As pop culture consumers we are accustomed to the movie teaser trailer, and video book trailers have become increasingly popular. Trailers give the potential customer a sense of what the story will be about. It seems almost natural then to create a prose trailer for a prose audience in the form of a screenplay.
As a writer I use teaser trailers as much for me as for the potential reader. They are an effective storytelling tool, a highlight reel of sorts. My first trailer helped hone my book’s theme. With the manuscript done, creating the second trailer helped me with the process of tightening the story, setting it on a trajectory with the precision of a well-aimed arrow. Later next week, I’ll talk a bit about how I user the teaser trailer as a writing tool. For now, I give you Wynde‘s second teaser trailer.
Teaser Trailer #2
EXT. BEACH CABANAS – NIGHT
From the perspective of a person standing on the beach and gazing down its curved length, cabanas atop stilts dot the shallow waters of a sandy ocean shoreline.
EXT. DEEP SPACE
Against a serene backdrop of stars, a giant spaceliner slowly draws closer to a similarly sized military spacecraft. Several small shuttles speed toward the spaceliner.
NARRATOR
When terrorism strikes at the heart of peace …
INT. CABANA BEDROOM – NIGHT
A young woman lies asleep. Outside the cabana windows, the ocean waves and the sandy shoreline glisten in the starlight. In her bed, VESPA’s eyes pop open an instant before the roof of her cabana implodes in a brilliant burst of fire.
EXT. DEEP SPACE
Abruptly the spaceliner explodes from the inside at its midpoint, nearly tearing the vessel in two. Chunks of the shattered ship’s hull collide with the nearby warship, causing devastating hull breaches and implosions along its length.
NARRATOR
… the cost is incalculable.
EXT. CALDERA BAY FLEET DOCKS – DAY
Thick dark smoke rises from the smoldering wreckage of a fleet of starships, some clearly of military design, docked in port. The swirling air currents in the caldera twist the smoke into grim, frightening whirlwinds.
EXT. BEACH CABANAS – NIGHT
The night is lit by the bright flames of burning debris. Most of the cabanas have toppled, some onto the beach, others into the waves. Other cabanas are completely destroyed, nothing left but flaming piles.
INT. STARSHIP BRIDGE
Uniformed bridge crew all gaze toward a large display screen along one wall. In the screen’s center is a serene image of a moon. The image shows mainly the moon’s night side, but the day side shows the blues, greens, and whites typical of a habitable planet. Abruptly the screen fills with a brilliant flash of sparks as the satellite transmitting the image explodes.
MUSIC: a fast-moving, somewhat ominous martial theme
NARRATOR
When one family fights back …
EXT. BEACH – DAWN
The air thick with smoke and morning mist, VESPA wades through shallow water with a metal arrow drawn in her bow. She aims, firing an arrow into the throat of a towering black form emerging from the fog.
INT. RESPLENDENT GOVERNMENT BUILDING – DAY
Although they stand in full public view in the middle of a wide, high-ceilinged corridor with many passing bureaucrats and citizens, DAEMYN takes a long stride close to UTARA. Leaning down, he whispers directly into her ear.
EXT. LUXURY YACHT DECK – DAY
While a uniformed special forces soldier keeps a rifle trained on him, TERRAQ rises up from where he had been laying prone on a lounge chair. His bare chest glistening in the sunlight, he pops out his earbuds and holds up his hands defensively.
NARRATOR
… will the price be the love that unites them?
EXT. LANDSCAPED URBAN PARK – DAWN
DAEMYN takes a step toward TERRAQ, who looks exhausted. DAEMYN tips his head toward a slick black limousine, bearing a red pegasus logo, parked across the thoroughfare. TERRAQ nods and they walk toward it.
EXT. DARK NARROW ALLEYWAY – DAY
VESPA runs as fast as she can down the dark passage between two buildings. Ahead of her several black-clad operatives, weapons shouldered to track for targets, surge in the open end of the alley.
INT. BEDROOM
While UTARA sits on the edge of the large bed, VESPA shouts angrily at her. When UTARA tries to say something, VESPA cuts her off. Then she charges from the room and out into the hallway without looking back.
TEXT (SILVER WORDS ON BLACK BACKGROUND)
A story of brothers and sisters …
INT. EXPANSIVE STARSHIP HANGAR
Wearing starfighter pilot uniforms, BADGE and NIX stand side by side, their empty hands held up in surrender. Surrounding them in a ring, soldiers train their rifles and blasters on the two men.
INT. GOVERNMENT MINISTER’S OFFICE
Standing at her desk, UTARA focuses on one of the pictures adorning the back wall. It shows VESPA and TERRAQ, attired in matching blue and white flightsuits, leaping into each other’s arms in celebration.
MUSIC: a slower, haunting melodic theme
TEXT
… friends and family …
EXT. RURAL PADDOCKS – DAY
The rain of an afternoon thundershower pouring down upon them, VESPA and GEMINI cling to the back of a large black horse trotting along the gravel pathway toward a large stables facility in the distance.
EXT. ELEGANT GARDEN PATIO – DAY
Sharply dressed in a black suit, ZEPHYR reaches a hand inside his coat as he stands next to VESPA amid a group of friends and family. Swiftly DAEMYN steps between them, and ZEPHYR withdraws his hand empty.
EXT. CALDERA BAY FLEET DOCKS – DAY
Dressed in special forces fatigues, GEMINI walks next to ZEPHYR along the boardwalk beside a massive warship. Abruptly she glances away, distracted before dashing off.
TEXT
… rivals and alliances …
INT. MILITARY CONFERENCE ROOM
Dressed in her multi-colored official robes, UTARA extends her slender hand, palm down. BADGE pauses for a brief moment, then takes her hand in his, bows down, and touches the tops of her knuckles to the center of his forehead.
INT. STARSHIP HANGAR BAY
Standing close together, ignoring the others around them, DAEMYN is clearly incensed as he argues with a middle-aged politician. Almost smug, the other man maintains his calm, cool confidence in response.
EXT. DEEP SPACE
A small single-pilot scoutship affixed with two large external fuel tanks hangs motionless in space, immobilized by a tractor beam from a larger personal spacecraft. Three single-pilot starfighters rapidly approach.
TEXT
… love and war.
INT. DARK UNDERWATER ANTECHAMBER
The fluorescent lichen on the walls cast faint light. From the deep shadows a face emerges, his chiseled features highlighted in the dim glow. The merman’s broad shoulders and lean torso, crossed by eel-hide straps, come next, but his tail remains shrouded in the gloom.
INT. LUXURIOUS GRAND BALLROOM
Amid the throng of elaborately attired guests, BADGE, wearing a formal military uniform, has the lead in dancing with VESPA, who wears a red dress. With a flourish he spins her outward, depositing her directly in front of a bearded, gray-haired senior fleet admiral, who seems surprised at her abrupt appearance in front of him.
EXT. CALDERA BAY FLEET DOCKS – NIGHT
Tearing away from the mooring floats used to keep it docked in the bay’s port, the bow of a large spacefaring warship rises sharply into the air. The takeoff angle is so steep the vessel at first begins to slip backward toward the breaks protecting the hotels and civilian buildings in the port.
MUSIC: a majestic melodic theme
VOICEOVER (a man’s voice, calm and confident)
“Sometimes believing is the difference.”
EXT. DEEP SPACE
The scoutship speeds through space, twisting and turning vigorously. In a flash it hurtles between two alien fighters of similar size, not only narrowly avoiding the laser blasts being fired at it but also barely missing colliding with the fighters themselves.
INT. STARSHIP HANGAR RUINS
A pair of pistols in her hands, GEMINI leaps out from behind the cover shielding her and several other soldiers and charges full speed toward another group of soldiers also taking cover. She fires into the darkness as she runs.
INT. EXPANSIVE DOMED UNDERWATER THRONE ROOM
The merman slashes his tail to come to a stop before an elaborate chaise, which is empty. Slowly he extends a hand until his fingers hover in the water just above the cushions. He doesn’t touch it, but his hand glides along its length.
VOICEOVER (a woman’s voice, gravelly but compassionate)
“There won’t ever be a good time to set them free.”
INT. LAUNCH CONTROL ROOM
Standing up with a headset covering his ears, BADGE abruptly leans down and speaks into the headset microphone while checking information on the computer console in front of him. The older man seated beside him gives him a worried glance.
EXT. WILDERNESS ESCARPMENT EDGE – DAY
With VESPA watching, a large black equine bursts toward the escarpment’s steep drop-off. At the last second the beast spreads its enormous feathered wings, and the pegasus soars free into the clear blue sky.
INT. STARSHIP BRIDGE
With UTARA looking on from a chair at a computer station, DAEMYN lunges toward the command pulpit and the admiral standing there. Several security officers seize DAEMYN, forcefully tackling him to the floor.
INT. LUXURY BOX IN CANYON ARENA – DAY
Appearing uncomfortable in his surroundings, ZEPHYR sits amid wealthy and powerful individuals in a luxury box. After a moment several single-pilot aerial craft soar between the box and the far wall of the canyon at incredible speed.
VOICEOVER (BADGE)
“Stay sharp, and we’ll get through this together.”
EXT. GASEOUS NEBULA
Four single-pilot starfighters approach the open hangar bay of a much larger transport vessel. As the first one breaches the atmospheric barrier its pilot loses control of the starfighter, which pitches around wildly before rocketing uncontrollably upward toward the hangar’s ceiling.
EXT. SHORELINE – DAWN
GEMINI runs along the edge of the water, two swords held ready for combat in her hands. As she bounds past NIX, who lays knocked to the sand, she tosses one of the swords in his direction. He snatches it cleanly from the air.
EXT. SHORELINE – DAWN
Bracing his feet, TERRAQ stands ready with a large metal trident gripped firmly and confidently in his hands. Holding a gun in each hand, ZEPHYR races up to him, firing a series of shots toward an unseen enemy offscreen.
VOICEOVER (DAEMYN)
“It’s your call. This mission is a go, but only if you’re willing to make the sacrifice.”
MUSIC: the theme rises to a crescendo
INT. STARSHIP HANGAR BAY
Fierce determination on his face, DAEMYN storms across the polished floor of a crowded military hangar. A middle-aged man in a flightsuit steps in front of him. Without hesitation, DAEMYN punches the man squarely in the jaw, knocking him cold to the floor.
EXT. DEEP SPACE
A bizarre alien vessel fires a fusillade of laser cannon blasts at a group of warships, which look tiny by comparison. Several warships are already destroyed, and the others will not last much longer.
EXT. CALDERA RIM – NIGHT
In the dark of night, three black military hovercraft zoom at high speed along the rim of the steeply sloped caldera. The vehicles fly so low that the tree limbs bend dramatically from the downward wash.
MUSIC: abruptly falls silent, replaced by the quiet sound of shallow breathing.
SCREEN TO BLACK
VOICEOVER (DAEMYN)
[a burst of static] “… finish what you started.” [a loud click]
VOICEOVER (robotic female voice, slightly perturbed)
“While your plan’s simplicity has its merits, the odds of success –”
VOICEOVER (VESPA)
“They’re just numbers, Wisper.”
INT. WIDE CONDUIT
Using her hands and feet to fruitlessly attempt to control her descent, VESPA slides rapidly down the slick surface of a steeply slanted pipe. From above a burst of bright, raging flames chase down after her.
EXT. CLIFFS ABOVE CALDERA BAY – DAY
From the perspective of her pursuer, VESPA is running as fast as she possibly can. At the last possible second she lunges her whole body into a blind leap off the cliff into the unseen depths below.
EXT. SHORELINE – DAWN
NIX stands at water’s edge. His face furrows in concentration, and then he flicks his hands forward, projecting a terrifying roiling wave of fire just above the surface of the waves, filling the entire screen with flames.
VOICEOVER (VESPA)
(screaming) Terraq! Terraq!
EXT. SHORELINE – NIGHT
Her face lit by the flickering light of nearby flames, VESPA struggles to wade through the shallow water. Frantically she peers through the smoky gloom around her, desperately searching for something or someone.
WYNDE
by TRICIA BARR
Book One of the Fireheart Series
Finished and coming soon!
Check back to FANgirl Blog for details in the near future…
Tricia Barr took her understanding of brand management and marketing, mixed it with a love of genre storytelling, and added a dash of social media flare to create FANgirl Blog, where she discusses Star Wars, fandom, and strong female characters. She also writes about Star Wars for Random House’s science fiction and fantasy blog Suvudu.com and Star Wars Insider magazine and is a contributor for Her Universe’s Year of the Fangirl.
For updates on all things FANgirl follow @FANgirlcantina on Twitter or like FANgirl Zone on Facebook. At times she tries the Tumblr.
