Since Tom and Xtien specifically mentioned it on this week's podcast, and I follow the same practice, I would like to know: Why don't you watch movie trailers? Or conversely, why do you watch them?
In general, I tend to like teasers, where I get a quick glimpse of the film, maybe a bit about the overarching plot.
Most full trailers these days are just horrifically made and tend to reveal way too much about the movie. There is too much push to put the flashiest scenes in there without regard of the fact that the flashiest scenes are in the latter half of the film and ruin everything.
And then when trailers don't include the flashiest scenes, morons complain that the movie looks boring.
I'll watch them if I do not have a pre-existing interest in the film and then when they do make me curious, I still get irritated when they reveal too much.
If I am already looking forward to whatever it is, I do everything within my power to avoid trailers and discussions of the movie. I want my experience to be untainted by revealing scenes and loony internet* speculation.
That said, if it is an action movie I am looking forward to, all that really does not matter because it will most likely be overflowing with action-y goodness outside of what is given away.
*Qt3
I love movie trailers. Sometimes it's the best part of the movie going experience.
They've got 3 mins to convince me that the movie is worth my attention so it'll likely have great action, jokes, scenes, etc. If it's a great movie then I got a lot of cool footage in a short amount of time. If the movie sucks then it's not long before the preview is over.
I watch them because they're there and I don't want to look funny like Tom when he blocks his ears and shuts his eyes.
I also like to study the technique of how they're put together. Trailers embody an interesting paradox: they are almost uniformly awful, yet there's an enormous amount of craft and decision-making that goes into making them the way they are. I've cut a couple of feature trailers at the no-budget level and it is goddamn hard work.
Trailers demoralize me, though. They make almost every movie look worse than it turns out to be, because they condense everything into the most obvious emotional beats and eradicate any subtlety or nuance. Trailers for indie movies are the worst. They can take original, intelligent, serious work and make it look like cookie-cutter crap marketed to a supposedly "hip" audience.
There is a better way to do trailers -- when you evoke, when you suggest a mood, when you entice rather than dumping the whole movie onto people. Hitchcock's teaser for Psycho is a masterpiece (it's shot with original footage, which is something that's too rarely done nowadays).
I'm fairly indifferent to spoilers. I prefer not to have major plot points revealed, but even that doesn't bother me too much. Usually my most satisfying viewings of films are the second, or fourth, or twenty-eighth anyway, when I already know the plot.
Last edited by Gordon Cameron; 08-05-2010 at 10:44 AM.
Weird. I say the complete opposite. When it comes to mainstream movies, they make all sorts of terrible movies look, if not good, then at least not complete crap. I admire the craft in turning a crapfest like Transformers 2 into a minute thirty nugget of this-could-be really-awesome-but-you'll-never-know-for-sure-unless-you-see-it.Originally Posted by Gordon Cameron
I knew in my brain that Underworld was going to be an awful movie, but the trailer did a really good job of selling it as a super cool Vampires versus Werewolves Matrix gunfu hot chick in leather funfest.
I wish trailers were shorter. These 2.5 minute trailers just give away far too much. The 90 second and 60 second spot is really the ideal time.
The Matrix didn't need 150 seconds. Some of the best spots were those 15 second TV trailers that made you go "WTF? That was awesome and I need to see more of that."
I do admit that the Pearl Harbor trailer (the first one, which was more teaser-like, highlighting a couple of superb shots) was so good that it almost made me want to go see that steaming pile. So occasionally it happens. But usually I see trailers and just get depressed about movies, regardless of genre.
Not only do I not watch trailers, I'm not even going to read this thread. Lalalalalalala...I can't hear you...lalalalalalala!
Seriously, though, my thinking behind avoiding trailers is very simple. I want the director of a movie to control what I know and when I know it. Not the people trying to package the movie as a product.
-Tom
Keep in mind, those folks often control it anyway (not all directors get final cut, stuff can be reshot/recut based on preview screenings, etc.)I want the director of a movie to control what I know and when I know it. Not the people trying to package the movie as a product.
So what you're saying is that I should probably just stop going to movies? Rats.
-Tom
This. And because I enjoy movies a whole lot more when I know nothing about them going in. Do you know how cool it is to be excited when an actor you like unexpectedly shows up on-screen? Everything is a cameo.
I love watching trailers. Even the bad ones can be good in the sense that they are entertaining like a train wreck.
Obviously I prefer that they don't spoil the entire movie they are a preview for, but I enjoy them more often than not.
Well, there's also the reality that the director/producers/studio themselves are also trying to package the movie up as a product. You're rarely seeing someone's pure artistic vision.
To each their own. I find that I mostly do not care about being spoiled, and I find people who go way out of their way to remain unspoiled come off as a bit neurotic to me with their horrified ear covering and eye averting and running away. I've seen people literally do that, running out of a room going "lalalalalalal" to avoid getting spoiled and then complaining bitterly about it later. It's a bit much.
I'm also one of those people who loves trailers as their own entity. The trailers are often the best part of a night out at the movie theater.
You know what else is cool? Knowing what movies to go to that feature actors you like. And being able to avoid the ones featuring actors you hate.
You can check the credits page on IMDB to find that out.
I've taken to showing up about 10 minutes late at the little theater where all the good films play here. I miss most of the trailers that way, and there are never more than a handful of people in a screening unless you show up at a matinée on opening weekend. (It's an old theater with low rent.)
You can find that out without watching trailers, though. Trailers are dumb. I usually look up the trailers on YouTube after I see a movie and it almost always validates my no trailer watching policy.
Most of the time I bring headphones and listen to music during the trailers. I did watch the trailer for that Zac Efron movie where he plays catch with his dead brother, but only because that one is hilarious.
Well, yeah. But I have no idea why you and Gordo are bringing this up in the context of this discussion.
-Tom
There is one very good reason to watch trailers: in 99% of all cases the trailer is better than the actual movie.
And another reason: if the filmmakers can't make a decent 2 minute trailer why should anyone expect a decent 90 minute movie.
Because you, for some reason, singled out the trailer folks as packaging up the movie as a product, as if what you see, or don't see, and how much, and when in a movie isn't already being mitigated by a ton of commercial interests.
The three best animated films of the past year -- How to Train Your Dragon, The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs -- had not-so-great trailers.
Like if anybody needs a trailer in order to go see a Wes Anderson movie.
Seriously though, I thought How to Train Your Dragon's trailer was ok.
Some movie trailers reveal so much of the movie story and plot that they save me $12.
I still disagree with this. The condensed nature of a trailer tends to make everything in a movie look obvious and formulaic and it removes all subtlety, nuance, flavor. A great short film is a great short film, but that's not when you get when you stuff 90 minutes of footage into a compressor and spit out 3. You get a sort of weird artificial distillation.
Trailers can be fantastic, when they are meant to tease/evoke/entice etc, and particularly when they are originally conceived and shot. Very few, especially nowadays, even attempt to do that.
Huh. I never really thought about not watching trailers. I wouldn't know about most movies if there weren't trailers for them. It's not like I seek them out. Sure, it's a bummer when all the best jokes in a comedy are spoiled by the trailer, but at least I can get a taste for if I'll like it or not.
I won't buy a book without reading a few pages first to see if I care for the style. I suppose the same goes for movies.
Now, if I know in advance that I'm going to go see a specific movie and don't want anything spoiled (maybe a new Star Trek comes out, or whatever), then yeah, I'll avoid the trailers...but that's a pretty rare event.
I love The Ultimate Trailer Show on HDNET. I'll watch it whenever it's on.
I thought this is a thread about trailers. Checking the subject header, it seems I was right.
Wait, you think I didn't know that? Dude, what kind of rube do you take me for?
I don't watch trailers because it's not the way the director intended me to experience what he's created. They're advertisements that have no compunction about misrepresenting and even compromising the experience. Here's another shocker: I don't read the backs of book covers either!
The bottom line is that I don't really need entertainment sold to me. I have my own very particular and reliable channels to determine what movies I watch, what books I read, what games I play, and what TV shows I keep up with. I am a marketers worst nightmare! Ph33r me!
-Tom
Well, you basically say bad trailers are bad.
The sad thing is that bad trailers are really better than the movies, very often.
Scourge, I don't want to put words in Gordo's mouth, but I think you're missing his point. Trailers are a very different form of expression than actual movies. As such, a successful trailer is very different from a successful movie.
Also, you seem to think trailers are created by the people who made the film. They almost always aren't. This is because, as Gordon says, what it takes to make an actual movie isn't at all what it takes to make a trailer.
BTW, I hated Dinner for Schmucks, the movie. I love the trailer. "He's eating paper!"
And out of curiosity, what do you guys think makes a bad trailers? What are some examples?
-Tom
Those channels failed to get you to watch The Wire. Your friends are suspect.
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