Writing my review for Inception, and including the trailers, it made me realize how difficult it is to cut a good trailer. This is usually the first exposure an audience will have to your movie, and how do you give a sense of what your movie is about, but not give too much away and leave them wanting more? You can usually tell a lazy, quickly assembled trailer if it basically tells you the whole story, almost in the right order, including giving away twists and reveals.
So I thought I would take a look back at some of my favourite trailers, and show it it should be done. I'm not necessarily saying these are some of the best films ever. Indeed in some cases the trailer is better than the movie. But I just think these are the trailers that were most effective.
Cloverfield definitely flew in under the radar. In an age where the slightest sliver of information is leaked onto the internet, it was a genuine surprise to see this trailer before Transformers. It starts out with a bunch of cardboard cut out twenty-somethings saying goodbye to a friend before they leave the country. It then changes, and becomes a mix of The Blair Witch Project and Godzilla. We had certainly seen shaky hand, first person account movies before. But never one with this sense of scale. Finished movie wasn't bad either, though it was always going to be hard to be able to live up to the hype of this awesome teaser.
Anyone who has read by blu ray column, will know of my love for this movie. It has since spawned a legion of imitators (and in one case an ill-advised shot for shot remake), but has never been bettered. By 1960, Alfred Hitchcock was a susperstar director. He had his own television show, a string of movie hits and even suspense novellas released in his name. It was generally agreed that there was no actor or personality who could sell his movies as well as he could. In this rather long trailer, Hitch takes you on a tour of the Psycho set and alludes to some of the grisly goings on you can expect in the finished movie. What makes this trailer so effective, is that not one frame of footage from the final film was used, with even the screaming girl at the end a stand in for Janet Leigh. This trailer, combined with a publicity statement saying that if you missed the start of the movie, then you were denied entry into the cinema, created a frenzy for Psycho. The fact that it was a fantastic movie didn't hurt either.
How could anyone forget the publicity campaign for The Dark Knight? Viral websites, treasure hunts in U.S. cities, the unfortunate fate of Heath Ledger. However, it all began with this very short teaser trailer. There is no actual footage, just dialogue from the film. But it sets the tone of chaos perfectly. It also gave the world its first idea as to how maniacal Ledger's turn as The Joker would be. Suffice to say, we waited with baited breath for what would come next.
As I have already stated, for me, my love of movies and the cinema came from the wonderful summer of '93, when Jurassic Park was released. Again, the teaser trailer campaign started early. It's almost as if Spielberg was learning from Hitchcock, that you don't need to show any footage of the film to give a sense of what it will be about. This trailer discusses the science behind the dinosaurs, and how they can be recreated in our world. It uses footage not found in the finished film and hints at the scale. It whetted the appetite for more, but crucially left out footage of the dinosaurs themselves. That would be saved for a giant cinema screen.
I'll be honest. I've never understood the hype surrounding Star Wars. There, I've said it, it's out in the open, let's move on. I don't doubt it's importance and influence, but I just don't get how it has attracted the following that it has. That being said, even I was excited at the prospect of a new film. And when the first trailer for The Phantom Menace hit, it created a new stream of revenue for movie companies. Star Wars nerds were so eager to see any new footage that they would pay into whatever movie was showing the trailer and then leave once the trailer had finished. Easiest ten bucks ever made by a movie studio. Of course, the emergence of the internet as a tool through which to release and promote trailers has diminished this appeal somewhat. This trailer however, will probably go down in history as one of the best of its kind. Just don't mention the movie or Jar Jar to any Star Wars die-hards.
And here we have the power of trailers at its finest. When it was announced that McG (still annoying all these years later) would be guiding the Terminator franchise, possibly for a trilogy of new movies, the collective groans were heard the world over. However, then came the casting of Christian Bale. Then the rumours of an appearance of Arnie. The supposed 'blessing' of James Cameron to the new film (though it did come out Cameron had been misquoted). And suddenly, the film was generating some buzz. Then came the trailer. The footage looked suitably bleak, the action exciting and when the theme tune hits, you've suddenly got a new favourite film to look forward to. But as I say, this is an example of a fantastic trailer being followed by a mediocre film. I suppose the advertising guys are some of the best in the business then!
And we move from the mediocre to the majestic. The teaser for T2 was also an exercise in restraint, showing no footage of the film and giving no indication as to the plot. However, James Cameron understood that all you needed was Arnie and THAT music. And in this case, the anticipation would prove to be rewarded, as along with Aliens, The Godfather II, The Dark Knight and of course, Naked Gun 2 and 1/2, T2 would prove to be one of the greatest sequels of all time.
In a story unerringly close to the modern day situation, the James Bond franchise was in limbo ever since the relative disappointment of License to Kill. It would take 6 years and a change of actor to get the franchise back to where it rightfully belonged, up on the big screen. The start of this trailer is magnificent as Brosnan is covered in shadow, and then revealed to be the new James Bond. The use of the line 'You were expecting someone else' was inspired and the action in the trailer looked modern and exciting. Welcome back Mr. Bond, hopefully the current filmmakers can engineer a similar triumph in the wake of MGM's financial troubles.
Everything about this trailer screams 'EPIC!'. From the action, to the landscapes, to the music and finally to the audacity of the filmmakers to proudly exclaim there will be a new movie every Christmas. Remember this was before the first movie was released and therefore the studios had no idea as to whether it would be a successful franchise or not. They certainly got their rewards in the end, as for me, sorry Star Wars fans, this is the defining trilogy of my generation.
Funniest film ever made? It's certainly up there and is probably the most quoted movie of the last ten years. To be honest there's nothing amazing or startlingly original about this trailer. It just reminds me how good it is and therefore, as a movie trailer, it's doing its job brilliantly as all I wanna do right now is stop writing this blog and go watch it......
Not strictly speaking a trailer, so much as an advert for a DVD set, this is nonetheless extremely well put together. You have the likability of Agent Dale Cooper established, the strangeness of the residents of the town and most of all the hypnotic imagery and music. I put this on here as well to bring it to people's attention as it really is one of the very best television shows of all time. I wholeheartedly recommend getting this box set.
I'll finish off with two examples of summer blockbusters and their respective trailers. First off we have Independence Day. This is an awesome trailer. How could anyone not want to see a movie where the White House is blown to bits? This is a movie high on startling imagery and action. But the trailer itself is all slow build up. The reports, the shadows looming over all the landscapes. This is an exceptionally good trailer and almost all the footage is from the first 30 minutes of the movie thus leaving a few surprises for the cinema goer along the way.
Should you become a regular follower of my blog (and I hope that you will), then I have to make one thing clear. I love movies in all their shapes and forms. I love the complexity of classics such as Rear Window, Vertigo and Chinatown. I love the romanticism of Casablanca and Hitchcock's Notorious. I love the feel good feeling from watching 'Singin' in the Rain'. And as well as that, I fucking love Armageddon. I don't care that it's made by Michael Bay. I don't care that it has America saving the world and it is drenched in unmoving patriotism. I don't care that the love story between Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck is soppy. It has Bruce 'The Man (TM)' Willis saving the world and its fucking awesome. End of.
This trailer perfectly captures the tone of the film. It's all serious at the start as it establishes the threat to humanity. Then it becomes jokey as the Drillers list their demands, and then it gets serious as they have to save the world. Great trailer for an awesome movie. I mean, I listened to the commentary track and Michael Bay was asked by Ben Affleck, 'surely it would be easier to train astronauts to drill than vice versa?'. Bay's response? 'Shut the fuck up! It's a movie'. Hear hear.
So there you have it folks. A quick trip down Trailer memory lane. If you have any favourites that I've missed out, please leave comments below.
Until next time.
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