7 ms·

The People Who Grind Out Movie Trailers

51 points by pmcpinto 8y ago

rosege 8y ago
I think the real challenge would be creating a trailer for a movie that is not very good so that you don't give away the few good bits.
- yodon 8y ago
  In most cases the rule of thumb is you can hide the good bits from the trailer, in which case no one will see the good bits because no one will go to the film, or you can show the good bits in the trailer and people will go to theaters and pay to watch the rest of the film.
  - satori99 8y ago
    It is especially disappointing when all the good bits from an entire film are all in the trailer.
  - CtrlAltT5wpm 8y ago
    I'm not entirely certain you need to go that far. My issue is that most trailers, especially the ~two minute ones, show the majority of the story arc, and either contain spoilers, or hint heavily at those spoilers. That removes dramatic tension and any desire for me to watch. A made up example, but I've seen similar: let's take an ensemble superhero action piece. You see a clip of a scene in the trailer where superhero A is in mortal peril, set against a desert backdrop. Compelling, but when I see the movie in theaters, there's an action set piece where superheroes A and B are fighting against villains C and D. B is temporarily incapacitated, and it looks like C and D have the drop on A. Unfortunately, this fight has an ocean backdrop. As such, all dramatic tension is gone, since I know A makes it to a desert I haven't seen yet. I've had some success making a strict rule of watching only teasers (~30 seconds), or the first 30 seconds of a normal trailer, where they have time to set up the basics, but not enough to ruin anything. If I'm at a movie, I'll just close my eyes after that point, since I can't fast forward, and removing visuals is usually enough. I wish movie makers would keep that in mind.
    - thaumasiotes 8y ago
      > You see a clip of a scene in the trailer where superhero A is in mortal peril, set against a desert backdrop. Compelling, but when I see the movie in theaters, there's an action set piece where superheroes A and B are fighting against villains C and D. B is temporarily incapacitated, and it looks like C and D have the drop on A. Unfortunately, this fight has an ocean backdrop. As such, all dramatic tension is gone, since I know A makes it to a desert I haven't seen yet. I don't follow your logic. You already know A makes it out OK, because it's a superhero movie. Why doesn't that ruin the dramatic tension equally?
lalos 8y ago
Huh what a coincidence I just watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_jjzzgLARQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_jjzzgLARQ which covers the trailer industry. Pretty eye opening to see all the tricks behind the trailers, a almost-must watch.
- B-Con 8y ago
  I think people are watching movie trailers because they're almost self-contained movies. Very frequently the protagonist and antagonist are set-up, the protagonist's challenges are laid out, the protagonist is shown overcoming the challenges, the nature of the twist is shown (and sometimes the twist itself is hinted at), any romantic relationship of significance is both shown and shows the direction it will go in the movie, half the big awesome SFX scenes are included, half the funny one-liners are included, and every character of significance is revealed. Sometimes you literally don't even need to watch the movie, you just got the tl;dw in the trailer. I refuse to watch trailers for movies I might see, because they ruin the experience since I know everything that's coming.
orky56 8y ago
The worst is when there's something in the trailer that's not in the actual movie.
- booleandilemma 8y ago
  That’s the cinematic equivalent of a misleading YouTube video thumbnail.
  - tinus_hn 8y ago
    It can of course happen if they need to release the trailer before the movie is ready.
- afraca 8y ago
  I have a bad memory, so I would not remember this happening. Do you have an example? Also: why would they do that? If they already have the footage, and it is 'impressive' (for the trailer), why NOT put it in the movie?
  - kumaranvpl 8y ago
    Rogue one had lot of footage in trailer which did not ended up in actual movie
    - ataturk 8y ago
      Of all the films that have done this to me, Rogue One's was the biggest betrayal. Jyn's character in the trailers was dark and interesting and the one in the actual film fell so far short of that! Also the line "It's a rebellion isn't it? I rebel" or however she said it, was just so titillating and then we got none of that at all.
  - thaumasiotes 8y ago
    This happened in The Lion King. All the trailers had a clip of Scar saying "I want to be king!" It's not in the movie.
lsh 8y ago
I watch a lot of trailers just for fun, mostly from this site: http://davestrailerpage.co.uk/ http://davestrailerpage.co.uk/ I've gotten very picky about what constitutes a 'good' trailer. Any trailer that has any of these: * an overly dramatic deep manly narrator * is actually a 'clip' rather than a trailer * is actually a 'making of' rather than a trailer * has a pre-trailer to the trailer and a bunch of other things, gets deleted immediately. Thought I would share ;) I also have a dave's trailer page scraper if anybody is interested/obsessed like I am.
- steve19 8y ago
  I also love good trailers and agree with all your points except the deep manly narrator. What I don't like is when they cherry pick all the good jokes and you know that the movie almost certainly will not meet expectations.
- B-Con 8y ago
  What about summarizing the entire movie? That's an instant NO from me. I've literally not watched movies because I've seen the trailers and feel there's really no wiggle room left plot-wise, I know it all. I very actively avoid all trailers for movies that I'm going to see. Modern blockbuster trailers just ruin the movie.
  - lsh 8y ago
    Trailers don't summarise the whole movie. And even if you feel they do, knowing the outline of a movie isn't going to ruin the actual movie experience itself. I avoid heaps of crap movies simply because I dismiss them out of hand by their trailer. Obviously there is the occasional movie whose trailer was crap but was actually exceptional. These come around again. There is so much drek out there a strong filter and upturned nose is essential to carefully picking something that won't waste your time and money. Otherwise you're saddled with Transformers 12: Re-revengance the pre-sequel. Or Star Wars 8 ;) It's how the same old variation of a story is told, how well did they pull it off, was it charming, was the dialogue and it's delivery any good, etc. And watching a movie with another person changes the movie again. Or watching it at a cinema surrounded pigs at their troughs. So many ways to appreciate movie watching that a trailer can't ever touch.
rawoke083600 8y ago
Funny story:I use to work for a tech company that buid pay-to-view systems for hotels (small atom box with nice screen in each hotel room). Thennnn the guys wanted porn movies... fine we got it and it was great (ppl buying porn with their breakfast). But the porn movies didn't have trailers so we just took any 30 sec of it.... BIG MISTAKE... no one was buying the movies anymore... We quickly realised our random 30sec were too graphic People were only watching the trailers on repeat (yes this is the one time your mind-in-gutter is right) ! lol We had to make new trailers but show nothing below the naval :D
dejawu 8y ago
If you like these, you might like the annual trailer mashups like this one: https://youtu.be/YU8CvjIwAlY https://youtu.be/YU8CvjIwAlY
juliazxu 8y ago
My friend decided to never watch trailers or teasers, and know as little as possible before watching a movie. It worked out really well for him. The less expectations he had, the more he appreciated the work of art for what it really was. It's a great philosophy, but it is tedious to time it late to a movie showing exactly right so that you miss the trailers.
- matte_black 8y ago
  Some trailers though are a work of art themselves. At least go back and see a trailer after you’ve seen the movie.
- always_good 8y ago
  I just close my eyes. And if it's a movie I think I will particularly enjoy, I also plug my ears. Might look goofy but I'm not exactly the center of attention.
- HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
  I, on the other hand, love the "Nothing but Trailers" show. I can watch movie trailers for hours.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ge0rg 8y ago
It's really sad that you can't read this article on mobile Chrome without getting trapped into an annoying "you have won" ad page that also clears the browser history.
- magic_beans 8y ago
  Why don’t you install an ad-blocker?
  - RightMillennial 8y ago
    Chrome on Android doesn't support extensions so you can't install its ad-blockers.

51 points by pmcpinto 8y ago

I think the real challenge would be creating a trailer for a movie that is not very good so that you don't give away the few good bits.

yodon 8y ago
In most cases the rule of thumb is you can hide the good bits from the trailer, in which case no one will see the good bits because no one will go to the film, or you can show the good bits in the trailer and people will go to theaters and pay to watch the rest of the film.
- satori99 8y ago
  It is especially disappointing when all the good bits from an entire film are all in the trailer.
- CtrlAltT5wpm 8y ago
  I'm not entirely certain you need to go that far. My issue is that most trailers, especially the ~two minute ones, show the majority of the story arc, and either contain spoilers, or hint heavily at those spoilers. That removes dramatic tension and any desire for me to watch. A made up example, but I've seen similar: let's take an ensemble superhero action piece. You see a clip of a scene in the trailer where superhero A is in mortal peril, set against a desert backdrop. Compelling, but when I see the movie in theaters, there's an action set piece where superheroes A and B are fighting against villains C and D. B is temporarily incapacitated, and it looks like C and D have the drop on A. Unfortunately, this fight has an ocean backdrop. As such, all dramatic tension is gone, since I know A makes it to a desert I haven't seen yet. I've had some success making a strict rule of watching only teasers (~30 seconds), or the first 30 seconds of a normal trailer, where they have time to set up the basics, but not enough to ruin anything. If I'm at a movie, I'll just close my eyes after that point, since I can't fast forward, and removing visuals is usually enough. I wish movie makers would keep that in mind.
  - thaumasiotes 8y ago
    > You see a clip of a scene in the trailer where superhero A is in mortal peril, set against a desert backdrop. Compelling, but when I see the movie in theaters, there's an action set piece where superheroes A and B are fighting against villains C and D. B is temporarily incapacitated, and it looks like C and D have the drop on A. Unfortunately, this fight has an ocean backdrop. As such, all dramatic tension is gone, since I know A makes it to a desert I haven't seen yet. I don't follow your logic. You already know A makes it out OK, because it's a superhero movie. Why doesn't that ruin the dramatic tension equally?

lalos 8y ago

Huh what a coincidence I just watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_jjzzgLARQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_jjzzgLARQ which covers the trailer industry. Pretty eye opening to see all the tricks behind the trailers, a almost-must watch.

B-Con 8y ago
I think people are watching movie trailers because they're almost self-contained movies. Very frequently the protagonist and antagonist are set-up, the protagonist's challenges are laid out, the protagonist is shown overcoming the challenges, the nature of the twist is shown (and sometimes the twist itself is hinted at), any romantic relationship of significance is both shown and shows the direction it will go in the movie, half the big awesome SFX scenes are included, half the funny one-liners are included, and every character of significance is revealed. Sometimes you literally don't even need to watch the movie, you just got the tl;dw in the trailer. I refuse to watch trailers for movies I might see, because they ruin the experience since I know everything that's coming.

orky56 8y ago

The worst is when there's something in the trailer that's not in the actual movie.

booleandilemma 8y ago
That’s the cinematic equivalent of a misleading YouTube video thumbnail.
- tinus_hn 8y ago
  It can of course happen if they need to release the trailer before the movie is ready.
afraca 8y ago
I have a bad memory, so I would not remember this happening. Do you have an example? Also: why would they do that? If they already have the footage, and it is 'impressive' (for the trailer), why NOT put it in the movie?
- kumaranvpl 8y ago
  Rogue one had lot of footage in trailer which did not ended up in actual movie
  - ataturk 8y ago
    Of all the films that have done this to me, Rogue One's was the biggest betrayal. Jyn's character in the trailers was dark and interesting and the one in the actual film fell so far short of that! Also the line "It's a rebellion isn't it? I rebel" or however she said it, was just so titillating and then we got none of that at all.
- thaumasiotes 8y ago
  This happened in The Lion King. All the trailers had a clip of Scar saying "I want to be king!" It's not in the movie.

lsh 8y ago

I watch a lot of trailers just for fun, mostly from this site: http://davestrailerpage.co.uk/ http://davestrailerpage.co.uk/ I've gotten very picky about what constitutes a 'good' trailer. Any trailer that has any of these: * an overly dramatic deep manly narrator * is actually a 'clip' rather than a trailer * is actually a 'making of' rather than a trailer * has a pre-trailer to the trailer and a bunch of other things, gets deleted immediately. Thought I would share ;) I also have a dave's trailer page scraper if anybody is interested/obsessed like I am.

steve19 8y ago
I also love good trailers and agree with all your points except the deep manly narrator. What I don't like is when they cherry pick all the good jokes and you know that the movie almost certainly will not meet expectations.
B-Con 8y ago
What about summarizing the entire movie? That's an instant NO from me. I've literally not watched movies because I've seen the trailers and feel there's really no wiggle room left plot-wise, I know it all. I very actively avoid all trailers for movies that I'm going to see. Modern blockbuster trailers just ruin the movie.
- lsh 8y ago
  Trailers don't summarise the whole movie. And even if you feel they do, knowing the outline of a movie isn't going to ruin the actual movie experience itself. I avoid heaps of crap movies simply because I dismiss them out of hand by their trailer. Obviously there is the occasional movie whose trailer was crap but was actually exceptional. These come around again. There is so much drek out there a strong filter and upturned nose is essential to carefully picking something that won't waste your time and money. Otherwise you're saddled with Transformers 12: Re-revengance the pre-sequel. Or Star Wars 8 ;) It's how the same old variation of a story is told, how well did they pull it off, was it charming, was the dialogue and it's delivery any good, etc. And watching a movie with another person changes the movie again. Or watching it at a cinema surrounded pigs at their troughs. So many ways to appreciate movie watching that a trailer can't ever touch.

rawoke083600 8y ago

Funny story:I use to work for a tech company that buid pay-to-view systems for hotels (small atom box with nice screen in each hotel room). Thennnn the guys wanted porn movies... fine we got it and it was great (ppl buying porn with their breakfast). But the porn movies didn't have trailers so we just took any 30 sec of it.... BIG MISTAKE... no one was buying the movies anymore... We quickly realised our random 30sec were too graphic People were only watching the trailers on repeat (yes this is the one time your mind-in-gutter is right) ! lol We had to make new trailers but show nothing below the naval :D

dejawu 8y ago

If you like these, you might like the annual trailer mashups like this one: https://youtu.be/YU8CvjIwAlY https://youtu.be/YU8CvjIwAlY

juliazxu 8y ago

My friend decided to never watch trailers or teasers, and know as little as possible before watching a movie. It worked out really well for him. The less expectations he had, the more he appreciated the work of art for what it really was. It's a great philosophy, but it is tedious to time it late to a movie showing exactly right so that you miss the trailers.

matte_black 8y ago
Some trailers though are a work of art themselves. At least go back and see a trailer after you’ve seen the movie.
always_good 8y ago
I just close my eyes. And if it's a movie I think I will particularly enjoy, I also plug my ears. Might look goofy but I'm not exactly the center of attention.
HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
I, on the other hand, love the "Nothing but Trailers" show. I can watch movie trailers for hours.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

ge0rg 8y ago

It's really sad that you can't read this article on mobile Chrome without getting trapped into an annoying "you have won" ad page that also clears the browser history.

magic_beans 8y ago
Why don’t you install an ad-blocker?
- RightMillennial 8y ago
  Chrome on Android doesn't support extensions so you can't install its ad-blockers.