De-constructing Teasers

2012

The teaser begins with production company titles, Columbia, which is instantly accompanied by eery sounding music that are the first signs of the building suspense. The long distant establishing shot sets the scene whilst also tracking a person we can see in the distance. The close up shot of the man running whilst the sound of their panting is played continues to build up suspense. Their is mystery around who the person is or why he is running but the music as well as the shots coming from behind the person and the camera moving quite fast in the same direction creates tension as if their is something causing us as well as the character to run. 

The mystery around his actions are heightened as he dramatically enters a building, the shots of the teaser fade in and out with the beats in the music, whilst the tempo increases, again building tension. The close up of the monk establishes the character and his actions of hitting a bell hold connotations of an event about to happen or a warning being made. Footage is shown whilst also cutting to a simple black screen, the final one with white text over the top, ''how would the governments of our planet prepare six billion people for the end of the world''. The text hints at the narrative of the film whilst directly communicating with the audience. 

Sound effects are uses as a huge flood comes over the mountains in the final extreme long shot, the music then comes to a dramatic stand still whilst the line ''THEY WOULDN'T'' is presented on screen followed by the title of the film. Another line is then presented ''Find out the truth, google search: 2012'' which acts as a technique of viral marketing, giving the audience an outlet for the intrigue that's just been created around the mysterious teaser trailer.

Inception

Beginning with the distributors logo, Warner Bros, the logo is built out of a birds eye view of a city which sets the scene of the film. The camera view gets closer and closer to the logo as we are plunged into the city. We're then shown a spinning top which cuts to the directors name before it stops, mystery is created as we are not aware of why it is shown or who has spun it. An establishing shot of the city is then shown followed by the first shot of the protagonist, played by Leonardo Dicaprio, with a concerned look on his face. We are then shown what he is looking at with a POV shot of a man being dragged away, the first sign of action within the film revealing what the audience may get to see if they watch the film. The next shot shows a glass, inside of which is water tipping to one side even though the glass is stationary on the table. This is something that adds to the mystery begging questions in the audiences as to why this might be happening. 

The camera then shows a computer generated city with the line 'YOUR MIND' that also tilts to one side whilst the view is exploring the streets followed by 'IS THE SCENE OF THE CRIME'. The cutting of the shots then increases in pace between a fighting scene juxtaposed between fast moving scenes and slow moving scenes such as the man coming out of water. It then shows Leonardo Dicaprio once more as if he is waking up from a dream and the final thing we see is the title 'INCEPTION' created out of the city that the camera has just zoomed out of, slowly revealing a huge maze followed by loose facts of the release date 'SUMMER 2010'. The music throughout the trailer features beats the match the editing of the shots slowly building suspense.

The Dark Knight

This trailer again begins with the Distribution and Production titles/logos, however, again they are slightly altered such as the black and white Warner Bros logo so that the theme of the trailer is instantly set. We are then shown a black screen accompanied by dialogue whilst flashes of light slowly reveal the batman logo. The logo then begins to crumble and towards the end a Joker Card is revealed as one of the pieces of the logo as it crumbles away. This is shown just as the sound of the Jokers' laugh can be heard. Overall, the trailer reveals no footage from the film and again shows loose facts concerning the release of the film, limiting it to just the season and year 'SUMMER 2008'. 

Because of the cult following of Batman this trailer includes several things that are instantly recognizable such as the logo which would create excitement to the viewer trying to work out what it is. The voice of actor Michael Caine as the film is a sequel to the first modern Batman film that he also starred in. The joker card is also recognizable especially as it is accompanied by his signature laugh. The dialogue reveals some of the action within the film such as 'death' and mad laughter but what builds suspense throughout is the background noise of a clock ticking as well as the dramatic sound of beating drums. The music gets more dramatic and fast paced towards the end of the trailer when the Jokers' dialogue is being spoken, it then returns to only the sound of the clock and one final drum beat as the title and release is revealed.