American Beauty

Film trailers are film advertisements. They are shown before the screening of another movie, at a cinema where the films will be exhibited, as well as in the lobby and on Internet. They are more formally known in theaters as previews of coming attractions. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a film programme. Although that practice did not last long, due to patrons tending to leave the theater after the films proper were finished, the name has stuck. Trailers have since been shown before the film begins (or before the first film (a-film) in a double-bill programme begins).

Trailers normally consist of a series of selected shots from the film being advertised. Since the purpose of the trailer is to attract an audience to the film being advertised, they usually draw from the most exciting, funny, or otherwise noteworthy parts of the film but in abbreviated form and without producing spoilers. The scenes are not necessarily in the order in which they appear in the film. This helps avoiding spoilers.

Some trailers use "special shoot" footage, which is material that has been created specifically for advertising purposes and which does not appear in the actual film. One of the most notable films to use this technique was Terminator 2: Judgment Day, whose trailer featured elaborate special effects scenes that were never intended to be in the film itself. Another one of the most famous "special shoot" trailers was that used for the 1960s thriller Psycho, which featured director Alfred Hitchcock giving viewers a guided tour of the Bates Motel, eventually arriving at the infamous shower. At this point, the soft-spoken Hitchcock suddenly throws the shower curtain back to reveal the only scene from the movie included in the trailer—Janet Leigh's blood-curdling scream.

The people who create trailers often begin their work while the movie is still being shot. Since the edited movie does not exist at this point, the trailer editors work from rushes. The trailer may be created at the agency while the movie itself is being cut together at the studio. Thus, the trailer may contain footage that is not in the final movie, or the trailer editor and the movie editor may use different takes of a particular shot.

Some trailers that incorporate material that is not in the movie are particularly coveted by collectors, especially in the case of trailers for classic films. For example, in a trailer for Casablanca the character Rick Blaine says "OK, you asked for it!" before shooting Major Strasser, an event which does not occur in the final film.

Criticism of trailers

"In a world..."

Movie marketing copy is often accused of being cliché. The creation of trailers has been honed over decades to a very precise art, and certain clichés are useful because in a very short space, they are the most efficient way to communicate a given idea. Record scratches that stop the music to deliver the punch-line to a joke are a very common feature of trailers, but they are continually used because they remain effective.

Trailers are also criticized when they incorporate shots that do not exist in the actual movie. When the trailer is edited from rushes this is practically unavoidable. In extreme cases, scenes may have been shot that were later cut from the release version of the movie, but may still exist in the trailer. Usually these scenes are similar in tone or content to material that does exist in the movie.

In other cases, trailers may use stock footage to convey, in shorthand, a concept that takes longer to explain (or is less visually dynamic) in the movie. In still other cases, shots or dialogue may be rearranged to create situations or exchanges that do not exist as such in the movie. Often this is done to mask a perceived shortcoming in the movie while maximizing the potential of the footage.

How much to give away in a trailer is a controversial question. Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis argues that a trailer should tell everything about a film, since, he claims, audiences will not want to pay to see films unless they know exactly what they are paying for. Many filmmakers disagree and believe that a trailer should show no more than is needed to convince the audience to see a film. From a studio marketing perspective, the most interesting, funny, arresting parts of the movie should be in the trailer—the theory being, showing only less interesting material will attract less of an audience.

Frequent moviegoers are subjected to the same trailer many times, which may be boring.

Re-cut trailers

In the mid 2000s, as movie editing software became more advanced it became a common trend for amateur to re-cut a trailer to comedic effect. Such edited trailers have probably existed on the Internet since the early 2000s, but it did not become a common joke until late 2005, probably due largely to the huge amount of Brokeback Mountain parodies that were created in late 2005 and early 2006.

Notable trailers

Trailers that break form

  • The Comedian trailer satirizes voice-over clichés. Comedian trailer
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trailer satirizes many of the most common features of movie trailers. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy trailer
  • The trailer for Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 Psycho is a tour hosted by Alfred Hitchcock himself of the Bates Motel set.
  • The Minus Man trailer is a "special shoot" that features no actual movie footage. It consists of two unnamed characters discussing the movie. The Minus Man
  • The Strange Days trailer consists of Lenny Nero (the main character played by Ralph Fiennes) speaking directly to the audience, advertising his "business", which is the selling of experiences, and memorably dubbing himself "the Santa Claus of the subconscious". Strange Days
  • The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind trailer and Resident Evil: Apocalypse teaser trailer are constructed to initially appear to be commercials for products instead of movie advertisements. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Links

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

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