Once you start to get creative with teases, it is natural to be drawn to add elements like sound. Sound can be an effective way to grab a viewers attention. It also is often seriously misused. So here are some rules when using sound in teases to help you stay on track.
short and sweet
in context
character in story
nats pop
Remember, a sound bite from a person in a tease needs to be really short and sweet. (Unless it is so gripping you cannot turn away.) 5 seconds is ideal. Shorter, and you run the risk of the viewer not hearing what was said. Since the sound is likely your attention grabber in the tease, you need to make sure that the viewer will actually comprehend it.
The bite also needs to refer to something you will directly address in the story later. Often I see teases with a great bite, then I do not see the person in the story. Or the story ends up never answering the questions raised with the sell of the story in the tease. You have to keep things in context at all times.
Again the person in the soundbite really should appear somewhere in the story. If you are not using another bite from the person for some reason, at least show that person in the video and reference the person. Ideally though, the bite should be from the “character” in your story. Yes, this includes when you tease vosots. The bite needs to add to these stories, the person needs to represent the issue. He or she essentially is the character. We will delve more into that idea of storytelling in vosots in another article. But if you use sound bites in teases, you need to know this from the get go.
Also, nat sound really pops in teases. It can be the most effective way to draw a viewer in at all. It doesn’t get old. One of my favorite uses in a tease, was one involving tattoo parlors. You could hear the buzzing sound of the tattoo gun as a pop at the beginning and end of the tease. The use of the sound really got your attention and held it the whole way through.
So there you have it, ways to use sound in teases effectively. So go get creative.
