Teaser trailer conventions

For my next task I am going to analyse two existing films that already have a teaser trailer and  a conventional theatrical trailer making note of the differences and similarities that I find,  in hopes of getting a greater sense of what the conventions are of theatrical trailers and teaser trailers. The first film being Captain America and the second Transformers: Dark of the moon.





The first similarity I had noticed between the theatrical trailer and the teaser trailer was the fact that they both introduce the central protagonist but whereas in the theatrical trailer we are given a much more in depth/detailed account of his story in the teaser trailer we are given hardly any information about his character traits.

Secondly I had noticed that both the theatrical trailer and the teaser trailer include the production company logo's but in the teaser trailers they are shown at the beginning for a short period of time whereas in the theatrical trailers they are shown later and are on screen for much longer period of time.

Another notable difference was the contrast in editing between the theatrical trailer and the teaser trailer. The theatrical trailer for captain America had much longer takes than it's teaser counter part, I had also identified that the majority of cuts in the teaser trailer where fades where as in the theatrical trailer this was much more rare. Also in the teaser trailer, most likely to accommodate the lack of narrative the editing is much more rapid.

An additional noticeable difference is the timing of content within the trailers.
The teaser trailer seems to get to the action from the outset but the theatrical trailer builds up tension by giving you a much more in depth introduction to the central protagonist.


The theatrical trailer almost gives you a summarized version of the film without revealing to much about the narrative but the teaser trailer exactly what the name suggests, it 'teases'.  Giving the audience little information about the film but instead introduces stars in the film or source material that would attract them to it building up a larger fan base for the movie.