The pilot episode teaser is the first structural unit of the first episode of the new project. It depends on the screenwriter whether the story will captivate the audience from the first minutes, from the first scenes. The main elements of the teaser for the pilot episode - locations, the main characters, concept, cliffhanger - on the example of the series "The Walking Dead" and "Anatomy of Passion".
Instruction manual
1
Setting geography (main locations)
The first lines in the script of Frank Darabont - immediately after the title page:
NAT. GEORGIA LANDSCAPE - DAY
Panorama: beautiful fields, gentle hills, shining blue skies.
And the road. Smooth and empty as far as the eye can see.
Fourteen pages later, the screenwriter will talk about how Rick Grimes woke up all alone in a destroyed hospital, but in the first four minutes of the pilot episode, the author declares the main motive for the upcoming story - life on the road in a deserted world, in the struggle for survival.
The first line in the script "Anatomy of Passion" (in the original - "Anatomy of Gray") by screenwriter Shonda Rimes:
SURGICAL MONTAGE
A series of frames with surgical instruments - a visual presentation by the author - "My story about people who spend most of their lives in operating rooms."
All honestly, we were warned. The heroes of the series spend two-thirds of the screen time in hospital locations.
2
First acquaintance with the main character
The Walking Dead, second teaser scene:
INT. CAR - DAY
Close: fuel level is almost at zero.
Open: driver, officer Rick Grimes looks from the manometer to the road and back.
Haggard, exhausted, unshaven, without a tie.
He covers his eyes from the sun, noting ahead:
NAT. HIGHWAY FILLING AREA - DAY
A large cluster of abandoned cars.
Anatomy Gray, second teaser scene:
INT. LIVING ROOM - Dawn
Light seeps through the curtains.
Meet Meredith Gray - 32, smart, awkward, cheeky, hardworking, and … naked.
She is trying to find her clothes.
3
Focus: worlds of the new universe
In The Walking Dead, this is the outside world - what happens around the characters, in the world where they happen to live (survive).
The specifics of external circumstances - on the planet zombie apocalypse - sets the tone for the whole story, directs the plot, defines the arches of numerous characters.
In the teaser of the pilot of The Walking Dead, we gradually get acquainted with this new merciless world, following Rick, we look at everything with his eyes.
In "Anatomy Gray, " the attention of the audience is focused on the main character and the events of her personal and professional life, as well as on the personal and professional relations of her friends and colleagues.
Viewers can forget that the action takes place in a city called Seattle, they can forget the name of the clinic in which Dr. Gray works.
Because the focus is on her professional successes and failures, and her confused, but certainly very interesting for the audience, relationship with Dr. Shepard. The first idea of their character we get already in the teaser of the pilot.
When viewing the “Walkers” it is impossible to forget in which world the characters live, and what fractions of a second separate the living from the dead or doomed to death. No matter how complicated and tense the relationship in the Rick group was thanks to the screenwriters, the threats of the outside world surrounding them will not let you forget about yourself for a moment.
4
First cliffhanger
Cliffhangers - unexpected plot twists, tense moments, hooks - scriptwriters put down at the end of each structural element of each episode. To maintain the interest of the audience and ensure their return to viewing after the break.
The first cliffhanger in this system is the final teaser for the pilot episode.
The first cliffhanger "Anatomy of Passion" performs its functions well - it entertains and intrigues at the same time. I would like to return and find out what will happen next.
Richard brings the interns to the operating room and says that they will literally live here for the next seven years. That many will not withstand the strain. He calls the operating arena.
"How well you play is up to you."
Meredith swallows, nervous.
Her voice-overs: "As I said - I'm over."
And the teaser for the pilot episode of The Walking Dead ends with one of the most memorable scenes in television history:
The girl whom Rick wanted to help turns around - and turns out to be dead. Burning eyes, hungry rales, she reaches for Rick.
He shoots her, and the sound of a shot awakens dozens of the dead in cars around Rick …
Summary: do not start your story with a mediocre scene, do not make excuses with the phrase "the most interesting is ahead." Let it be interesting right away, from the first minutes.
This is the secret and purpose of the teaser - not only to acquaint with the main character and his world, but also to interest, captivate the reader and viewer, drag him into a new plot and visual universe at an emotional level.
