Twitter + Teaser = Hollywood’s Next Idea, the “Tweaser”

The neologism of the day describes the latest way to promote new movies

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20th Century Fox

Here’s your word of the day: tweaser.

No, it’s not a tool for getting rid of unwanted hair or pesky splinters. It’s the latest way for movie studios to roll out tempting footage for fans, a Twitter teaser.

As neologisms—or neo-portmanteaux, rather—go, it’s hard to beat the newborn-ness of “tweaser.” James Mangold, the writer/director of the upcoming Hugh Jackman X-Men movie Wolverine, introduced it on his personal Twitter account about 24 hours ago, and the spelling (tweazer? tweaser?) isn’t even completely settled. Shortly after using the word, Mangold went ahead and posted the six-second mini trailer on the social-video service Vine. According to Deadline, the coinage come courtesy of Fox exec Tony Sella.

(MOREHow Did Marvel Lose Control Of Wolverine?)

There’s not much actual movie in the brief and tiny clip: a few beats of music, a scream/grunt, fighting, flying, some sort of Asian-influenced architecture, a hint that a soft-focus version of Phoenix will appear in the movie and, of course, a few of the hero’s trademark “snikt!” sound effects. (A full two-minute teaser drops tomorrow so don’t worry, Wolverine fans.)

But what these six seconds of video might very well represent is a new way for studios to use social media to promote movies.  And perhaps Vine itself — with its easily shareable (and bandwidth-friendly) clips — should be getting “ready for its close-up,” as Techcrunch points out. This burst of exposure is great for the app, which could become the dominant player in the short-short-form movie promo arena. (And give new meaning to the intersection of Hollywood and Vine.)

Here’s the tweaser. (You may want to turn the sound off if you watch it more than twice, unless you feel like losing your mind.)