In general, a teaser trailer's main aim is to purely advertise a film and its release. It is stated that the length of a teaser trailer is approximately 30 to 60 seconds long but while looking at other teaser trailers this doesn't seem to be a fixed rule. For example The Duchess teaser trailer is 1.49 minutes long. Our teaser trailer, in total is 2.07 minutes long which is possibly a bit too long so if we were to improve our trailer this is something we could look at, shortening the length.
Another factor that I discovered after researching teaser trailers is the importance of including narrative enigma's. So therefore we included some narrative enigma's in our trailer one being: does the main female protagonist end up with the main male protagonist? We hope that a narrative enigma as influential as this to the plot of the film will attract our target audience and convince them to see the film at the cinema.
Looking at teaser trailers that were of a similar genre as our teaser trailer was the most vital piece of research I did as they had the biggest impact on our trailer.
These are aspects of our trailer that were influenced by my genre research (I will also state the influence the research had on our trailer):
Editing
After looking at a variety of period drama trailers I realised that the editing is always smooth and never too fast.
Although I did realise that as the trailers develop the speed of the clips and transitions do pick up pace and we tried to incorporate this into our trailer
Another factor that I realised was that the transitions in the trailers are always fade ins and outs we also incorporated this into ours except for the dark shots when we used wash In's but this is still a subtle transition so I believe it still fits with the conventions of a period drama teaser trailer.
After looking at the trailer for The Duchess I realised the importance of framing shots, so we concentrated on this for example using the trees in the woods to frame the main female protagonist and using the pillars at the Ball scene.
When we decided to improve our teaser trailer we took inspiration from the 500 Days of Summer teaser trailer. For example the beginning scene where there are two shots of the same situation but just from different angles. We incorporated this in our trailer so that the audience felt they were seeing the situation from both characters point of view. We also took inspiration from the trailer to include a split screen in our trailer.
Lighting
In our teaser trailer we have scenes both at night and in the day time.
This seemed to be the case with other period drama trailers.
The lighting at night was important, so after viewing teaser trailers that featured a Ball scene (The Duchess and Pride and Prejudice) we decided that some outdoor lighting would be appropriate. However we would have to be careful due to the time setting of the early 19th Century. So we had to ensure the lighting was subtle, as though it were candlelight.
Characters
There are three characters in our teaser trailer.
Our main female protagonist is your stereotypical role, such as Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice. She is portrayed as a genuine character which will appeal to the target audience. But also she may appeal to the male audience due to the male gaze. This is the view the directors may have had in mind when they cast Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice.
The main male protagonist is a dominant force in the trailer who may split the audiences opinions. This is something we hope will attract our target audience as he is portrayed as mysterious, in the trailer the viewer doesn't get to find out that much about him. This is a similar to the role that Mr Darcy plays in Pride and Prejudice. You could also look at the female gaze as an attraction for a female audience.
The less influential character in the teaser trailer is the gentleman's fiancee. The preferred reading for her is that she is a shy young woman who is oblivious to the situation around her. This would hopefully create sympathy for her from the audience.
Representation
After looking at other period drama teaser trailers I've realized that they only seem to represent the upper class. We have challenged this convention by also showing the lower class. We show the class through costume mostly but also the mise-en-scene. For example the grand house in the mise-en-scene and the pristine countryside. The costume consists of glamorous dresses for the women and a crisp cravat for the main male protagonist.
Soundtrack
All the period drama teaser trailers have non-diegetic music which is instrumental. The music is almost always classical either piano or strings. We chose to use classical music as well however originally we used the flute rather than the piano or strings. Although we then decided to re-do the soundtrack. We decided to use a copyright free website to find the new soundtrack. We did this to ensure a professional finish. Inspired by other trailers we decided to use two pieces of music and merge them together to add more pace and drama to the teaser trailer.
Not only have we produced a teaser trailer, we have also produced a magazine front cover and a film poster to accompany it. There are aspects of these two texts that have been influenced through research.
Film Poster: http://lornasa2bloggy.blogspot.com/2009/12/ancillary-text-film-poster.html
Magazine front cover: http://lornasa2bloggy.blogspot.com/2009/12/ancillary-text-magazine- front-cover.html
Improved magazine front cover: http://http//g324lornakennedy.blogspot.com/2010/04/improved-magazine-front-cover.html
Modes of address/language choice
After looking at a variety of posters and magazines I've realized the importance of addressing your target audience correctly. Each poster and magazine adapts to its audience so it can appeal to them in every way possible. For example we have used similar colours that are featured in the main image for the text. We hope that this would attract the eye of a passer by and then rely on the featured films on the cover to encourage them to buy the magazine then hopefully entice them to see our film at the cinema.
Our film poster is a little more understated than our magazine front cover. The images on the poster signify upper class through the clothes and the mise-en-scene. The tag line 'sometimes love can't be denied' gives anchorage of the the theme of love which again will hopefully attract our target audience.
Layout
Our magazine front cover layout is very similar to that of Empire's .
Although we have added aspects that will help to attract the female more such as the layout which we have kept quite simple, not cluttered so therefore more appealing on the eye. We have also kept the layout of our film poster simple even though we've used two images however we have kept one image dominant and the other blending subtly into it so its not too harsh on the eye. Like all film posters we have kept the production detail text small in white at the bottom of the poster so it doesn't intrude on the images and distract the viewer from the main area - the title and tag line.
Below is a podcast explaining our research process
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