The difference between a teaser and a theatrical trailer

Even though teaser trailers and theatrical trailers may seem like two of the same, they are actually very different.
A teaser trailer is much shorter then a full length trailer, on average between 30-60 seconds, where as a full length trailer can last upto two and a half minutes. The release of the teaser and the release of the actual film is normally a long time, sometimes longer then a year before. A teaser trailer doesn't usually contain actual footage from the film it is advertising as they are made while the film is unfinished and therefore still in the editing process. Usually teasers are only made for the big budget or themed films. Teasers aren't used to tell the audience about the plot of the film or what it is about, unlike a theatrical trailer, but its purpose is to let the audience know that the film is coming in the near future. Trilogies often use teasers as the audience already knows the plot and history of the film, so the trailer needs little explanation. An example of this would be the 'Twilight' series. More recent examples of films that use teaser trailers are:  Star trek, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Alice in Wonderland and 2012, and some horror examples are: Cloverfield, The summoning, Dark Ride and The Nightmare of Elm street.

I think that this teaser trailer for ;Dark ride' is an effective teaser trailer as the audience has no idea what is going on but it shows enough to create questions that we as the audience want answered. I also think it is good that we see the group of teenagers at the beginning being sarcastic about how unscary the ride is and it odviously ends up being the cause of the slaughter.

A theatrical trailer is produced later then the teaser trailer, and uses actual footage from the finished film, although some trailers use 'special shoot' footage which is footage filmed purely for the use of advertisment and will not be shown in the film. They are used to attract the audience to the film without giving out any spoilers and because of this they include the most exciting and funny shots in the finished film, for this purpose shots are not always in the order in which they appear in the overall film. Examples of theatrical trailers are: The terminator, spiderman, Psycho, Jennifers body and many many more.

Jennifers body theatrical trailer

I like this trailer because it has comical elements as well as horror and the whole trailer is based around Megan Fox, which makes odvious to us that she must be the main character. The trailer also tells that she is the monster in the movie, which creates questions about how that came about. It shows alot more shots out of the film then a teaser does and it does make you want to see the film, but I think that the teaser trailers are more effective at creating mystery and suspense.