I went to see It’s Complicated this past weekend. Before the film, several trailers ran, among them two for romantic comedies. I’m a sucker for a good romantic comedy and fully recognize they are very formulaic. But why do the makers of trailers feel they need to tell us the entire story rather than simply entice us with the premise of a film? I know within 30 seconds whether I want to see a particular film and, if I do want to see it, I don’t want to see anymore of the story at that point and invariably try to look away.
Trailers for films of the ‘40s and ‘50s were short and to the point, telling the audience who was in a film and speaking more to the theme of a movie. Too often today’s trailers regurgitate the entire plot. Very few trailers are more conceptual, highlighting the actors and filmmakers who really drive the box office. I personally find the early trailers for films still in production to be far more provocative and appealing.
Trailers can also paint a distorted picture of a film. I recently watched the dark comedy, In Bruges. I was thoroughly enchanted by this quirky love letter to Bruges, Belgium, Europe’s most perfectly preserved Medieval city. Wanting to learn more about the film, I did a YouTube search and came upon the film’s trailer. From the trailer, I got a very different vibe.
The real strength of this character-driven film is the contextual spin given to bits we’ve seen in other movies. But the trailer is filled with jokes taken out of context and delivered as one-liners. In the film, the bits are funny because of their juxtaposition. So the trailer presents the film as less special and rather crass.
And by the way, I can’t tell you the name of the movie advertised by the second trailer I saw this weekend. I looked away. So now I don’t know the name of a movie I would actually like to go see.
Tags: movie trailers, movies, trailers, US media, YouTube
[...] Read the original: Movie Trailers - Honestly? | Dialogues from D2 Creative [...]