The buzz of internet film teasers

By Alex Stanger
Entertainment reporter, BBC News

The latest Bond trailer created huge interest at the end of June

Last weekend, film director McG stepped off the Terminator Salvation set and screened its teaser trailer at the world's biggest comic book convention in San Diego.

"It felt good to put that footage in front of everybody here. We're only half way through principal photography. So I wanted to make sure we were on the right track," he said.

"And to get that response really galvanised our efforts, made us feel like we were doing the right thing."

McG could have saved on petrol and checked out the audience's response from the comfort of his Winnebago.

Much of the material in the trailer surfaced on the internet two weeks earlier and had already been discussed and dissected by fans, fuelling a publicity machine on a movie not due to be released for another year.

Obviously film studios aren't missing this trick.

On Wednesday, a minute-and-a-half of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was released online, two days before being shown on cinema screens.

Powerful content

Empire magazine's Olly Richards says he is not surprised by the teen wizard's pulling power.

"People have been asking for months about when it's going to happen," he says.

"So as soon as it does go up, the fans go nuts for it and they tear apart every little part of it. It's become a huge phenomenon immediately looking at trailers online.

The latest Harry Potter screen outing was trailered earlier this week

"It used to be that a trailer was an advert for the film. Now it's an event in itself and as soon as they go online people are clicking on them and discussing them."

Lee Jury is executive marketing director for Disney in the UK. Having worked in the industry for over a decade, he says there has been a definite change in how studios show their wares.

"We have for many years premiered trailers with broadcast partners. It is a great way to promote the fact that a trailer is about to land in cinemas.

"The immediacy and reach of the internet, however, enables studios to reach a global audience simultaneously with this message and for it to proliferate further over time.

"We are using the internet as an increasingly significant broadcast channel," he explains.

Once a trailer is out there, Mr Jury admits the studio loses some of its power.

It used to be that a trailer was an advert for the film. Now it's an event in itself Olly Richards, Empire magazine

"When they 'go up' with a partner site, it is very difficult to then 'control' the proliferation.

"Planning in advance how and when it is distributed has to be thought out very clearly and strategically."

When the first Quantum of Solace trailer went online, it appeared first on MSN in the UK even before the official James Bond site.

Adam Rubins from online PR company Way To Blue brokered that deal.

He says: "Trailering is probably the most powerful piece of content at a film distribution companies disposal.

"They have to use it cannily. If they have a major high profile movie there is going to be a teaser trailer.

"Further down the line they will tell the story in a pay-off trailer. They then shorten it to get more exposure in the cinemas and that's called a cross-plug trailer."

'Mini-phenomenon'

One trailer that was meant to make its debut before screenings of the latest Indiana Jones film was Brad Pitt's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but it materialised on the web in Spanish beforehand.

According to Empire's Olly Richards, it has not done the movie any harm.

"It became a mini-phenomenon," he says. "It was being talked about everywhere. And it has hardly any dialogue - just these beautiful images."

Unfortunately, chat room buzz does not always guarantee a box office hit.

Mr Jury says: "There is no formula to apply. If someone does have one, I for one would love to see it."