Teaser
A teaser is a short version meant to make people curious without showing everything, usually five to fifteen seconds. It is normally assembled from material of a longer film and therefore costs a fraction of a production of its own.
Teaser, trailer or short version
The three words get used interchangeably but mean different things. A teaser deliberately shows too little and leaves a question open. A trailer sums up what it is about and runs longer. A short version tells the same story compressed, with a beginning and an end. For advertising the teaser is usually meant, for a website the short version.
How many teasers come out of one film
From a 90-second brand film we usually pull three to six teasers, one per message or audience. Each gets its own hook and its own format, mostly 9:16 for the feed and 16:9 for the website.
The effort sits in editing and sound, not in producing images. So the question of how many teasers you need is best answered before production: then the necessary shots are made along the way instead of missing later.
How we work with it
We record in the offer how many versions are included and in which formats. For advertising we suggest starting with two or three teasers and adding more once the first numbers are in, rather than building ten versions of which seven never run.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a teaser be?
Five to fifteen seconds. For ad formats with fixed lengths we follow the platform. What matters is not the second count but that an open question remains, which opens the path to the full film.
What does a teaser cost on top?
Considerably less than a film of its own, because existing material is reassembled. The effort sits in editing, sound and format adaptation. Concrete figures are in the offer, the basis under pricing.
Does a teaser need its own end card?
It needs a pointer to where to go next, so a call to action or an address. A full end card with logo and credits takes too much room at ten seconds.
Related terms
Read on: All terms in the glossary • Pricing • Our films
One film, many versions
Plan the teasers before production and they cost almost nothing.
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