Who Makes Movie Trailers? (1 Viewer)

[Anthony Hom]

Seems like they use the same voice for almost all trailer narration, no matter what studio. It is also getting to formulaic. Everytime there is a trailer, if they can find a scene where someone throws a punch, and a scene with an explosion, they will splice the two scenes together, even if its not an action pic.
Also, I don't care for trailers using music that is not in the movie itself. It was cute at first, now it's boring and predictable. These trailers have used so many of the same songs (not from the film) like Walking on Sunshine, Baba O' Riley, etc.
I think these clearing house people have no creativity, most of the films out there have typical textbook scenes and one-liners mixed in there. There was once a time when trailers had some imagination, but they are just advertisement. Something that gets played at EVERY commercial break on TV.

 

[Anthony Hom]

Seems like they use the same voice for almost all trailer narration, no matter what studio. It is also getting to formulaic. Everytime there is a trailer, if they can find a scene where someone throws a punch, and a scene with an explosion, they will splice the two scenes together, even if its not an action pic.
Also, I don't care for trailers using music that is not in the movie itself. It was cute at first, now it's boring and predictable. These trailers have used so many of the same songs (not from the film) like Walking on Sunshine, Baba O' Riley, etc.
I think these post production house people have no creativity, most of the films out there have typical textbook scenes and one-liners mixed in there. There was once a time when trailers had some imagination, but they are just advertisement. Something that gets played at EVERY commercial break on TV.

 

[Nathan V]

Don LaFontaine is the trailer voice guy. He gets paid ungodly amounts for shuttling around LA and saying the various stock phrases we have come to know so well. It appears that the boring, cliched trailers generate the most profits. A case in point is The Island, by Michael Bay. Foreign marketing was handled by Warner, who marketed it as another generic 'Michael Bay action picture.' Domestic marketing was by Dreamworks, who focused more on the sci-fi plot aspects, in an attempt to be original. As we know, it flopped hard here and did great overseas. There are trailers that are so clever and fascinating that I can't imagine how anyone could pass them up (Thank you for smoking, Eternal sunshine, a lot of oscar stuff), films that have big stars and directors, but these films are mystifyingly always passed up by the audience for more generic, cookie-cutter material. I don't understand the priorities of the masses. Maybe people are just really stupid.

Regards,
Nathan

 

[Michael:M]

I don't know that you can really generalize about all directors always or never having input into the trailer. Zemeckis, as pointed out above, should never have input. Neither should Brian Grazer, who approved the Ransom trailer that revealed the huge twist in the movie. Grazer went on record saying he didn't care at all how much the trailer spoiled the movie as long as it put butts in seats.

M Night has full approval on his trailers - and it shows. Regardless of what you think of his movies, the trailer have all been magnificent.

As far as those awful songs (Katrina and the Waves, etc.) - those are the results of marketing surveys and demographics. They're aiming for the Joe and Jane Six-Packs who don't read reviews, who think that Steve Martin mugging for the camera in Cheaper by the Dozen IV is hysterical, and who want the movie EXPLAINED to them in the trailer, rather than being intrigued and challenged and mystified.

Hell, I still love the original teaser for Soderbergh's version of Solaris - just the space station spinning in front of the planet/spehere. I prefer trailers with NO voice over announcers (dialogue from the film is fine) and minimal screen text. Despite mixed feelings here, I think the Batman Begins teaser was wonderfully evocative and well done.

 

[Jack Theakston]

8% down last year? Sounds like it ain't planting anyone's butts in ANY seats, including me!

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Don doesn't leave his house anymore, we fax him copy, he ISDN connects to the studio. He has a simple home studio setup in his place in Silverlake- and still gets paid ungodly sums of money- only no more white limo.

\V

 

[JediFonger]

don doesn't have a competitor?... like leonard nimoy?

 

[Ken Chan]

Like I said, they only care about me being there, and not whether I actually enjoy it. The casual viewers that get convinced by trailers may eventually get tired of getting cheated by them. But probably not.

As for the voice-over guys, there's this.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Most trailers are in production before even the movie itself. Amazing when you think of how bad some trailers are but they are an artform and with that comes good and bad 'artists.' A lot of times the directors have no say in the trailer as well. Who can forget Ron Howard's protest to the trailer of Ransom.

I'm not as excited about new trailers as I used to be. Back in the late 90's I when I worked at a theatre I used to run up to our sister theatre 15 blocks with a friend to see a new trailer on our lunch break.

 

[Nigel McN]

Actually there are 4? main voice over people, I remember watching a short film/trailer that was about the four of them. It was great it had a limo picking them up one by one and they would all then go into their cliche speeches. They each had a market segment, like one was 'The Disney Guy'. Can't remember what it was called though, sort of similar to The Comedian trailer, which is also great.
"In a world..."
"No World!"
"In a time..."
"No Time!"
"In a land before time.."

 

[Ken Chan]

I linked to that in #28.

 

[Steve Y]

When I see a great trailer, it makes me want to see the movie.

A great trailer has no narration, very little dialogue, and reveals just enough to pique interest, but nothing that would spoil the film's best moments and surprises.

Most people don't agree with me.

 

[MichaelBA]

More than you did already? Or is this when you've never heard of the film and the trailer alone persuades you? What if you've never heard of the film and the trailer is very bad -- do you give the film a chance anyway?

 

[JediFonger]

yup =). i think fight club's teaser was like that. minimal dialogue, but enough to pull you in. same with kingdom of heaven teaser. lots of great painter-like images thx to scott.

 

[Steve Y]

Thankfully, other markers of quality exist: critical review, track record of the director, actors, or cinematographers, pre-release buzz -- etc. But a bad trailer leaves a really horrible taste in my mouth. It's like hearing your favorite band's new album covered by your least favorite band before it's released.

Or in some cases, just a song by your least favorite band. CGI animated features can be enjoyable, but their trailers are often spastic, noisy, full of fart jokes and bug-eyed animals running into walls and shoving their mugs into the "camera".

There are also great trailers to mediocre films, so whatever the case, we're still at the mercy of the marketing machine, to some extent. The trailer to "The Fountain" is an example of a really great trailer for a movie - it makes me really want to see it! But I realize this doesn't mean it's a great film. As more information comes in, I may become less enthusiastic.

 

[JediFonger]

well, pixar hasn't failed us yet (knock on wood for the cars feature coming out in june . it's the rest of the CG companies that give us grief.

re: the fountain. the director's track record isn't gangbusters. requiem and pi were OK, but not instant classics. he's yet to prove himself.

 

[Michael:M]

I'm in the same camp. I do NOT want the entire plot of the movie compressed into 2 minutes, and I don't want all the best visual effects or camera angles shown. It's a lot more important to me that a teaser or trailer accurately conveys the tone of the movie than an exact expression of the premise.

Unfortunately, I think most people want trailers to spoon feed them all the "important" stuff about the film.