A Look at the Teaser for Teaser Trailers Phenomenon and Why It Needs to Die

I must admit that every time I see a trailer for a film I want to see come out, I am excited. Looking at sites like /Film announce that Only God Forgives has a new trailer gives me a chance to see what is yet to come. Reveling in the often two minutes of trailer and witnessing the mechanics of the film for the first time are amazing. To a lesser extent, teasers are another element that I feel fine with, though it feels more like a filmed version assuring that this product exists. Of course, I do not care as long as it is entertaining and gets me intrigued. However, what I don't love is overkill, which is the slow reveal of a product literal second by literal second. That is how I felt when faced with news that the Hunger Games: Catching Fire just released a teaser of a teaser set to premiere during the MTV Movie Awards. It got me thinking about how annoying modern marketing is, notably thanks to Vine.

As much as I like to go into a film blindly, I love a good marketing strategy. There is an art form to it that can either be simple, or really complex. It should get you excited as well as keep you intrigued. I am aware that big budgeted blockbusters don't have the time to shroud their work with mystery besides to keep plot points under wraps. J.J. Abrams is an expert on this and is possibly why he has been so successful. As of now, we barely know anything about Star Trek Into Darkness even though we have gotten several minutes of promotional materials. 

Then there is a recent trend: teaser for a teaser. Essentially a marketing technique that asks the viewer to get hyped for footage of what will get you hyped up for the ultimate trailer that will hype you up. No, this isn't an Inception logic, just reality. What does this consist of? The textbook version of a teaser trailer is something that is short and vague. It gives you enough of the concept to make you interested, but not enough to give anything away. Now go one step further. You have an even vaguer piece of footage used to promote a less vague piece of footage.

This isn't an investigation process, just torture. Viral campaigns are meant to make a movie fun. Star Trek Into Darkness gets it somewhat right with clues as to how to find more. With an app for your mobile devices and a URL implanted in the back of one scene, there are ways to find out more about the movie through your own investigation. THIS is what a teaser should be. It should give you reason to continue investing in a product, not force you to watch an incomplete teaser. In a sense, this helps to build hype and get you even more excited. 

Hugh Jackman in Wolverine

Before the Catching Fire news broke out today, I had this dilemma with another film: Wolverine. /Film reported about a teaser for a trailer that would release later in the week. In fact, there was an additional, longer one that came out shortly following that resulted in one of my favorite headlines from a Pajiba article: "Progress! Today's Wolverine Teaser is 14 Seconds Longer Than Yesterday's Wolverine Teaser." It was ridiculous, but I was beginning to feel that this was more punishment for those that downloaded X-Men Origins: Wolverine than actual promotional materials.
To me, this is not effective promotion. Imagine this, if you will: I promise you a review of Wolverine. However, the twist is that I can only give you 16 words, regardless on if there's a period at the end, per day before giving you the complete 500 word essay. Do you actually care anymore about my review? Why should films like Wolverine and Iron Man 3 thrive on this nonsense? Their only big appeal is that they are more established and can get away with slowly screwing you over into thinking that looking at a Monet painting is the same as an actual trailer.
I don't care to watch the actual Wolverine trailer because of this. I have lost interest in pursuing it, despite my rekindled appreciation for Hugh Jackman post-Les Miserables. I doubt that it will give me clues into further fun marketing. All I feel is that I am going to see a two minute teaser for a two minute and 10 second teaser with the way things are going. Don't say it doesn't happen. Somebody once found 30 MINUTES of unique footage in the Amazing Spider-Man marketing materials alone.
I mostly bring this whole argument up because I feel like telling the marketing departments to STOP! 30 seconds of footage is enough to intrigue me for a teaser. I don't need to become aware that there is a longer teaser that will drop in a few days. Access Hollywood used to do that all the time and it was annoying. I love movies enough to wait until an actual release date for footage that frankly will be overplayed and I'll get tired of. The one note is that I want those moments to be special for those ones that hit a visceral nerve. Watching a trailer all at once will provide that.

Left to right: Julia Stiles and David Cross in It's a Disaster

Diving further into the complaints is that it isn't just blockbusters. It's a Disaster is a small film that notoriously released the entire movie on Vine. This was the actual film company's idea, and people complained when the footage and audio came out in very poor quality. For anyone familiar with bootlegs, there is nothing new in shoddy quality. Still, it served as a marketing gimmick that essentially boosted the film's awareness through an asinine fashion. In fact, it has been essentially forgotten and despite a somewhat intriguing cast, it hasn't boosted desire at all. It just upset a whole lot of people worse than when everyone discovered that Spring Breakers was an art house film.

There is the root of my issue: Vine. Okay, it isn't the root per say. It is a collective of modern ideas. The best way that I can put it is to quote Spring Breakers director Harmony Korine from a recent AMA on Reddit:

"Cinema has changed. Cinema is now a 30 second Youtube clip. clear your mind. think of different now. make it bend to you. never use a walking stick, it looks doper to limp. catch my drift?"

As bizarre as that statement gets, he hits home a point that I have feared for years now. Everything is being packaged in shorter formats. I will admit that I have been prone to watch clips from films on Youtube for entertainment as opposed to popping on the actual film. Even then, there are pranksters out there that will fool you. The famous act of Rick Rolling involves misleading ads that essentially will force you to listen to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." This also happens when people use footage from a film and sell it as a trailer for the sequel. It isn't so much clever as it is trolling.

However, I think there is a bigger issue. True, watching moments from a movie isn't the same as watching the actual film, but it does feel like in order to be recognized, you need to be gone in 60 seconds. Think about it. The Harlem Shake dance swept the nation. It was only 36 seconds long. It became one of the highest selling songs on iTunes. If there is a more damning proof that society is getting too short minded, I would like to see it.

But for cinema, and online entertainment in general, there is something close enough: Vine. For those unaware of this new app that has been slowly becoming a sensation, here's a rundown. It was created by Twitter (a company who I already feel is making social media stupid and pointless with their limited text, though does have merit for those crafty enough to work around it) and it feels like a response to Youtube. If Twitter is the brief version of Facebook, Vine is the equivalence to Youtube. The app is simple: after creating an account, you can press the screen to film something. The only catch is that it is six seconds long and plays on a loop. Six seconds.

Maybe I am from the literary mindset that nothing great can come out of six second moments with exception to the Simpsons cutaway gags. It almost feels like it cheapens the culture and only pollutes the "anyone can make a film." All it does is pollute the world with pointless six second videos that play on loops. True, there are some that can make interesting projects, but how lasting can six second videos really be? I can just go to Tumblr and look for a gif of the same length and achieve the same thing. Of course, for those technically inclined and cannot make gifs, I guess Vine is their savior.

I feel that Vine is the next downfall in marketing. It's a Disaster already hinted at where things can go horribly wrong. Add in these blockbusters who cannot even wait two extra days to release a trailer and things get worse. We are starting to enter a period where if it doesn't move fast, we will ignore it. If I don't see a single clip of the film as soon as it is canned, it doesn't deserve my interest. On the contrary, a teaser to a teaser is actually doing more harm than good. It is creating something that nobody will care about once the teaser is released. You have wasted our time and your skills on nonsense.

Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness at least looks like it gets it. It isn't in slowly revealing new things via slightly longer clips. It is about putting time and effort into something great and hopefully getting a result. That URL in the one scene has become an internet discussion point. The dissection over the Wolverine teaser for a teaser has not. Maybe the trailer has, and maybe it is good, but nobody cared about that teaser for a teaser. 

In fact, I would argue that it is on par with nip slips and affairs in terms of relevant news. These will not change your life at all. These people will not go to your house and put you in the mix because you noticed a wardrobe malfunction. This is the kind of culture that is desperate to make anything news instead of letting it happen and reporting on developments. Teasers for teasers are the film version of that, and it feels hateful.

So with Catching Fire, I have reached my limit and needed to share. I will not watch this teaser for a teaser just like I never watched Access Hollywood for that brief glimpse into a clip of a clip. I have better things to. Release the trailer all at once, and I assure you that things will reach their full impact. As I rewatch Only God Forgives, I think of how it would work as a teaser for a teaser. I sure would have expected it to come out, but I also would not quite be as in awe with it as I am right now. Catching Fire and Wolverine had their moments to wow me and failed. I just worry that next I'll be paying to see these films on Vine because they just don't respect marketing enough to do it right.