• Opinions on Trailers.
    42 replies, posted
These are an integral part for movie marketing. However, I try to avoid them, they almost always give a wrong impression for a feel of watching an entire film and it usually focuses on an aspect of the movie that in fact would spoil my experience altogether. For example, I hear Prometheus was disappointing because it wasn't the movie they expected to see as the impression from the trailer suggested. I stayed away from ALL discussion/trailer/info about the movie, and I saw it for the sake of my eagerness to see it. I loved it. I know most people feel that "if the trailer is good, then the movie may be worth seeing". Good example of this is "Terminator Salvation". That movie was ass. It's your call.
There are some movie trailers that completely miss the point of the movie by splicing together the few action scenes a movie has in order to make it look more interesting, but most trailers I've seen do a good job of selling the movie.
[QUOTE=CoolCorky;37770728]selling the movie.[/QUOTE] That's the thing. For me, I don't want to see a "preview" to make me want to see a movie. Usually it's something someone says that makes me want to see it. Out of instinct, I saw a movie called "A City of Life and Death" based on the vibe I got from someone while he recommended it. That movie for me was miles better than Saving Private Ryan.
The problem I have with trailers is that they usually end up being too revealing. Case in point: The Dark Knight. I remember seeing an early trailer for the film with Gordon talking about how they found nothing in the Joker's pockets but "knives and lint." When I saw the film and everyone thought Gordon was killed, I remembered that scene, so I knew that he wasn't really dead.
You can take two minutes out of any movie and make it look like Citizen Kane. If I want to get an actual feel of what the movie is like I usually look up an actual clip of the movie.
[QUOTE=AK'z;37770646]For example, I hear Prometheus was disappointing because it wasn't the movie they expected to see as the impression from the trailer suggested. I stayed away from ALL discussion/trailer/info about the movie, and I saw it for the sake of my eagerness to see it. I loved it.[/QUOTE] I thought Prometheus was disappointing because screenplay was absolutely retarded. While first teaser of Prometheus was a fantastic tribute to Alien's trailer, the later ones were worse and worse. I remember I saw a picture month before premiere, with detailed plot based only on trailers. It was 90% accurate. Really good trailers had The Dark Knight Rises. Every one was different, set in different tone, and spoilerish only enough. Even after seeing movie and watching them in a row it was hard to guess most of things that happened.
I like the idea of trailers, but those I've seen in cinemas over the past few years have often been too long and revealed too much. Has anybody else seen those 'extended previews' they sometimes do? They showed what felt like ten minutes of that Rom-com 'This Means War' instead of trailers when I went to the cinema earlier in the year.
They're usually the first thing that gets me into a movie. But yeah I agree, they are usually wayyy too revealing, and a lot don't convey the movie very well. However, a good trailer is fantastic.
What about a good trailer for a movie that ends up being terrible?
I love watching the trailers before a movie in the cinema but I hate the people who make them, they don't seem to understand the concept of spoilers.
Instead of trailers I'd much rather see the first 1-2 minutes of the movie, would leave me genuinely intrigued about what happens next rather than a 2 minute spoiler-fest.
Even though this might seem boring/dull to people, but I'd rather see an interview of the director than a trailer to a movie before seeing it.
I must have watched the trailers for The Dark Knight Rises over a hundred times. They just really get me excited for movies I already think I'll want to go see. So I like em.
I enjoy trailers. I never thought that they were supposed to show the quality of the movie, just what the movie is about.
[QUOTE=AK'z;37773769]Even though this might seem boring/dull to people, but I'd rather see an interview of the director than a trailer to a movie before seeing it.[/QUOTE] It depends on the director. Some of those guys are really up themselves, it often ends up with the interviewer just jerking off their ego while they spout some nonsense about subtle themes that barely influenced the movie.
I love watching trailers as long as they're not for movies I want to see in case they spoil it. The DVD's you get that are just made up of 100 or something trailers are awesome.
Trailers are supposed to get people interested in watching a movie, but they either purposefully misrepresent what the movie is about to sell more tickets (usually the case with dramedy movies, which usually focus on the comedic elements), or they spoil things for little to no reason. I remember seeing a trailer for a movie that started out with a bank robbery, with a woman being taken hostage by a bunch of masked men and blindfolded. Then transitioned to some time later as the woman gets in a relationship with a guy, and spent a few minutes building up to the impression that the movie was about how her experience being a hostage made her reluctant to be in a relationship, only for the trailer to drop the bomb that the guy was one of the bank robbers who took her hostage. I was thinking "wow, that would have been a nice twist if they hadn't revealed it in the goddamn trailer!"
I'm not bothered by them, but I tend to prefer not watching them. I sort of wait to see what everyone has to say; if the overall consensus is good I'll go see the movie. That or I'll just go into a movie not expecting it to be good or bad. This happened with Insidious and I ended up really enjoying it, while others thought it was terrible.
Trailers became less enjoyable when Don LaFontaine died
I enjoy trailers because a good trailer condenses some of the action and settings in a very enjoyable burst of cinematic glory. Bad trailers of course splice shots the marketing department thought looked interesting together with music that doesn't fit or sounds terrible and generally misrepresents the film. They can also horrendously spoil some of the surprises and developments and detract from the actual viewing experience of the film itself. I used to be a big proponent of trailers but now you've made me re-think my stance on them. They can be great but a lot of modern trailers just don't get it right, so on the whole we might actually be better off without them.
If I already know the plot like for the upcoming Hobbit movie I like to watch them. Otherwise I don't even like reading the plot on imdb (though imdb has improved on this). I think they too often tell too much.
I do like seeing the trailer after seeing the movie sometimes. Just to see how it was marketed. I loved the trailer to Alien.
Certain trailers are really good, while others can spoil the films. I usually try to avoid trailers before watching the films, but it's fun to watch them after yeah.
Game trailers are often alright, however movie trailers way too often reveal too much of the movie's plot and ruins interesting plot twists.
i've come down to a conclusion regarding movie trailers: if the trailer is good, the movie will be sub-par or shit (rare chance that it ends up also being good, case in point watchmen). if the trailer is bad, or misleading, the movie ends up being pretty decent.
I wouldn't mind trailers if they didn't fade every single shot in and out of black... I feel like 60% of the trailer is just a black screen sometimes. The trailers for the master are some of the best ones i've seen recently.
[QUOTE=Pops;37787899]i've come down to a conclusion regarding movie trailers: if the trailer is good, the movie will be sub-par or shit (rare chance that it ends up also being good, case in point watchmen). if the trailer is bad, or misleading, the movie ends up being pretty decent.[/QUOTE] I don't think there's any logic to back that up with. You can probably come up with a list of films for which it's true, but I think you can come up with a similar number of films for which it isn't. The perceived quality of the trailer compared to the overall quality of the film itself is such a subjective thing that you probably can't prove any significant correlation. You can try comparing the IMDb or the Metacritic scores of the film with the like/dislike ratio of the trailer on YouTube if you want, but even then it's still vague and unreliable. It's probably too soon to say you've 'come to a conclusion'.
forget imdb and metacritic. I've found a shitload of fantastic films rated between 6-7/10 on it. It's not about critic averages though, it's something "one person" says or otherwise I just run into things instinctively. For example, today I plan on watching "The Last King of Scotland" because I saw the dictator it was based on had murdered the father of a really good musician I was listening to. Makes no sense for me to see a preview if I want to see it in the first place.
[QUOTE=AK'z;37798824]forget imdb and metacritic. I've found a shitload of fantastic films rated between 6-7/10 on it. It's not about critic averages though, it's something "one person" says or otherwise I just run into things instinctively. For example, today I plan on watching "The Last King of Scotland" because I saw the dictator it was based on had murdered the father of a really good musician I was listening to. Makes no sense for me to see a preview if I want to see it in the first place.[/QUOTE] That's what I'm saying. It's so subjective, even the closest you can come to an objective film rating is still vague and unreliable.
[QUOTE=AK'z;37798824] For example, today I plan on watching "The Last King of Scotland" [/QUOTE] Well I saw it and it was damn good. now let's watch the trailer: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV_QgKJFZP0[/media] complete bullshit. It makes the movie look like an action flick when it isn't. It even twists the actual plot towards the end when [sp]The scottish dude is pointing a gun "supposedly" at Whitaker[/sp] WHICH DOESN'T HAPPEN IN THE FILM. Also the performance by Forest Whitaker is a LOT more than just shouting. Honestly, the trailer feels generic and crap aimed for the masses as if they have no brain.
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