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Topic: Who edits trailers, and why are they all the same?

Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 09-15-2007 12:26 AM

Wow. That's a who's who list of mediocrity!

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 09-15-2007 01:41 AM

Movie trailers these days are just fucking ridiculous. Words zooming at the screen: ridiculous. All the flash bang stuff we've seen 188,793,623 times already, ridiculous. The boom-whoosh audio effects (sound and fury signifying nothing) are a big cliché, as are phrases like "get ready for the ride of your life."

Here's a reality check to those movie marketing tweekers out there: No customer is getting "the ride of his life" from a mere movie. It could be the greatest movie of all fucking time and it would still be pretty insignificant compared to other bigger life experiences. You see a child be born, particularly your own child -that's a bigger "ride" than any movie. You happen to see someone die in front of your very eyes and be faced with your own mortality -again, bigger "ride" than any movie. You accomplish something big, like graduate from college, run a marathon, conquer a deep fear or just pay a couple grand for a ride from "Air Force Annie," you're taking part in a personal experience -something that means more than just another fucking movie claiming to provide "the ride of your life." Puh-leeeezzzze!

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Mike Heenan
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1896
From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 09-15-2007 03:07 AM

Not to mention a better "ride of your life" would be the time you bang a 10. [Big Grin]

One thing I hate about modern trailers is they almost always involve "you". "What would you do if..." and like Bobby mentioned "ride of your life". The only modern trailers that stand out for me are the Austin Powers series... I think it was the full length of part 2 which was great and had some fun graphics.

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Christian Appelt
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 505
From: Frankfurt, Germany
Registered: Dec 2001

posted 09-15-2007 09:43 AM

John, thank you for that article, most interesting stuff.

Two quotes:

quote:
But marketing strategy has crept into his thinking, even during filming. ''At some points during a shoot,'' he [director M. Night S.]admits, ''I'll think about why a certain moment would be great for a trailer -- why something would be iconic.''

quote:
[editor Mondrala]''Someone turning his head quickly, a fast camera sweep, lines with compressed emotion. In my work, I live in fractions of a second; one second is an eternity. It's like being a hairdresser and cutting one hair at a time.''

To me, many new films appear as if someone had thought of shots that would look good in a trailer and then proceeded to build a movie around some visual clichés. "Compressed emotion", "iconic" images - just euphemisms for visual clichés. Like dollying in to a wide-eyed person mumbling "Oh my God" or >1200mm telephoto shots of protagonist walking through NY traffic - whole movies are made up from such stuff, intercut with boring closeups of stars delivering dialogue.

Whenever I can, I go to the movies as late as possible to avoid the boring advertising and trailer stuff.

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 09-15-2007 09:55 AM

Very well said, Bobby. But it's always been that way -- maybe when we look at trailers from decades ago, they seem a bit quaint, but the idea was always the same -- make the audience think you've produced something they've never seen before and for which they should be duly anxious to pay money to see. I mean, I've got a trailer for THE KING AND I in which text flashes up on the screen in that old style of a card being hinged at the bottom of the frame and swinging upwards, that says: "More spectacular than the eye has ever seen!" (as if that kind of a statement even needs an explanation mark).

Sure, today there's a lot more "scientific" research done, which I think has a lot less to do with real science than it has to do with soothing the fear and panic that the producers are rife with, hoping that all these formulae and quadrant rules will somehow guarantee that they will make back the 100 million they spent making the movie. I think it's a lot more voodoo than anyone admits, as there is no way they can ever know if taking out this .5 seconds of a shot or putting in that extra musical note is going to put more butts in the seats. Yah, they can market-test it all they want, but they can only market-test it on individual people who are not computers but fickle human beings who are governed by a lot more complexity than some generic rules like guys like images of guns and women like images of kids. These are people who have lives and whose mood can be influenced by as seemingly insignificat things like if they couldn't find their car keys, or if they had an argument with their spouse before they left for the testing room. Of if they got laid the night before. There is no way to actually know if EVERYONE on the planet is going to think or feel like they do.

Mostly I enjoy trailer -- always have, and miss when they were longer. What I hate most about trailers -- 2 main things: 1)when they give away an important plot element and 2) the Voice-over Guy who has one of the most annoying, ugly voices with which a human was ever cursed. What does he have, mutant vocal cords? Does he eat gravel for breakfast? Does EVERY trailer ever made need to use HIM? What makes the studios think that voice somehow makes people more apt to go see the movie when they it on the trailer?

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 09-15-2007 10:04 AM

quote: Joe
Wow. That's a who's who list of mediocrity!

A clique of cliches...

quote: Frank Angel
Does EVERY trailer ever made need to use HIM? What makes the studios think that voice somehow makes people more apt to go see the movie

Frank, FWIW, there are about 8-10 different guys doing v/o's these days on trailers. The one you're probably talking about is Don LaFontaine. He's the most well-known, primarily because he's gotten the most press. In fairness, however, he did originate the delivery that is copied by most of the other talent. That ominous, chainsaw "read" is all Don LaFontaine's.

quote: Frank Angel
text flashes up on the screen in that old style of a card being hinged at the bottom

Oh, I LOVE that! I've made a lot of trailers for drive-ins in that style. They really go for them.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-15-2007 11:18 AM

Anyone remember the trailer for "Twister?" That was a good one. About 3/4 of the trailer the screen was blank -- the picture would just come on for fleeting glimpses, the same way your eyes blink open for a split second when you're in a wind storm. It was cool.

I get a kick out of trailers that show little or no images, for some reason.

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Chad Souder
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 962
From: Waterloo, IA, USA
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 09-15-2007 04:15 PM

I remember reading an interview when Ransom was being hyped (but I don't think it was Ron Howard) in which the person being interviewed was responding to a question about showing a critical plot twist in the trailer. The response was basically that the film company does not care how much they give away so long as it increases attendance.

quote: Mike Blakesley
that I don't think was even in the actual film.

I like when a trailer will show something that doesn't appear in the film, leaving moviegoers saying, "where was the line about..."

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 09-15-2007 05:57 PM

That Twister teaser is one of my favorites, mostly because of the sound (it sounded better than the actual movie). I've said this about a trillion times on this forum now, but I'd go down in to the auditorium to watch it when it came on since I put it as the last of the 4 trailers on the pack. I cued it to kick in to Dolby Digital (which did not work automatically at the time) and the audience would gasp over how clear the narrator's voice was compared to those other trailers. Pretty soon I was cuing the lights down for that trailer as well. It was one of the first trailers in Dolby Digital. I also like that trailer more than the movie.

I think that may have been one of the first trailers with a "stinger" at the end. I remember a tractor wheel or some large object blowing at the screen after the credits. At the time it was really cool, especially for that particular teaser, but now it is overused and lame.

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Wayne Keyser
Master Film Handler

Posts: 272
From: Arlington, Virginia, USA
Registered: May 2004

posted 09-15-2007 06:13 PM

You may have seen this before (if you haven't, you should) - 5 of the 6 big-name trailer voices going t an awards event (hilarious)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JQRtuxdfQHw

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-15-2007 08:02 PM

quote: Joe Redifer
I think that may have been one of the first trailers with a "stinger" at the end. I remember a tractor wheel or some large object blowing at the screen after the credits.

Right, it was a tractor tire and that footage was not in the movie. I think you're right about that being the first "stinger." It was even written up in Boxoffice as being such a unique teaser.

It did sound good, even in analog. That was before the days of the DTS trailer disks (and we had the 2-drawer unit anyway) so I never got to hear it in digital until we switched to Dolby.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 09-15-2007 11:42 PM

I thought that stinger was cool mostly because it surprised the hell out of the audience. They weren't expecting something after the credits, especially something with sudden good, solid sound.

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Chad Souder
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 962
From: Waterloo, IA, USA
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 09-16-2007 01:41 PM

I loved the trailer for The Game with Michael Douglas. It was just a dark screen with a dark marionette getting jerked around with voices in the background. At the end it showed someone popping their head out of water, gasping for air. I wanted to see that movie so bad after that, because I had no idea what it was about.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 09-16-2007 02:22 PM

Just look at that trailer to the movie coming out in January. It didn't even have a title on it, and it didn't tell you anything about it. People were freaking out with excitement over that one just dying to see it! Point proven that trailers really should NOT just be a condensed version of the movie.

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