TEASE YOUR AUDIENCE
On teaser posters and mood trailers
I’ve always heard that food enters through one's eyes and I could not agree more with this expression. I confess I’ve always been a picky eater. With cinema though, I’ve never been such a gourmet. Throughout my life, I’ve seen all kinds of movies, great ones and other ones of doubtless quality. But I find the first expression I used very useful as a comparison between eating a good meal and viewing a film project for the first time.
To develop a series of audiovisual pieces that will support the presentation of your project it means that those pieces must convince the producers that this story has a prospective audience, that we can take it forward…that’s why when I see the materials for a pitch I give so much importance to having a GOOD poster. Something that says: here’s a quality project!
When I studied screenwriting at ESCAC, a teacher told me that whenever I started writing a script, I should ask myself “Would you pay to see this film?”. It’s a question I always ask myself when I’ve got an idea I want to develop.
Well, it’s the same with a film poster. Would you pay to see the following film? Without having read the script and without knowing anything about the project.
I wouldn’t for sure. Moreover, if I was a producer I’d probably reject the script without reading it. I see the type of project you are trying to sell me (and I don’t mean the genre) and I am not interested.
Let’s now make an exercise in comparison. Ignoring the fact that this is an X-Men film, if you’d see both posters, which one do you think gives a better image? Which poster gives you a feeling of trust?
I prefer the second one. Because, though in the first one James McAvoy is on it, the most probable thing is that you won’t have a famous actor to support your project. The second poster is a teaser poster; much more conceptual, which allows us to understand that behind it there’s much more (your script), something totally indispensable.
If you tell me that the first poster is for a project called “The Invincible Squad” (or something in that line) I won’t read it. Why? Because if you are incapable of presenting me a poster that is going to sell me the project you’ve worked so hard on, I understand you are not ready to take the project to the next level (especially if you want to direct it).
In many occasions, before a producer will read your script, you’re going to show him visual material like a poster, a sales dossier or even a trailer. Then, what to do if you’re not a designer or you don’t know anyone who can make a killer poster for you?
You have two very simple tools at your reach, which you can use to enhance your project. A teaser poster and the mood trailer.
In the mood trailer, you can sell what’s your film going to be like, using clips from other, already released, films. Doesn’t matter if it’s a mix of very different movies, the important thing is that it conveys the perception that in this story there’s a good film and that it has commercial potential.
A teaser poster is something loads of creatives use on Filmarket Hub’s platform. It will help you sell visually the concept of your project, and as you’re still in a very early stage of the process, you’ve got more leverage when creating it. To show you how you don’t need to break your head over this, here’s an example of a very simple teaser poster made for our 2nd Pitchbox event.
And to finish this post with a bit of humor, here I’ll leave the ranking of the worst film posters in history. So that you become “inspired”.
