2. TZVETAN TODOROV
Todorov was a Bulgarian literary theorist, he suggested that most
narratives start with a state of equilibrium, in which the protagonist(s)
of the film are living a somewhat happy life or is in a state of peace.
This then “state of normality” is disrupted by an outside force, to which the
protagonist(s) has to go out of his way to find and solve the issue at
hand. This stage is known as a disequilibrium.
Usually the narrative will end with the protagonist(s) defeating the outside
force and returning the disequilibrium into a new equilibrium, usually
one which is different from the original.

3. HOW DOES TODOROV’S THEORY APPLY TO
TEASER TRAILERS?
Usually at the start of a teaser trailer you see a state of normality, what
there life is like at the start of the film, it be a number of things such as
a character being in a dead end job or them living a happy family life.
This being the equilibrium stage of the theory
This then quickly changes as a problem arrives and some sort of danger
follows, this can be shown in a number of ways, usually a bunch of
clips montaged together with loads of jump cuts shows different parts
of the film in which a problem arises. This can be closely related to the
disequilibrium stages of the theory.
Finally, the new equilibrium stage of the narrative isn’t usually shown in the
teaser trailer, this is because the teaser trailer is supposed to get the
audiences attention and only show a little bit of the film, showing the
new stage of equilibrium would only spoil the storyline for aduience.

4. CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS – HOW DOES THIS
THEORY APPLY TO TEASER TRAILERS
Levi-Strauss believed that stories unconsciously reflect values and beliefs of
cultures . This reflections are expressed in the form of binary oppositions,
this can be heavily related to film and media texts.
I actually picked up on this theory during my teaser trailer analysis, In the teaser
trailer for the film titanic the two protagonists are separated by there wealth,
a prominent part of social class in the early 1900’s. One character being
represented as a rich lady and one being represented as a poor man shows
the two being opposites, but through the trailer it shows them coming
together, thus creating a narrative plot.
All in all this can work in different ways, for example good and evil could be
fighting against each other, this being a binary opposition, other potential
oppositions could be light and dark, Happiness and sadness, or even
ethnic/racial groups.
This theory could play a prominent part in the narrative as gives the audience
the idea to how the story will play out, how people can break stereotypes and
conform to them, ultimately driving a unique narrative.

5. CONCLUSION
In conclusion I think that knowing about narrative theories will benefit my
construction of a teaser trailer massively, this is because it gives me the
knowledge to play certain aspects of mise en scene (such as two
clothes representing someone culture .eg. Binary opposition) or placing
a soundtrack (such as loud suspenseful music to represent danger,
eg.Todorov theory disequilibrium stage). Applying these narrative
theories to my own teaser trailer should mean that I’ll be able to give
small hints to the narrative without spoiling the film, thus creating a
great tease for the audience to enjoy.