A teaser trailer is a shortened version of a movie trailer which has been created to entice the audience and make them excited to see a new release. Trailers can be released months before the movie is released and can sometimes be eighteen months in advance. Most teaser trailers last between thirty seconds to a minute long.

Some teaser trailers do not use footage from the actual movie but rather create some clips or animation for the teaser trailer. This can be seen in the Simpsons teaser trailer which can be viewed here: The beginning of this teaser trailer sees the camera move quickly around an “S” logo which appears to be a red S and a yellow background. This may connote the Superman logo as a voiceover states, “In 2007 leaping his way onto the silver screen the greatest hero in American history.” However, the camera quickly zooms out and the audience can see the familiar cartoon character Homer adding humour to the teaser trailer.

Teaser trailers are mostly produced for high budget films or films that are destined for great success. As a result a teaser trailer may be created during the filming or editing stages of a film therefore, some of the footage seen in a teaser trailer may not be the final take or edited fully. Pixar is a company which uses this technique frequently due to their films being largely animated. This can be seen in the Despicable 2 teaser trailer which can be viewed here: This trailer features four minions, the main characters of the movie, singing a song in their own language. However this is a humorous song and very catchy, remaining in the heads of the listeners and so therefore encouraging the audience to see the movie.

Many teaser trailers may only include a piece of mise-en-scene or symbol which holds great significance to the movie and so can therefore connote the title of the movie to the audience. This is a technique that works well for major movie franchises and superhero films and it is this technique which can be seen in The Dark Knight teaser trailer: Flashes of light illuminate parts of the Batman logo enticing fans of the movie and also making them question if this is a new batman movie through the darkness of the shot and the ominous voiceover. However, at the conclusion of this teaser trailer, a bright flash of light concludes that this is a new Batman movie through the infamous logo and so will encourage fans of the superhero to see this movie.