Movie Trailers

Creating a movie trailer is an art, and sadly, a neglected art. These days, trailers give away nearly the entire film. We know the end before we see it. Part of that has to do with genre conventions (where the audience knowledgeable enough regarding the genre to know what to expect), but a lot has to do with the content of the trailers. It makes sense from an advertising perspective to show the funniest, most titillating, and eye-catching images in a trailer, but in film, those are generally the very things that should remain a surprise.

Take the trailer for The Uninvited (a somewhat tricky example since it’s a remake of the phenomenal A Tale of Two Sisters, but I’m confident that most haven’t seen that Korean film): it shows clips from a majority of the scared in the film. A hand reaches out and grabs someone from under a sink or cupboard. A bizarre-looking humanoid figure with its spine protruding moves in a slinky, disturbing manner. These images have a lot of power, but not nearly as much when the audience is thinking, “here comes the hand!”



A recent trailer that I think is fantastic is the one for Taken. It gives away very little of the story, focusing mainly on the plot and what the audience can anticipate on seeing. The use of a single scene in the film is highly effective, especially with Liam Neeson sounding so badass. It still has some of the pitfalls of other trailers, but it hooks you and amps up the mystery. I want to know how this story is going to play out.



Trailers take away a huge part of the cinematic experience. The studios don’t care because their main goal is to get people in the seats for the opening weekend, but we should care. I mentioned in a previous post about going to see a movie knowing nothing about it. I did that when I was in England with my cousin and we went to see The Descent on a whim. I had seen a few still online from it, but that was all. The film was a complete adventure for us. No preconceived notions or biases. That kind of purity is rare (and unprofitable).

However, audiences need to be aware of what’s coming out. They are spending their money and want to know that the experience will be worth it. All right. Fine. Then there needs to be some sort of meeting in the middle, and I have just the thing: substitute teaser trailers for the current model. This way, the audience can get to know the tone of the movie, perhaps get introduced to some characters, and have an idea of the quality of the film. A recent example of a great teaser comes from the bastion of all that is good in cinema, Pixar, with The Incredibles. Everything we need to know about the film is contained in this very funny teaser.



Of course, the king of trailers is Alfred Hitchcock. Much like his films, the trailers are imbued with a wicked sense of humor. His trailers for Psycho and The Birds are works of pure genius. His juxtaposition of the horrific with the comedic is inspired. Again, everything you need to know without giving away any of the surprises. Of course, Hitchcock was a master showman and understood the audience perhaps better than any other director in film history. But if he were to be taken as an example, we would all be better off.