In honor of the film industry that is the topic of this thread, I'm going to Tarantino this post and put the focus first: Focus: Link to what you think is [one of] the best movie trailers of all time and explain why it's so effective. TROY - Teaser Why it's so effective: In short, the Troy trailer does two things and two things only, and they're all it needs: Remind you how epic The Illiad is, and convince you how epic their effects budget was. The opening shot of this trailer is brilliant. The voiceover and the "there is a legend 28 centuries old" get you in the "once upon a holy-fucking-Greek-warfare" mindset, and the slow pull back does nothing but build... and build... and build. The score keeps perfect pace, each frame convincing you the armada can't possibly get any larger until eventually the ship you started at is a black dot amongst a fleet that stretches to the horizon. This shot alone is enough to make this trailer one of the best ever, especially after the literate remember that the Illiad (+Aeneid) is almost wall to wall warfare. The rest of the trailer goes on to demonstrate that the movie didn't blow its wad on that shot alone, and will be trotting out shots with probably a hundred thousand or more soldiers in frame at one time. Then they wrap it all up by letting you know that this fine feature stars none other than Tyler Durden, Hoot, Lawrence of Arabia, Hannibal Lector, 006, Hamish, and that the hottest chick in Germany since they turned off the ovens, gets naked. Allow me to change my underwear please.
It almost doesn't need an explanation. Why It's So Effective I had never heard of 300, and I was in the theatre to see The Departed (clearly, it was all-around a good night at the movies). This trailer came on, and quite literally the entire theatre went deadly silent. None of the usual rustling and chatting that happens during the previews. Everyone watched, and when it was over they turned to whoever they were with and said, "We have to go see that." It's the only movie of the last five years that I counted down the days until it was released, based primarily on the trailer. The trailer itself is nicely balanced. It builds the tension, it shows the special effects and it gives away some of the greatest one-liners that have ever been written. It is similar enough in certain scenes to Gladiator that it suggests the image of a high-quality movie, and of course there is nudity and incredibly attractive men.
Why it's so effective? How can you NOT want to see this? It has everything anyone would ever need in a movie!
It was during the Superbowl I saw the highly aticipated trailer for Die Hard with a Vengeance. Not just because it's edited to perfection, or it opens with that incredible explosion or the fact it was a follow-up to two movies I absolutely love, it has the most necessary tool to a great trailer: The late, great Don LaFontaine, a.k.a "The Voice Of God". He has simply put the greatest voice of any human being who's ever lived. He makes any normal trailer spectacular.
I'd like to add the entire movie of Armageddon. Why? Because if you watch it, you can see as plain as day that this tumour of a film is basically a 2.5 hour trailer. Every shot looks like it was designed for a movie preview: whether it's relentless slo-mo of people walking, the strip club that looks like it was shot in the Saltan of Brunei's house (no fucking strip club looks like that. Fuck you.), the third-rate humour, the intense random citizens looking up at the sky waiting for doom, the endless pyrotechnics or the suicide-inducing melodramatic one-liners, blah blah blah. Once again, Michael Bay demonstrates his endless efforts to get on my nerves and succeeds in grand fashion. Up next: Pearl Harbour, which completely undid the damage*. Fuck, I hate this movie. *-Umm, no it did NOT.
The movie wasn't at all up to the hype of the trailer but watching it made me go and read the graphic novel. The syncing of the song by the Smashing Pumpkins with the action in the trailer is just beautiful.
I'm a huge fan of the Max Payne video games. They have it all: a nice story, good gameplay and sick action. And they look seriously fucking cool. When I heard they were making a movie my first thought was "it's gonna fucking suck". But then I saw the trailer: I think it captures the mood just right. I mean, if I ever imagined what the game would look like as a movie, that would be it spot on. Finally Hollywood, you have made something right. Wahlberg has made a good movie. ... Then I saw it on opening day. Fuck you Hollywood. Fuck you in the ass.
L.A. Confidential trailer Why it's so effective: It starts by giving a brief definition of the three main characters (by-the-book cop, strongarm cop, celebrity cop) each with short scenes and a line of narration, before it delves into the main storyline while promising suspense, violence and some great dialog ("The proof had his throat slit"). The last part then changes to a slow motion montage with dramatic string music (from David Newman's score to Hoffa), which gives the story an epic sweep far beyond that of usual crime thrillers.
I will freely admit the movie sucked very large balls. However this being a thread about awesome trailers, I will go ahead, and toss the trailer for "The Phantom Menace" into the ring. There had been rumors for years. Then one day at the theater, this trailer came on. Some one else has said in reference to "300" that the whole theater was quiet. It was much the same moment. An entire room of people instantly went silent. At the end of the preview the whole audience sounded with cheers and applause. I have never seen that for ANY preview. Hell I can only recall a handful of times when that has happened for an actual movie! I know a large amount of the trailers "cool factor" comes from piggybacking on the awesomeness of the original movies. And there was an over abundance of the soon to be reviled Jar Jar Binks. However I have yet to see a movie that has been matched in sheer expectation. And these trailers and sneak peeks are a large part of that. Plus double. Bladed. FUCKING. LIGHTSABER!!!
Was Terminator Salvation a great movie? No. Absolutely not. But the trailer made it seem like it was going to be the second coming of Judgment Day.
I don't think you can put sequels up, you automatically have interest and may or may not like the franchise enough to see it, regardless of trailers. Wouldn't Blair Witch Project be the best Trailer of all time? It fooled half of America into thinking the movie was a documentary and was better and scarier than the actual movie. Other than that my vote was 300, I was literally masturbating about that movie.
After re-watching a bunch of trailers I've come to the conclusion that 99% of them flat out suck. They basically spell out the entire plot so there's no surprise left when you go see the movie. A ton of comedies have the top 5 funniest jokes in the trailer; the actual movie is downhill from there. A trailer should do five things and nothing else: 1. Establish the genre 2. Tell you who the writer, director, and stars are 3. Establish the style/mood (a bit of soundtrack for dramas; a characteristic joke for comedies) 4. Let you know if this is based on a book or a famous story 5. Set up the basic premise (the shit you learn in the first 10 minutes of the movie); asteroid is headed for earth, dinosaur theme park goes awry, whatever. Great example of doing everything a trailer should do without giving away the farm: And, the award for polishing a turd: Seriously, for how god awfully asinine and retarded The Secret is, that's an amazing trailer. Troy is actually not The Iliad. The Iliad starts in the 9th year of the war, ends with Hector's funeral (the Trojan Horse is in The Odyssey and The Aeneid), and Troy leaves out the #2 Greek warrior, Diomedes, who fights and defeats Ares and Aphrodite without getting his panties in a bundle over a woman. Oh, look, I actually found a use for my English degree after all... I get to use it to not enjoy movies.
Well obviously it's not a one for one adaptation (leaving out the Gods, adding in stuff from the Aeneid, simplifying it, etc), but it does draw most heavily from the Illiad, which is all the trailer needs to promise. Focus: Harry Potter - Teaser Why it's effective: This one is all John Williams. The rest of the trailer is a montage of largely decontextualized images and sound clips that provide the backdrop for John Williams' score to complete mindfuck the viewer and emphasize just how magical their real lives aren't. Doing exactly what the books did, the trailer promises an escape from the dull and magicless everyday into a world you'd much rather live in.
You forgot the number one, main reason that trailer was so good; the movie itself fucking sucked. A horrible movie having an awesome trailer is way more impressive than when it's a good one to begin with. Focus- Option Zero Why it's so effective- It starts off lame; some speech about that particular branch of the Hong Kong police force. Who cares? However, this is necessary to properly appreciate what will happen next. From there, they skip the dialogue, and go straight into the action scenes, with a little bit of sex spliced in near the beginning. The action is not only shot well, but keeps changing to a different scene every 3-4 seconds. That is, JUST long enough for you to realize what is going on there, but not enough where it almost becomes like watching it. And as they do this, with background music stressing urgency and action, it starts to become engaging and exciting. GODDAMN are there a lot of explosions, gun shots, terrorists, SWAT members, and chase scenes. And then, just as you're thinking this goodness can't possibly last, the music changes a little, and they kick into a higher gear with a ridiculous rooftop fight, and a guy firing a bazooka leading into an over-the-top building explosion. This is then followed by an angry officer running into the streets with a baton, and right as the trailer is ending, throwing it straight into the windshield of the car, at the viewer. You clearly get the message "Holy FUCK is this a crazy, non-stop action film".
I'm not going to say the movie was shitty, but it could have been soooo much better if there was a little less camera shaking. I get what Abrams was going for and I enjoyed the movie, but after the first 20 or 30 minutes I could have done without the shaky camera. After watching the trailer I REALLY wanted to see this movie and counted down the days until it's release. After seeing it I was like, "meh".
In my opinion...the greatest trailer ever. Or top 3, at least. The special effects broke new ground. People were doing things that they can't do and there were strange, unsettling pictures (Neo's Mouth, the mirror covering his arm) and there was serious dialogue to make you think (Morpheus's explanation of the Matrix) But it was the golden song, The Eyes of Truth by Enigma (starts at 1:40) that catapulted this trailer from great to absolutely exalted. That song...it's perfect. It's high drama without the cheesiness. It's dramatic opera singing without it being...mockingly dramatic. I don't know, I can't explain it, but my adrenaline starts racing everytime I hear it. It's epicness and the powerful scenes it serves as the backdrop against mesh perfectly together and deliver the single most perfect introduction to a movie I've ever known (along with possibly the Dark Knight teaser trailer). And...of course...the movie was fucking excellent.
No matter what was thought about any of the movies, seeing this trailer just made you want to see it at least once.