Research and Planning - The Strangers Teaser Trailer

• Above i have posted The Strangers teaser trailer, which introduces very little information on the film and it is also a lot shorter compared to it's theatrical trailer. The teaser trailer cannot be made clear as to what the exact story line is, however it contains some of the most scary and jumpiest parts of the film, giving a bit of an idea to the audience as to what they think the story line is about. This is what a teaser trailer always consists of, showing the audience the best parts of the film, which is made to draw the audience in so that they will and watch the film at the cinema. This teaser trailer also represents the genre, narrative and target audience of the film. 

• The trailer starts off by showing different images of houses, whereby underneath each house there are words for example, the sentence spells out 'Some people choose a house for the neighborhood or the schools, or the size, but some people choose a house for a completely different reason'. The first few images of the different houses are very un-stereotypical of the types of houses you would find in a horror film however, until you see the last image of a deserted haunted house with a red cross over it, the audience then realize what the genre of this film is, horror. The first few images that are shown right at the beginning of the trailer, there is non-diegetic music that is played over them which is not stereotypically scary as to what you would usually find in a horror film however, as the images are suddenly changing, the music starts to change into a more horror theme style. As the trailer progresses, the audience are now fully aware of the genre of the film, this is also done through the use of dialogue 'You're gonna die'. The target audience would range from 15 and above due to it's certificate being 15+. 

• The narrative of the film, is a young couple staying in an isolated vacation home, who are terrorized by three unknown assailants. 

• The unique selling point of this film, would be for the main purpose of having a successful, well known actress, Liv Tyler. Which makes the film appeal to a wider audience, possibly towards the more male audience, due to Liv Tyler playing the vulnerable victim. The genre of the film is horror, which usually appeals towards the male audience. 

• The music throughout the trailer creates a feeling of imposing dread and fear towards the audience. The music relates towards the different actions that take place in the setting. 

• Medium and long shots are used throughout the trailer to show the audience where the film is taken place (abandoned house, woods) however, some shots are very quick, meaning the audience is given a brief idea as to where the film is taken place although, it puts the audience into the question of what is really going on?. By showing the audience fast moving shots, it makes the audience want to see more. The pace of the trailer is reasonable due to it being a teaser trailer and not a theatrical trailer, the pace of the teaser trailer is 1.15.

• The dialogue that is used is fearful ''your gonna die'', this keeps the audience aware and scared throughout the trailer however, if the audience are feeling scared during the teaser trailer, you know that the audience will be on the feet throughout the film. The type of dialogue that is used is stereotypical to the kind of dialogue you would find in a horror film.

• Credits are added right at the start of the trailer and added throughout. Half way through the trailer a credit is used which grabs the audience ' inspired by true events'. The font is in big, bold, capital, white letters to stand out and which it stays continuous throughout the whole trailer. 0.58 seconds into the trailer, you see the word KILLER in bright red lipstick which is clear to the audience that the 'killer' has written it on the mirror. This is extremely stereotypical of which you will find in a horror film, many of the 'killers' will do this sort of thing when they are wanting to torture a victim. Red is a stereotypical colour which is always used in a horror film at some point to indicate danger.

• Overall, I would say that this trailer uses the typical conventions of a teaser trailer succesfully. It has done this by the use of, quick and fast editing shots throughout the trailer and how the trailer managed to represent the genre of the film (horror) within the first few seconds of the trailer which overall, I would say is one of the most important features of a teaser trailer.