I HATE trailers! (1 Viewer)

[david stark]

One of my favourite cinema visits over the last few years was to see "the limey". Certainly not the best film I've seen, but I went to it with a friend who wanted to see it and I didn't know anything about it.

It's the only time that I can remember seeing a film not even knowing what type of film it was. I enjoyed figuring out what was going on as the film progressed. These days it is just too hard to avoid them and I feel trailers are getting longer.

I much prefer teaser trailers, I really liked the teaser trailer for the hulk for instance.

I feel it is getting harder now to avoid trailers as the cinema's that I have frequented over the last few years all have big screens tv showing trailers while you queue for tickets, buy your drinks, queue to get in...

 

[RyanPC]

Brilliant trailer.

I agree... the trailer for PSYCHO is one of the best.

And no, I am not being sarcastic here.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Cast Away also gave away way too much.

 

[Michael Martin]

I much prefer teaser trailers

I'm getting to the point where I do, too. Teasers are much more about communicating mood and tone than information.

One of the best full trailers in the last several years was the trailer for Dark City. No narrator, just incredible images set to perfectly composed music.

 

[MarkHastings]

Cast Away also gave away way too much.

:frowning:

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

One of the best full trailers in the last several years was the trailer for Dark City. No narrator, just incredible images set to perfectly composed music.

That is still is my favorite trailer of all time. I never grow tired of it. I was working at Sony Lincoln Square at the time it was being shown and we had it playing on the video monitors in the lobby. Everytime it came on a few of us would stop and watch it. I think I've literally seen it over a thousand times.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Cast Away also gave away way too much.

just to remove even that small amount of tension?

 

[Mick Wright]

The content of the trailers, 99% of the time or more, are not decided by the directors, but by the suits.

Sadly this is true. Check out the commentary track of Arlington Road to hear Jeff Bridges and Mark Pellington rant about how the trailer all but ruins the film.

 

[MarkHastings]

he said he was happy about it, because it means the audience knows what to expect.

I guess I can see that.

 

[rich_d]

it's called high concept marketing--selling the entire point and purpose of the movie so that people know what to expect going in. Believe it or not, this process brings in much more dollars than other marketing processes. It was developed for blockbusters (Jaws, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Star Wars) but has unfortunately been applied to every single other type of film, regardless of whether or not it accurately reflects the movie or gives away the entire point of the movie. I have serious doubts that "the house of sand and fog" is an exciting thriller, and am actually really annoyed I've seen the trailer, but I'll still see the film.

And High concept marketing can and has been good. Case in point "The Sixth Sense" and other abovementioned films. And while filmfans will cry out that sixth sense was ruined for them by going in knowing 'I see dead people', the film would probably have never made the money it did without that marketing. Too many people would have walked out on it because it 'was slow and pointless and dumb', giving bad word of mouth and telling people "I didn't get it". Instead the "I see dead people" kept butts in seats until they were hooked in then wowed by the big ending. The film probably would have been a moderate success along the lines of Usual Suspects, but not the second highest grossing film of the year.

First, very few people walk out on movies unless they are awful (even then most will sit it out). If the movie is terrible, marketing or anything else will not save it.

Second. Marketing can not make a film a hit. The only way that Sixth Sense got that many butts in the seats was word of mouth. Period.

I agree with those that have mentioned Cast Away as the example. It is not about some slick marketing concept - its about hurting your film by giving too much away. If
Zemekis wants to try that "concept" without the star power of a Tom Hanks - good luck to him.

Another one that stopped me even from going to see it was The Talented Mr. Ripley - argument and an oar sweeping down on the guy's head - I think I got it. Thanks for the short story.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Another one that stopped me even from going to see it was The Talented Mr. Ripley - argument and an oar sweeping down on the guy's head - I think I got it. Thanks for the short story.

Actually, that's not a good example. That event happens a bit before halfway through the film. A lot happens after that.

And it's a really good film.

 

[DaveGTP]

I am generally only irritated when they lay out the whole plot - or, with comedy movies, all the good jokes. My fiancee has seen the Scary Movie 3 trailer come on but runs away to avoid spoiling all the decent jokes.

 

[Josh Simpson]

Man, I was watching the Superman box set a few months back and watched the trailer for Superman III. Man that trailer gave a ton of plot points away.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

The Supergirl trailer is even worse. It gives you the ending.

 

[Tony_Ramos]

the Mr. Ripley trailer wsa great! sure, you get a lot of the drama of the film, but the plot is convaluted enough, and there is so much film after that scene in the rowboat, that it doesn't and didn't ruin the film for me.

another thing is that the movie has a huge tonal shift as phillip seymour hoffman enters the picture, and it really turns into a different film.

have you seen it? check it out.

the one that bothered me wsa reloaded. that trailer shows almost every awesome special effect shot in the film. i mean, the actual best shots in the film, like Neo breaking out of the pile-up of smiths, or Neo flying through Mega-City to catch Trinity... Or every practically ever time that the ghosts phase...I just wanted to be surprised by the visuals.

The other one that stinks is T3 b/c it gives away every "money shot" in the film, as well as most of the pivotal character development moments!!!

 

[Chris]

I am generally only irritated when they lay out the whole plot - or, with comedy movies, all the good jokes. My fiancee has seen the Scary Movie 3 trailer come on but runs away to avoid spoiling all the decent jokes.

If a comedy is bad enough that it can give away -ALL- the jokes in 30/60 seconds, it's most likely crap.

Wait, this is Scary Movie 3, right? No more Wayans bros. & insert Leslie Nielson? What was I thinking!

 

[DaveGTP]

Well, sometimes it's not all the jokes, just the best ones. Anything making fun of LOTR/Matrix/Harry Potter/Star Wars is a must see for me.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Another trailer I think they really screwed up is KANGAROO JACK. When I saw it, I thought the movie was all about this kangaroo and expected he would be talking almost all the time, basically a corny talking kangaroo movie, not for me. Well I watched it because my daughter's friend brought over the DVD and instead I found it to be a fun, dodge the hit-men type comedy and the kangaroo really only talked when the one guy had a hallucination. (Then some as the credits rolled, but I looked at that as out-takes). Needless to say, I found it much more enjoyable than the previews made it seem. Of course, I admit it's no 'great cinematic achievement', but definitely much better than the previews had me believe.

 

[Cassy_w]

One of the greatest trailers of all time was for SUPERMAN, which shows you just about nothing, except Supes flying out of the Fortress of Solitude. Absolutely brilliant and it got people in the theater.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I think Alfred Hitchcock was the first major director to put his foot down and take control of his trailer to Psycho and limit what it showed.

Wasn't it just him showing a shower and a toilet?