Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Favorite Trailers?

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Posted by Rachel Carter (Member # 693) on 04-03-2001, 01:23 AM:

Just wondering what everyone’s favorite Trailers are... Just off the top of my head these are the few I remember that I really liked.

“Oh Brother Where Art Thou” (have not seen it)

“The Mummy Returns” (not yet released)

“Bring it on” (What??? I liked the music!! REALLY!!!)

“Pearl Harbor” (not yet released)

“Dungeons and Dragons” (I LOVED the movie, yes I'm a geek )

"Stir of Echoes" (Great movie)

hmmmm....I'm sure I'll remember others

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 04-03-2001, 02:30 AM:

MI:2 because of the way the paramount logo turned into the mountain tom was on (why didnt they do this in the movie too?)

Chocolate: I dont really know why i just liked it a lot

and that movie with kevin bacon in it it was an artisan release and it had the rolling stones "Paint it black" in it.

Waking ned devine: cause its one of my favorite movies.

I know theres more but im too tired to think of them

Posted by Sean M. Grimes (Member # 445) on 04-03-2001, 03:39 AM:

Sean-

Stir of Echoes was the Kevin Bacon movie - and in my personal opinion soo much better than that damn "I see dead people movie" that came out within a few weeks of each other.

Rachel-

Go see O Brother, my personal fave of the year.

My favorite trailers the Fight Club psa's umm the Man With the Golden Arm, and the new one there - Ed Norton and Bobby D - Score.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-03-2001, 06:34 AM:

Dinosaur - The big long one that came attached to Toy Story 2. I hated the movie, but liked the trailer because of the cool graphics and music.

Hannibal - Teaser. Never saw the movie, never plan to. Teaser has great sound.

All hell, I know there's more than that, I just can't think of any now. Probably because it's 5:36am here. Must sleep.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 04-03-2001, 07:01 AM:

"Independence Day" --- really did a good job of building interest in the film by highlighting the special effects. Every time I saw it in a theatre, the audience cheered when the White House got blown up (there must be some deep psychological meaning here

Currently, the "Pearl Harbor" trailer really makes me want to see the film.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-03-2001, 07:33 AM:

Psycho (the original) has a great trailer! It's definitely one of my favorites.

The 1997 Star Wars reissue trailers were pretty good as well, and crowds really loved them.

Other favorites: Jurassic Park-Lost World (the one where some theatres synched strobe lights to their DTS players)...this is the only trailer I've seen that actually got applause due to the strobe-light effect! Welcome to the Dollhouse (red band version). U-571. Titanic (the 4-minute version). Saving Private Ryan. Nights of Cabiria. Schizopolis (this one was truly bizarre). Switchblade Sisters. Toy Story.

Of current trailers, I'd vote for Pearl Harbor as well.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 04-03-2001, 03:57 PM:

The trailer for "A Very Brady Sequel" parodied the "Independence Day" trailer- the squares from the TV show's intro "invaded" a city.
The 'music video' trailer for "Josie and the Pussycats" is going onto my trailer reel

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-03-2001, 04:00 PM:

I forgot about Jurassic Park 2's strobe lights! That was fun. We cranked the hell out of that trailer. They never came back and removed the strobe lights, either. I even got a free shirt. Wow!

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 04-03-2001, 04:29 PM:

One that stands out in my mind as being humorous is the trailer for Austin Powers 2. The whole Star Wars type of intro, with the "If you see just one movie this summer, see Star Wars" bit made it one to remember.

------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-03-2001, 06:14 PM:

I loved the "Star Wars Trilogy" reissue trailer. The one that started out with the TV screen tiny in the middle. I forget the exact wording of the narration, but it really drove home the point that "If you've only seen it on a TV screen, you haven't seen it at all."

Another vote too for Independence Day. For that one, I put the trailer "last" in the pack, and set the lights-down cue so the lights faded totally off just as the alien ship was passing over head. It looked way cool and it was fun to watch people "looking up" when the lights started to go down.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 04-04-2001, 07:00 AM:

Mike: That

touch of dimming the lights in sync with the trailer action is a good example of "Showmanship". Simple things like that make movies a special experience that is too often missing in "cookie cutter" multiplexes managed by remote control.

Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 04-04-2001, 10:43 AM:

The Jurassic Park 2 strobe effects were fantastic. What an idea! Century 21 in San Jose had the retrofit. They had posted signs on the doors stating something to the effect of 'this presentation features effects having loud sounds and bright flashing lights. people prone to seizures are cautioned before entering the theater, etc, yada' It was cool. I read that Boston light and sound did the setup. and I know that the strobes were removed from century 21 after the trailer finished it's run.

-sean

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 04-04-2001, 01:59 PM:

One of my favorite trailers was the scope version of Far and Away. If anyone remembers, the first 30 seconds or so of this trailer starts off as a 1.85 matted image and then as the music build a title slate appears saying something like "The first movie to be shot in Super Panavision 70mm" and then the sides opened up to a full 2.35 scope image. I unplugged the lens turret motor and aperture changer and placed a format change cue right there, so as the title slate hit the screen, the side masking started opening up.

One of my favorite trailers regarding content was a trailer for "The Willies". This was a trailer that was apparently shot by a couple of guys here in Texas some 10+ years ago in order to show it around and get financing to make the feature. It was some sort of suspense/horror movie that took place in an old single screen theater "The Lyric". It had eerily lit shots of old carbon arc lamphouses, strips of film rotting away on the floor and one hell of an impressive Dolby A track...one of the best I've ever heard. I actually took it to the theater I was working at the time and dropped it into the normal trailer pack and was there to dim the lights and kick in the Dolby for it. People loved it so much that they stopped by after the movie and pestered the managers as to when it was coming out. Unfortunately, the feature was never shot.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 04-04-2001, 02:32 PM:

A trailer I remember from YEARS ago was for a forgettable film from the CB Radio era called "CONVOY". They made a film based on this song about truckers. For the trailer, they took scenes from the film and put them with the song. Very effective, and one I've never forgotten after a LOT of years. The trailer was FAR better than the movie!

As for the best trailers ever, I must mention the terrific work of the fine folks at TROMA. The two best are (and this has to be one of the greatest film titles ever) SURF NAZIS MUST DIE and SGT. KUBUKIMAN, NYPD. These are some of the funniest pieces of film I have ever seen. Trey Parker and Matt Stone's trailer for CANNIBAL: THE MOVIE is also very good. (Many of the Troma trailers can be found on various Troma DVD's...they did have out a $6.00 DVD that was just trailers, but I don't know if its still available.

The Projectionist (Bruce Bartoo) at our local arts center collects trailers, and he shows many of them during summer "B Movie" series. The TROMA ones always bring a BIG laugh.

Mark Lensenmayer

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 04-05-2001, 06:39 PM:

Those Troma trailers are obviously done straight-to-video, they probably never made any film versions. A lot of them have content that wouldn't make it into a regular trailer either, plus they're pretty long!
I have that trailer disc plus Troma's first 21 DVD releases since summer before last they had a 25-cent per disc deal on their website; I ordered one of everything!

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-05-2001, 06:54 PM:

WRT Troma Pictures -- is there by any chance a trailer for "Killer Condom"? If so, I'd love to see it. I've never seen the film, but I have recently read a teriffic book called "King of Cannes" (by Stephen Walker)...it in, "Killer Condom" is mentioned several times and sounds like an archtypical B-picture, but one which would make for a great trailer.

Posted by Joseph Pandolfi (Member # 223) on 04-06-2001, 03:07 PM:

PEARL HARBOR The 3:00 trailer is my favorite for this year. DRIVEN comes in a close second for best use out of all the speakers in the house. Last year it was SCARY MOVIE which won for the most chuckles out of the audience.

Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 04-08-2001, 01:57 AM:

I guess groove should get a vote for its kick ass techno track. I guess the movie wasn't that great though.

Josh

Posted by Rachel Kovacs (Member # 602) on 04-10-2001, 01:15 AM:

I do love the Pearl Harbor trailer....at least, I loved it the first four hundred ga-jillion times I saw it... I think the Lord of the Rings trailer kicks major ass...also:
*Blow--both the teaser and the trailer
*Billy Elliot
*A Knight's Tale (not a fantastic trailer, but I've been a Heath Ledger fan for awhile, and I love the use of the song "Dragula" at the end)
*Moulin Rouge
*Freddy Got Fingered (if for nothing other than the "Daddy, would you like some sausage?" towards the end)
*Evolution--more teaser than trailer
*Stir of Echoes

There are plenty more, but it could take awhile, and I need sleeeeeep...

Posted by Aldo Baez (Member # 790) on 04-12-2001, 01:07 AM:

The Pearl Harbor trailer, I remember building up the teaser for the first time last summer. "Oh pearl harbor cool" when I first saw the japanese zeros flying across the baseball field my jaw dropped. Then the second longer trailer came with the thin red line music. Man that has to be the best trailer, has anyone seen the newer pearl harbor trailer that has the different music? Its so awful, there's no climax or anything like with the other music. They've butchered it

. I've seen that trailer probably hundreds of times already and I never get tired of it, I also like watching the audience reaction.

Gladiator trailer, man that just got the blood pumping.

U-571, The Talented Mr. Ripley was also a really good trailer. And I LOVED the Chicken Run Mission Impossible 2(CI2:CHICKEN IMPOSSIBLE) spoof trailer. Hahhahaha makes me laugh just thinking about it.

The newer Mummy Returns trailer (with all the armies fighting) is good too.
But the best trailer that surprised people the most that I've seen is the Godzilla trailer with the fisherman fishing Godzilla out. Oh my god. The audience went NUTS, I mean, popcorn flying and everything.

The Exorcist rerelease trailer was also pretty good.

Geez, I better stop now but I love love love trailers and seeing the reactions. Maybe I should get into trailer making or something.
Oh, Has anyone seen the second trailer for A.I.? It's beautiful, absolutely breathless. Sigh. ok I'll stop now,

Aldo

Posted by Rick Long (Member # 213) on 04-15-2001, 04:33 PM:

The trailer I liked was one most of you are probably too young to remember: "Cool Hand Luke" (1968).

Strother Martin, playing the straw-boss of a southern prison road crew was heard to mutter no less than 4 times the famous line, "What we got here, is failure to communicate!" Interesting that it was used only once in the actual feature.

Still, the line seemed to reflect the times perfectly.

Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 04-19-2001, 10:18 AM:

My dad had one on the back of his car. That was a nice one, it was small green & wobbled at 60MPH.

(KEEP TAKING THE MEDICATION )

Posted by Mitchell Cope (Member # 32) on 04-20-2001, 05:10 PM:

"Goldeneye" (SCOPE) long version is terrific. Lots of cool cuts over and over again. Great classic Bond theme music.

"Pearl Harbor" (SCOPE teaser)... terrific, jaw dropping. I have not liked the subsequent trailers as much, though. Too much unrelated visuals like FDR speaking into microphone. For me, it scares me that the movie might not be as good as the teaser. I did like following one of the bombs down to a ship's deck and then having it shown with the deck on its side in the water with sailors hanging on for life (shades of Titanic?).

Posted by Aaron Haney (Member # 747) on 04-21-2001, 12:18 PM:

The trailers for "The Matrix" did a good job of building interest in the movie without giving away too much. Good quotes, too: "You have to see it for yourself.", and of course, "Whoa."

I hate trailers that give away too many plot details, such as the longer ones for "Cast Away" (Oh, so he gets rescued? Don't need to see the movie now!), the trailers for "What Lies Beneath", and the worst offender of all time -- "The Negotiator" (the last thing you see is Kevin Spacey cocking his gun and saying "Now you're going to have to deal with both of us" -- thanks for giving away the biggest plot twist in the movie!)

Posted by Bill Carter (Member # 156) on 04-23-2001, 12:05 PM:

Troma usually does video to film transfers (sometimes crummy ones) of their trailers... but only on the stuff that they have 35mm prints of. The features they make themselves are shot 35mm, but a lot of the low/no-budget stuff they pick up for home video was never finished on film.

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 04-26-2001, 03:25 PM:

Hello All,
Personaly, I think the best trailer NOW is PEARL HARBOR the "bomb camera follow up" trailer. Everytime I see it my hairs jump up like monkeys!!!!! It's just SO PERFECT. The music, and everything. I even cried twice when I saw it - (don't know why). But of course people don't remember all the old goodies - old trailers I mean. Who remembers INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE or TERMINATOR 2 trailer. Ages and Ages ago. Of course for me the BEST BEST Trailer so far is the teaser of TOMB RAIDER THE MOVIE. Who saw it???
Ciao for now
Demetris Thoupis
"FOR STRENGTH AND HONOUR"

Posted by Bryan Nikaido (Member # 842) on 04-30-2001, 03:36 AM:

am i too late for this thread?? d'oh!

anywho, faves would be:
road trip (redband) "this is some good shxt!"
dark city (tv teasers: music was niiifty)
final destination...

gwah.. too tired to think of any others..

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-30-2001, 08:34 AM:

Definately the Blues Brothers. It has all the out takes that were sniped out of the final release. I have a very long 70mm of it someplace......has an odd track setup to it. Not the normal 6 track or 5.1. It looks great and makes me wish they had made at least a few 70mm prints of it. Unfortunately all they ended up making was 4 track mag 35.
Mark @ GTS

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 04-30-2001, 09:49 AM:

Aaaaaah yes! The 70mm Blues Brothers trailer. I had forgotten about that one. I've got a print of that too. I think it was 5 minutes, maybe even 6 minutes long. I can't remember the specifics since it has been so long since I ran it, but I do remember something weird about the track. When I get things up and running, I'll dig it out and project it again. Great trailer!

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-30-2001, 10:05 PM:

One of my most favorite trailers is the teaser trailer to "Total Recall". I saw it for the first time attached to the 70mm print of "Glory" (shown at New York's Gemini Twin). I saw it again a couple months later on the front of a 70mm showing of "Mountains of the Moon."

It is a very simple, but well designed from a graphical standpoint. And the 70mm version of the teaser contained one of the best "fly-by" effects I had ever heard up to that point. The camera POV flys over the Mars surface toward a black pyramid in the distance and these two moons shoot right by you as the narrator finishes the phrase, "how would you know if someone stole your mind?" Really incredible effect.

I was sorely disappointed to find only a 2 channel mix of the teaser trailer on the "Total Recall" DVD.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 05-01-2001, 09:08 PM:

The Japanese roadshow trailers for Studio Ghibli's My Neighbors the Yamadas have a tag line added to the title card that reads "Production is behind schedule, as planned." Disney owns the rights to this one; we'll see if they ever release it in the US.

Paul, SMPTE OOF
"Otaku wa tsurai yo."
It's tough being a fan.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 05-03-2001, 07:53 AM:

This isn't a trailer, but I saw some newspaper ads for "Joe Dirt" done in the same style as the Oscar-winning films, with fancy lettering saying "0 nominations" and "Winner of 0 Awards" in various categories. A trailer done in this style could be hilarious.