly illustrating their logos. From this we can identify the type of film this will be. After identifying Warner Bros, Legendary Pictures, DC Comics and Syncopy; we can tell that this will be a big budget superhero movie, which will allow it to be inducted into the action genre. The physical look of the production company logos further emphasises the type f film this will be. The use of dark grey, black and dirty silver, all accentuate themes of seriousness, darkness and mystery whilst the dirty silver underlines a feeling of falling from greatness or the struggle and sacrifices to get there, as well as strength and age. The soundtrack also provides additional support to illustrate the genre as well as the feel of the film. The score which runs through the teaser trail creates a feeling of greatness and that what we are witnessing is epic. Which draws us into the teaser trailer. Whilst the voice over almost sounding god like provides feelings of calm and interest which makes us believe we are being told something good. 

The teaser trailer also gives us a few shots of the film which indicate what the film is about. The first few shots of the setting of the film shows a dark gloomy coast, very unattractive and lifeless.

This immediately highlights how loneliness is present, this is also evident especially when we see the single house on its own. Also the shot with our protagonist and a dog, which could emhasise the lack of human company
further shows the void of loneliness. 

The trailer then shows the ugly lifestyle which is led by a man who we can assume is our protagonist. We see him carry out unattractive tasks such as hitchhiking, which tells us that the area is not of high affluence and economically very underprivileged. Also the shot of him going to the docks tells us his occupation consists of hard work, long hours and low pay.

Regardless o these shots we are further enticed by the prospect of hope and happiness when we see the shot of the child playing in the field. With the long red cape we can identify who we will be watching and what the film will be about.Everybody loves a story of struggle to achieve, of sacrifice for a greater good and this is exactly what this teaser trailer shows. This is what mainly draws the audience in and makes them want to go and watch the film and makes the excited for it. This teaser makes the typical childish figures of superheroes seem more adult and dark and makes us want to see how these suerheroes act in situations where the themes and setting is more adult and dark.  

Finally the teaser trailer uses the title 'Man of Steel', instead of Superman; this shows us that there has been a new presentation on an old now less regarded superhero. By regenerating the Superman brand would make audiences want to come and see the film more to see how he is now shown.

Overall I believe this teaser trailer was very successful by it not giving away to much about the main plot but still showing the main character and his origins.