10 Minutes of Film? (1 Viewer)

[SarahG]

So reading the Dawn of the Dead official thread started me thinking- What is it with releasing 10 minutes of footage...both DoD and Taking Lives are doing it....I think its pretty smart....but I am still not totally sold...what do you think????

(PS...posed this in the DoD thread, but then thought it more and more was an interesting question for all to discuss as it could be in the future of trailers, etc for movies....)

 

[Alex Spindler]

This was also done with 28 Days Later, which was the first to do so I believe.

I can't think of a better promotional tool than that. Thinking of the basic format of films, most start with a hook, where the first 10 minutes are intended to grab the viewer right away. Even less so than a trailer, the first 10 minutes of a good film will lock an audience member in without ruining the whole plot.

Plus, it's the first creative advertising tool I've seen that makes good use of the broadband bandwidth. Better than any flash site or something similar.

 

[James T]

Jeepers Creepers 2 did it as well.

 

[Bill Williams]

It certainly wouldn't be the first film to do so. The Ten Commandments and The Buccaneer both had trailers that ran 10 minutes apiece with a lot of footage from the film and on-screen narration by Cecil B. DeMille.

There was also a 13-minute teaser trailer for Star Trek: The Motion Picture that had lots of footage from the film as well.

 

[Alex Spindler]

I would consider those more previews than this. Because they contain the openings more or less intact would have me liken it to books that can often contain a chapter or two of a new novel at the back. Just enough to whet your appetite and get you to buy the next book.

Wouldn't your examples be more like what an HBO First Look is these days?

 

[ZacharyTait]

Memento and In America did this. I must say that if it wasn't for the first 8 minutes of Memento being available to watch online, I may not have seen the movie.

 

[MitchellD]

My first memory of this being done is the advance trailer for The Lion King, which was the first 10 minutes of the film, exactly as it appears in the finished film.

/Mitchell

 

[Alex Spindler]

Wow, it stretches back much further than I remembered. How did they distribute that for the Lion King? Attached to an animated feature?

 

[MitchellD]

I don't remember what film the trailer was attached to, but I would assume that it was whatever Disney film was out the Christmas before, as the trailer ends with the end of the first song with a clash of cymbols and a title card announcing that it was coming soon.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Nope, The Three Musketeers.

 

[SarahG]

Wow..I didn't realize that many films had done this...but I also think that the first 10 minutes intact as they appear on screen in direct order is different than a really long preview....

THe first one I saw was the darkness falls one....

 

[ThomasC]

The first 12 or so minutes of Super Troopers was released online before the movie was released. It was up until the titles showed up.

 

[EricSchulz]

What a great idea! I have never heard of this before. When I worked at Walden Books we would get in these mini-paperbacks to give away...they had the first complete chapter of an upcoming release, or by an unknown author as a publicity/word of mouth thing. But I never knew they did the same thing with movies.