Opinion: We Want to Be Teased

This week, a few major sci-fi and geek websites posted articles with an Ender’s Game movie teaser poster and some concept art. Ultimately it proved to be fan made, but it got me thinking. When the posters and trailers do arrive, what do I want to see?

Teaser posters kind of take care of themselves, just type teaser poster into Google Images and you’ll see a few examples, you can probably spot one of the teasers for another Gavin Hood movie in that selection. The point being, the normal industry standard does a good job with teaser posters and posters in general, whetting the appetites of the fans.

Well now on to the real deal, our first look at some movie footage – the teaser trailer. So I reckon we have a minute at most, remember it’s a teaser and we don’t want to see too much plot at this point. So how does this sound? The first few frames of Earth burning after the 1st Formic attack, overlay this with text (or voice) to this effect “after a devastating interstellar attack the IF is tasked with the defence of our world”. Then we can see some shots of the fleet and perhaps the battle school space station. Then more words, “One boy is destined to lead, humanities best chance” Then cut to Ender walking from behind (similar to the picture released of his monitor), and finish with “Our fate, his training is… Ender’s Game.” Flash the release date and we are done – Boom!! Opps, I didn’t intend to be so specific, but that is my vision of a teaser trailer, what do you think?

Now don’t worry I’m not going to go into as much detail about what I expect from the other trailers and TV spots, but I will say a few things that I do consider vital, to avoid anything being spoiled for me (a massive fan) or for those less familiar with Ender’s Game. It should be okay to show anything from what I imagine in the first twenty minutes, you can imagine – Ender leaving his family, traveling to battle school and meeting the other battle school students… but perhaps not the fight with Stilson. The next thing is a MUST. Please do not show any of the battle room sequences, these were some of my favourite parts of the book and I am mega excited to see them on the big screen. These scenes should be epic and I am looking forward to them smashing into me on opening night, also what an awesome surprise they would be for someone who hasn’t read the book. Wow. That’s the kind of thing people will be talking about after seeing the movie, telling friends  “you must see this” that doesn’t happen if it’s already been seen in the trailer. Lastly don’t hint at the twist by saying something like this is the last fight, or final battle, remember it’s a “game;” maintain this illusion. I know Ender’s Game fans wont spoil this twist for people who don’t know the storyline. Keep this in mind and the promotion will be top-notch, and the film can blow us away.

So that’s what I think, but I’m just one guy, what do you want to see, or not see as it may be… you know me by now, comments are welcome below.