ToasT
12-17-2002, 06:12 PM
The thing that really bugs me is that most production companies don't realize that advertising is as important as the movie itself. Many times I've noticed that after I have seen a movie I realize that the trailer either ruined it for me or made it seem that I was gonna see a different film.
The trailer for Castaway starring Tom Hanks and a volleyball could be seen everywhere and at anytime. And for a person who is living, I saw that trailer two times as many digits that I have on my hands. So when it came time to actually watch the movie I already knew what the crash looked like, the fire dancing scene, his talking to a volleyball, his failed attempts at making a raft, and of course the final scenes where his wife (Helen Hunt) runs in the rain toward his dearly missed husband and where he makes a life changing decsion at the intersection. As you have noticed, i'm not adding the *spoiler* sign because all that i've mentioned was in the trailer not including the emotional dialouge heard. Advertising like that should not even be allowed. There should be some kind of screening by a person who has seen the film to check these sort of things.
One other advertising technique that pisses me off to the next degree is when the trailer makes the film completely different than it actually is. Do any of you guys remember how hyped you were when you first saw the coming attraction of Pearl Harbor. I remember too. Now do you remember how crushed you were when the ending credits rolled by your weary eyes. So do I. This film was sold as a movie about one day that changed the United States forever, not about a love triangle between two best friends and a nurse. This movie would have probably been liked much more if it was advertised as a love story instead of it advertising the amazing fourty minutes of action of December 7th.
Another film that suffered the same problem was the World War II film Hart's War. It was made out to be an action-packed prision break film with a hard-boiled officer (Bruce Willis) as the Rambo of the movie. Hart's War is actually a courtroom mystery. An inmate of this Nazi prision was murdered in the middle of the night, a Tuskegee airmen who held anger toward the victim was blamed and another was murdered. A sympathetic but shunned officer (Colin Ferrel) who knows that the airman was innocent goes on a quest to find out who the killer really is. The trailer did not show any inclination that the movie it was representing was in fact a mystery. All that was seen was all the explosions and action in the film and Bruce Willis delivering a piece of dialouge that was supposed to be a surprise at the end of the film. When in the theater watching the movie, I constantly remembered the line that Bruce Willis said, but it didn't arise early on. I waited and waited until the tension rose at the end of the film when I then realized what was going to happen. It sucked that the movie was ruined for me but it was still a solid movie nevertheless. Only if the director screened these things then Hart's War may have gotten the reviews it deserved. (It was not great but good).
But then again I do understand why companies might decieve the audience by creating a false representation of the movie. If a movie is a courtroom drama/mystery and may not appeal to all audiences, the film could be advertised as a non-stop action thriller just to make more money. Same goes for a film with a love story basis which is predominately thought as a "female" kind of movie. It is sad to see a message skewerd by greed.
The trailer for Castaway starring Tom Hanks and a volleyball could be seen everywhere and at anytime. And for a person who is living, I saw that trailer two times as many digits that I have on my hands. So when it came time to actually watch the movie I already knew what the crash looked like, the fire dancing scene, his talking to a volleyball, his failed attempts at making a raft, and of course the final scenes where his wife (Helen Hunt) runs in the rain toward his dearly missed husband and where he makes a life changing decsion at the intersection. As you have noticed, i'm not adding the *spoiler* sign because all that i've mentioned was in the trailer not including the emotional dialouge heard. Advertising like that should not even be allowed. There should be some kind of screening by a person who has seen the film to check these sort of things.
One other advertising technique that pisses me off to the next degree is when the trailer makes the film completely different than it actually is. Do any of you guys remember how hyped you were when you first saw the coming attraction of Pearl Harbor. I remember too. Now do you remember how crushed you were when the ending credits rolled by your weary eyes. So do I. This film was sold as a movie about one day that changed the United States forever, not about a love triangle between two best friends and a nurse. This movie would have probably been liked much more if it was advertised as a love story instead of it advertising the amazing fourty minutes of action of December 7th.
Another film that suffered the same problem was the World War II film Hart's War. It was made out to be an action-packed prision break film with a hard-boiled officer (Bruce Willis) as the Rambo of the movie. Hart's War is actually a courtroom mystery. An inmate of this Nazi prision was murdered in the middle of the night, a Tuskegee airmen who held anger toward the victim was blamed and another was murdered. A sympathetic but shunned officer (Colin Ferrel) who knows that the airman was innocent goes on a quest to find out who the killer really is. The trailer did not show any inclination that the movie it was representing was in fact a mystery. All that was seen was all the explosions and action in the film and Bruce Willis delivering a piece of dialouge that was supposed to be a surprise at the end of the film. When in the theater watching the movie, I constantly remembered the line that Bruce Willis said, but it didn't arise early on. I waited and waited until the tension rose at the end of the film when I then realized what was going to happen. It sucked that the movie was ruined for me but it was still a solid movie nevertheless. Only if the director screened these things then Hart's War may have gotten the reviews it deserved. (It was not great but good).
But then again I do understand why companies might decieve the audience by creating a false representation of the movie. If a movie is a courtroom drama/mystery and may not appeal to all audiences, the film could be advertised as a non-stop action thriller just to make more money. Same goes for a film with a love story basis which is predominately thought as a "female" kind of movie. It is sad to see a message skewerd by greed.