Analysing the Differences Between Teaser Trailers, Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots

The first film set of trailers I am going to look at come from the superhero movie 'The Dark Knight Rises'. As part of the marketing campaign there was a teaser trailer released many months before the film came out, a series of theatrical trailers and many TV spots released in the last couple of weeks before the film's release date. Because the film was a sequel (the third in a franchise) the movie already had a large fan base.

Teaser Trailer:

The teaser trailer is shorter than theatrical trailers and longer than TV spots and includes the following conventions:

• Production company logos at the beginning of the teaser (Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures)
• Tagline, split into two ("Every Hero Has a Journey", "Every Journey Has an End")
• Fades
• Images from previous films in the franchise
• Voiceover (from previous films in the franchise)
• The name of the director (Christopher Nolan)
• Images from the actual film
• Mise-en-scene that indicates genre (urban setting, costumes and props that are typical of the superhero genre)
• Brief introduction of new characters (the villain Bane)
• The title of the film ('The Dark Knight Rises')
• Release date which is relatively vague (Summer 2012) rather than a specific date
• Reference to formats the film will be shown in (IMAX)
• Credits/billing
• Website
• Further production company logos on the last billing page
• Limited narrative information and little character development

Theatrical Trailer:

The theatrical trailer is longer than the teaser and contains far more narrative information and character development. It includes the following conventions:

• Production company logos at the beginning - more than in the teaser (Warner Brothers, Legendary Pictures, DC and Syncopy)
• Images from the film
• Slower editing (particularly at the beginning) dominated by cuts rather the fades
• More characters are introduced (Batman, Bane, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, Catwoman)
• The name of the director (Christopher Nolan)
• Lots of narrative information so that the audience get a good idea of the movie's storyline
• Editing speeds up towards the end
• Eye candy - explosions and car chases
• Tagline
• The title of the film
• Release date which is relatively vague (Summer 2012) rather than a specific date
• Reference to formats the film will be shown in (IMAX)
• Credits/billing
• Website
• Further production company logos on the last billing page

TV Spot:

The TV spot is the shortest type of trailer by far (roughly thirty seconds) and contains many different conventions from teasers and theatrical trailers. These conventions include:

• The pace of the editing is much quicker (almost a montage)
• Lots of eye candy - full of exciting bits such as chases, fights and explosions
• Production company logos at the beginning (all on the same shot/page)
• External voiceover
• Specific release date ("In 4 Days", "This Friday")
• Reviews as text on screen ("Epic", "Brilliant", "Incredible", "Monumental", "Heart Stopping", "A Masterpiece")
• Lots of images from the film to create intensity and excitement
• Lots of characters but little character development of narrative cohesion because of the rapid pace of editing
• The title of the film
• Reference to format
• Certificate (PG-13)
• Website
• Other social media links
• Further production company logos on the last page

There are many conventions which appear across all types of trailers, such as images from the film, production company logos, the title and release dates BUT these are presented slightly differently depending on the type of trailer. For example, the release date in the TV spot is very specific.

TV spots appear to be edited more quickly, whilst theatrical are slower to begin with with a montage sequence towards the end. Teasers give away very little about the narrative whereas there is much more narrative information and character development in a theatrical trailer. The length of the trailers differ considerably with TV spots being the shortest and theatrical trailers being the longest. There is also a difference in not only the pace of the editing but the types of edits also, with fades common in some types but cuts more common in others.