The Art of the Teaser Trailer?
We got an e-mail recently and one of the questions that was asked was “When is the Outpost Doom teaser trailer coming out?”
That’s a very good question. I’ve been working on it, but it just isn’t turning out to my satisfaction. See, I have a perfect ending (in my estimation), I just don’t have any creative ideas for a beginning and middle. I’m not quite sure what to do. Considering the fact that The Grand Horror is out on DVD and there still has never been a real trailer for it, you can probably surmise that my experience in trailer making is lacking, to say the least.
My question is, can anybody think of any interesting teaser trailers for horror films? I’m sure there are many out there, but I’m drawing a complete blank. I’m looking for some inspiration; a template of some kind. Or, if any of you guys and gals have any ideas of what you’d like to see in a teaser trailer, bounce some ideas off of me.
I’m stuck. So let’s brainstorm with each other, shall we?
Filed under: outpost doom
Fake Larry said:
Quite simple, Herr Director.
Present cuts of brief actions or pieces of dialog that establish the story. Present your premise this way: Setting, main characters, situation(s), then hit the audience with a taste or two of the protagonist/catalyst. If you have to, for clarity, use dialog clips of charaters talking about where they are and what’s going on.
Don’t show enough to reveal anything specific, but show enough to tell the audience about what’s in store for the characters (i.e. something nasty). Go ahead and use those MTV ultra quick fades in and out of each scene clip that the kids like these days.
The last few clips should be character reaction shots. Stick in one last quick character shot with a line that says “we’re SO screwed”.
Fade to black, queue title and release date.
MaT said:
I don’t want to do a full trailer. Just a teaser. Should be short and quick…
Shawn@horrorcommentary said:
To me the best trailers are those that don’t tell us anything about the film, just a little taste. My suggestions are to watch
1) The teaser for “The Shining”
2) The Original “Alien” Teaser
3) “The Exorcist” teaser
In my opinion the best trailer ever made is Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” trailer. But it’s too long, but it didn’t tell us anything!!
Maybe black over heavy breaths and creepy music, building up the music, then one of the scariest shots in the film, for just a second, then the title over black and the “coming soon”
Bryan (Drunken Zombie) said:
Yeah since it seems like Outpost Doom is sort of a creature movie look at the teaser for Cloverfield. It is a different movie since this isn’t a first person perspective movie. Also I agree with Shawn. Just black with heavy breathing. maybe a character saying “What is it?” “I don’t know” and then bam a quick 2 or 3 second shot of tenticles busting through the barn. Then something like “It’s Coming” then fade out IT’S and fade in SOON. Just some thoughts.
Fake Larry said:
Then here’s what you’re looking for-
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DIW4w6cQ8bU
Personally, I am not the least bit impressed.
We are the lazy generation
Shawn@horrorcommentary said:
Here’s the greatest trailer of all time, it’s long, and probably not what your looking for, but…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzAnE4zuYuA
maybe something along the lines of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6qDqdYY6-Y
MaT said:
Thanks for the feedback everyone!
I think I have a place to start now…