Trailers

[Savage Henry]

This is less of a rant and more of a slightly perturbed complaint. My problem is with trailers, specifically those that seem to misrepresent their films. In most cases if the movie is bad it is very difficult to make the trailer look astounding, but what I am concerned with is dumbing down the material in trailers to appeal to a broader audience.

I know this isn’t a bad marketing scheme, as it will likely get more people in the theatre, but it screws up one’s level of expectation. This annoys me personally because I’d like to think I am pretty selective (for the most part) when it comes to seeing movies in the theatre, and if something doesn’t pique my interest in the trailer I probably won’t look any further and take a pass on the film.

Which brings me to my example: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. When I saw this trailer I didn’t think the movie looked ‘bad’ by any means, but the vibe it put off was that of a Rush Hour, or I dunno… Lethal Weapon, which is all well and good but it didn’t make me want to pay to see it. After mulling through numerous kudos the film got on this message board I ended up buying it and watching it and subsequently loving it. It is a very funny film, which I gathered from the trailer, but it is also excellently written, very smart, has a sweet pace, and has great, charismatic performances by Downey and Kilmer, which I did not gather from the trailer.

This tends to happen to films that may be deemed 'too smart' for general audiences. Like I previously stated, this will probably help the movie make more money, which I like, but I definitely don’t think it does the film justice.

[Tayzlor]

I agree, and to take it a bit further, absolutely loathe the DVD cover art that subtly hints towards something else -- probably disagreeable -- or changes the whole movie around even to those who haven't seen it, like "The Matador".

Those misrepresenting trick and, for foreign movies, hiding the subtitles just reveal contempt for the general audience and I'm not sure whether or not it helps things out. Surely it's not an absolute truth that American audiences are as dumb as the product geared towards them (or the appearance of being geared).

Trailers are separate beasts from their movies anyhow. What I'm curious of though is whether or not there is evidence that this sort of tinkery actually works, if it's just an assumption that a stream of images and the framing palm trees with some accolade in between gets the people in the theatres.

[RustyRazor]

I agree as well, but it's the rising trend, so it'll only get worse.
If it isn't that, it'll be a trailer where the key points of the film are thrown into the trailer, even very fast, ruining the damned movie!

Go see the movie? I just saw everything in the trailer!

As long as these slick suited executives are sitting around drinking frapaccinos and greenlighting truly horrible movies, this style of marketing will continue to appear.

BTW< I liked Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. By horrible movies, just look at every other film playing right now and you'll see what I mean.

[echo_bravo]

Even though I havent seen the movie yet, the trailer for Little Children is beatifully executed.

[BorderEevilIII]

How can a trailer misrepresent a movie overall?
But I will agree on maybe 1/4 of it.
Those 30 second commercials shown on TV is very WTF.....
I know there is so much they are limited to put in to tell you as the viewer what this movie is about and tossing notable actors (if any) and emphasizing NOW PLAYING so that you will run to the nearest theater to see what you just saw on your TV.

[Savage Henry]

Originally posted by BorderEevilIII
How can a trailer misrepresent a movie overall?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gf7h6o3I8yw

[ilovemovies]

Originally posted by Tayzlor
I agree, and to take it a bit further, absolutely loathe the DVD cover art that subtly hints towards something else -- probably disagreeable -- or changes the whole movie around even to those who haven't seen it, like "The Matador".



I laugh whenever I see the cover to The Matador since anyway who knows nothing about the movie will probably pick it up expecting some action flick with the guy who is known mostly for being James Bond.

But the worst offender was the movie Guilty by Assocciation. That movie conned me into thinking I was renting a Morgan Freeman flick. I saw the cover and I thought to myself, oh cool. I've never heard of this flick but if Morgan Freeman is in it, it must be good. Boy how wrong I was. Instead the movie turned out being some cheap indie crime movie and Morgan Freeman had a blink and you'll miss him cameo. He probably only had like a minute of screen time. As much as I love Freeman as an actor, I'll never forgive him for this. It was one of the worst movies I have ever seen and I don't say that lightly.

[miguel_montes]

Originally posted by Savage Henry
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gf7h6o3I8yw

OK... that is just awesome... because it has NOTHING to do with movie itself!! :D

[stickmangrit]

and of course, let us not forget the now infamous "On Earth, everyone can hear you scream." campaign for Alien 3.

[Crazy Dud]

Originally posted by stickmangrit
and of course, let us not forget the now infamous "On Earth, everyone can hear you scream." campaign for Alien 3.

The worst of them all!

The adds flat-out lied! Isn't there something illegal about that? There should be.

[Goberg]

Originally posted by Savage Henry
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gf7h6o3I8yw

haha awesome

[Mr. Fred Krueger]

Originally posted by Crazy Dud
The worst of them all!

The adds flat-out lied! Isn't there something illegal about that? There should be.

The teaser was made before Alien 3 was even written, you gotta cut em some slack. ;)

[Crazy Dud]

Originally posted by Mr. Fred Krueger
The teaser was made before Alien 3 was even written, you gotta cut em some slack. ;)

Ah . . . I didn't know that. Live and learn. I guess I can't fault them for it, then. Of course, it does beg the question of whether or not that was the premise of the story when the trailer was made, or if they were just making a wild guess.

[Badbird]

Cue The Mother of All Trailers:


..."until now!"


I think trailers have gotten progresively worse in the past seven or eight years. Every once and a while something awesome shows up (The Matrix, etc), but most of the time they look like they were all cut by the same company using the same formula:

1 - Introduce character by having him/her say "My name is..." or have the narator say his/her name.

2 - Say what they do and that they have the perfect life

3 - Until now

Then use record scratches or soft cymbols while fading to white to transition scenes, depending on weather you want it to be funny or serious.

And horror movie trailers are way-super-scarier if you include really, really loud screetching sound effects and strobe lights.

It's all the same. Plus they seem to like the idea of condensing the entire movie to two minutes, including giving away big scenes and/or spoilers. The biggest offenders of all being The Italian Job and Flight of the Pheonix - no need to see the movies, you saw all there was to see in the trailers.

[TheJupiterCrash]

Honestly, sometimes, I like being mislead by a trailer, because it's a big surprise when the movie it utterly different than I thought it was going to be. At the same time, it is just a stupid marketing trick to appeal to a wider audience, and most people probably don't like being so surprised.

The only good trailers today, for the most part, are trailers that are edited together by the director themselves. I mean full-length trailers, not TV spots... TV spots are usually just bullshit quotes from critics.

"All The Kings Men is a masterpiece." - The TV spot doesn't even credit anyone for the quote; it could've been Sean Penn or a hobo that said it.

Regardless if you like 'Magnolia' or not, it had a very good trailer with footage shot especially for it…

I don't know what I'm talking about anymore. But, I think trailers are best when treated as more of an art, than just advertisement… With in reason… we’ve all seen those fucking retarded perfume ads that make no sense, but have very gorgeous black and white photography shot with short lenses.

[Country1969]

Trailers show you the good parts of the movie then you have to sit through the rest in the theater. Well not all of them. But they do play a major part in the movie industry. Movie Posters - a good movie poster will get your blood flowing. .You'll be looking at it and thinking I can't wait to see that until you get there to see nothing like that in the movie.
Lets talk dvd covers. They use movie posters for dvd covers too. If the dvd cover is bad, it's sure a huge turn off for us movie lovers.

But anyways, Trailers is the only way we cant get a preview of a movie before we see it. But I also beiieve they do give away more than they should- showing some major parts that should be left hidden and enjoyed by us at the movies or at home on dvd.

[stickmangrit]

this brings me to a longstanding question of mine. does anyone know what the original japanese promotions for Audition were like? if ever there was a movie that needed a completely misleading advertising campaign, it was that one.

[Badbird]

Originally posted by Country1969
TLets talk dvd covers. They use movie posters for dvd covers too. If the dvd cover is bad, it's sure a huge turn off for us movie lovers.


Here's an interesting fun fact I noticed. Warner Bros almost always uses the movie poster for the DVD cover art. Most other movie studios will revamp the artwork for the cover, but WB almost never changes it.

[jackson13]

Speaking of Trailers, the Top 5 most viewed trailers on IMDB right now are:

1. Spiderman 3
2. The Grudge 2
3. Casino Royale
4. Gridiron Gang
5. The Marine




That list just makes me weep for the general public. Spiderman 3 and Casino Royale deserve to be on there, because they are some of the bigger most anticipated movies coming out soon, but why in the holy hell is The Marine on that list? I only know 1 person who is actually looking forward to seeing it, and he's borderline retarded, so that is excused. The Grudge 2, I kinda understand cause its a horror movie, and America loves horror movies, but Gridiron Gang has already been released, so who the hell is watching the trailer so many times to make it #4? Going back to The Marine, and seeing that its on the top 5 list, and doesnt come out for a month, if it stays this popular before it comes out, and opens at number 1, well, I'm just gonna shoot myself.

[ComeNightfall]

With Gridiron Gang, those people probably have serious hard-ons for The Rock and images of hot young guys playing football. Nothing wrong with that. :D

Is The Marine the one with John Cena? If so, there's your answer. With most wrestling fans, they'll watch the same stuff over and over again because it's wrestling.

[stickmangrit]

i must admit though, The Marine trailer did have one of the best lines i've heard in a while:

Robert Patrick: SHOOT THE GUY!!!
henchman: What does it look like we're doing?
RP: Missing!

the movie will definitely be crap, but that line cracked me and my dad the fuck up.

[Quigles]

Originally posted by Badbird
Here's an interesting fun fact I noticed. Warner Bros almost always uses the movie poster for the DVD cover art. Most other movie studios will revamp the artwork for the cover, but WB almost never changes it.
Then why the hell don't they just use those kickass posters for the SUPERMAN RETURNS covers? I mean, they got their work cut out for them.

The chosen covers are horrendous.

[Badbird]

Originally posted by Quigles3000
Then why the hell don't they just use those kickass posters for the SUPERMAN RETURNS covers? I mean, they got their work cut out for them.

The chosen covers are horrendous.

Hey, I said most of the time - sometimes on these "big" movies they fuck around. Just look at The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions.

[Lady Stardust]

i hate when i see a trailer with a popular song one example is the one for john tucker must die when it plays "don't cha"

[Crazy Dud]

Originally posted by vampirefan1
i hate when i see a trailer with a popular song one example is the one for john tucker must die when it plays "don't cha"

Or P.O.D.'s "Boom" on Reign of Fire.

[jaw2929]

I'll agree with this rant.... The trailer for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang made it look mediocre at best... I've not seen the film, but I'm definately going to check it out now.... Same thing with Layer Cake... I'm not sure what kinda reviews it's received, but I'd definately like to give it a chance, cuz the trailer's made it look like shite IMO....

[blk_flower]

I dont know what to say about trailers, and there are a lot that suck.

I do hate when they show amazing stuff on the trailer, take casino royale for example, there was some footage of an insane car burnout crash, the car just flipped over in all over directions. I guess what I'm trying to say is well the should so show some cool stuff but keep the best stuff hidden.