Trailing on Trailers

So you may be wondering what I mean by that?

Due to being disappointed by certain movies in the past; This summer I am trying to ‘stay away’ from trailers at least in certain ways.

1. I will only watch the full trailer once

2. some movies I will only take peeks at it (like for Fast & Furious & Avengers Age of Ultron but not the whole trailer)

3. I will only watch 1 trailer, not every single one they put out.

4. also as much as I hate to, trying to avoid the casts on late night, however Avengers will be on Monday night on Jimmy Kimmel, Yes fully Assembled!

 

Why am I doing this?

They always have to stick the Best part or big surprise/reveal  in the trailers, (it may only be one or it may be all)  and that spoils the fun of the movie;  for me at least. I want to be surprised, I don’t want to see every single stunt or jaw dropping surprise in the trailer; if I’m going to the theater to see it. Depending on the theater and time or day one goes It can be almost $20 for the ticket alone. Why should I pay any amount of money when I see the entire movie in one trailer or a few?  With that said Man of Steel should pay me half of what I paid to see it. I saw it in 3D with a friend when it came out because I ‘love’ Henry Cavil and was quite excited a Brit got to play an american superhero. It made me proud to be his fan. But as I said they owe me (and anyone else who saw it) with all the variations of trailers they made, I saw the ENTIRE first half of the movie in the trailers. I sat annoyed as there was no surprise in that part. The end half which they didn’t include much of in the trailers, at least held more surprise and wonderment.

Oh and don’t let me get started on the amount of times that Fast and Furious 6 trailer was out (last year or the previous) let alone 7’s. Every single commercial break on any freaking channel I watched; So even if they do only show one of the best parts, it becomes mediocre and played out by the time you see the movie in the theater (on Demand or rental)

Then there’s that Mission Impossible:Rouge Nation  ‘so big’ stunt that was so hyped up and talked about with the plane dangle… it’s the beginning of the movie  and worthless to the overall story it’s not even a climactic stunt and being we saw it 5000 times before the movie came out it was a worthless payoff. If it happened in the middle or around the ending and not really have been in the trailer other than maybe afor 3-5 seconds (but certainly no more than 10)… THEN it would have been a payoff!

just tell us the plot and leave it at that let word of mouth help you cause hype like assume makes you look like an ass in the end!

I really think whoever (whatever the position) it is in charge to make the trailers for a movie,   needs to learn how to better edit what goes into their trailers. For instance, I will use the trailer from  Fast & Furious 6 as an example.

They showed the tank stunt and not just the tank coming out of the big trailer, they showed a lot more than they should have, like quite a bit of the over pass/highway scenes as well. It’s one thing to show the tank, but they shouldn’t have shown the rest of it.  Instead of showing the tank like they did, do a blink & you miss it showing of it about to explode out of the trailer, or a peek-a-boo of the turret coming out and then cut out. It’ leaves us hanging, and piques interest like, “what’s going to happen?”.    For those of us that would see the movie because we have always enjoyed the franchise before; we don’t need all that, as they say, “Less is more”.

Now because of that, I refuse to watch the whole trailer for part 7, (though I have seen a few bits in it, like is that a cast on the Rock?) Right now partially because I just about tear up every time I see what is supposed to be Paul Walker, which some may be him but others are CG renderings of his brothers faces with Paul’s visage over them. To see him in this movie I know will be the last time I get to see that 1000 watt smile and it saddens me deeply.

So to Hollywood editors who make the trailers (whoever you are..)  Please I beg of you to listen to my plea above and in summary to follow what I covered below.)

Either make ‘teasers’ or the actual trailers in the way of old like these for instance
*If you must include a stunt or big reveal just include one, and make it a blink and you miss it or just a few seconds longer. It still catches our attention  and adds more wonder to what is going on, plus showing an entire scene in a trailer (other than for comic con) you should be taking $5 off the price of the theater ticket! We don’t need to watch an entire scene; if some want the movie ruined for themselves, that’s what youtube is for (and their prerogative). I’ve found I’ve come to be numb when it comes to watching movies. There’s no surprise, not much emotion, let alone no gripping fear or panic of what may happen to a character. For Example in Fast & Furious 6  ‘Toretto’ jumping out of the car to save ‘Letty’:  had that whole sequence not been in the trailer, the audience would have gasped and held their breath; but it was overshown so No…we all were just “ho Hum, yawn”

 

* How many trailers should be made, and what length

When Man of Steel came out I counted, 10-11 different trailers!  Don’t make More than 3 trailers. That would be one for Cons reveal & and one for the previews, and  2- 30 second tv ads can come from (one being for when the actors do their press junkets. For instance, One can be shown 3-6 months head (or at superbowl) as a tease  and then when it’s almost time like a month before it comes out

• Now that we have the amount of them covered,  let’s cover the length of them.

-standard Trailers for Tv should be no longer than 30 seconds,

-Theater Previews no longer than 1 minute.

Choose a part of the one minute trailer to be shown as Tv & internet ads (or edit in a piece from the beginning, middle and something from the end that won’t ruin things) or you can make the one minute trailer from parts of the one from the…

Comic Con preview … If you want to show a 5 minute scene, fine; but don’t allow people to use cameras while it is playing. Also please don’t put every single bit we’re going to see the movie for, in that 5 minutes. Why? I’m going to be pissed and  get  my money back (as I have once before) from the movie and tell everyone on social media, in every group I’m in and so on “don’t bother, You’ve seen the whole movie in the trailer!”

Editing Trailers

How to make a better Trailer & still leave us wanting….

*Put 1 simple joke in the trailer,

*a quick stunt  (or better yet the beginning of a stunt then cut out & leave us hanging!~ so it will be a surprise especially. when the darn things get over played! And we will still be surprised.

• 30 seconds and no more than 2 trailers. (tv wise)

*a quick action shot

• one dialog shot

a dramatic reveal (say like a superhero uniform or the villain and that’s all)

 

I think I’d rather be disappointed by a movie (ahem Cloverleaf) that doesn’t show the monster in the trailer or much of anything for that matter (and did they really even unveil the whole creature?) the movie really had no story other than oh we’re all running because there’s a monster… that’s why it was bad!

Now my problem will be either just giving in or resisting to watch the most recent big Comic Tentpole attraction,  or I might make it the exception….

13-classic-horror-teasers-with-zero-footage-from-their-films/

 

So what are your thoughts? and a little more