Yawn. How about something more original?

[Melange 446]

Isn't it about time that we had something a bit more interesting than this trailer formula of very fast cuts accompanied by dramatic chorals and big thudding crashing sounds between sudden cuts to black, that speed up and get more and more 'choral' until the very end (ending with a mighty smash and usually a flash)? I mean, I see on everything now from movie trailers to trailers for TV period dramas (yeah, I know) and even talent shows. Don't get me wrong. I know it is effective.

When you're in a cinema in front of a huge screen with a powerful sound system, it knocks your socks off. But I think many of us realise now that far too often this formula of "WHAM BAM and speed up until you leave the audience with their hair standing on end" is used to mislead about movies and dramas that when you watch them, don't exude that vibe or pace at all.

I've seen this formula used for dull, polite, and homely victorian dramas. It's hilariously misleading

Surely it has outstayed its welcome? It has been overused (in my opinion) and I don't automatically assume that is going to be a good movie/drama anymore, because so often people are cheated. When I look at more old fashioned trailers, they of course lack the adrenaline kick, but at least you get 'some' idea of what the movie is 'really' going to be like in pace and feel.

I guess it comes down to asking if the purpose of a trailer is merely to hook in the fish, blow their mind, kick their adrenaline in, and if it is honest to what the viewer will get upon watching the movie or drama itself, is irrelevant, or not?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Our local channels do this for Desperate Housewives, Neighbours and House. Could such mundane settings be so sweeping and epic every week?

[Richard Penna 3,749]

Trailers are designed to raise hype and show all the best bits (which in some cases are the only good bits in a collective piece of garbage) in the hope that someone will think 'damn, that looked good'.

I'm sure few studios would be willing to 'experiment' with trailers because they're a bunch of sissies that think 'XXX 3: Another Big Explosion' is a crowd winner.

[Melange 446]

Neighbours ............ Could such mundane settings be so sweeping and epic every week?

Yeah, even Eastenders (our dull, depressing, but strangely most popular soap) gets these dramatic trailers now.

Yeah, I think you're right RichUk. Hype and little else.

I also just remembered that this format is used even in video game adverts

[BLUMENKOHL 1,070]

What are your other ideas?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I'm fine with it, because if a trailer is really good, it is really good, and I will see it. Trailers are all structured around a piece of music. It's all edited to that. I love trailers, and there are some that do get my hairs on end, that's when I know it's good.

[Melange 446]

What are your other ideas?

Ones which are a bit more honest about the feel and pacing of the movie/TV drama themselves. It can be done easily enough. And people who would not be impressed by what they would see as possibly a slow movie or one heavy on dialogue rather than action, won't be drawn to the movie and that's fine. They are not wired to appreciate that kind of movie. But at the end of the day, as RichUk said, the trailers are indeed just to hook people in. Not about honesty, I guess.

[Bryant Burnette 655]

I could not agree more that this style of trailer makes me want to quit watching trailers -- I swear to Science, if I have to see/hear the Prince Caspian trailer ONE MORE TIME, I'm going to . . . to . . . well, I'll just complain about it some more.

However, I suspect that these kinds of trailers work on audiences. From what I can tell, 99% of the people on this board are regular movie-viewers, and on top of that spend at least some time actively thinking about the movies they watch. With that comes a certain level of -- I don't want to say taste -- discernment when it comes to picking apart things. For us, in other words, we are apt to motice when somebody is overselling a movie by trying to convince us that it's the greatest thing in the history of the world. (Watch the trailer for Son of Rambow, for example, which seems designed to communicate that this movie is whimsical. So the music shouts out I AM MOTHERF---ING WHIMSICAL AS S--T!!!!! SEE ME!!!!! Revolting. The trailer for Nim's Island is worse. HOLY F--K, YOU WON'T BELIEVE HOW GODDAMN CUTE THIS F---ING MOVIE IS!!!!!)

All that said, most people are not prone to actively think about the movies they watch. They are not discerning. They are the kind of people who work five or six or seven days a week, and want to actually relax when the time for relaxation comes around. They want to watch stupid comedies, they want to watch predictable romances, they want to watch simplistic action movies. They will only watch dramas if they're tricked into it. Trailer-music is an enormously effective tool in communicating to these people -- who are the vast majority of moviegoers -- that a certain movie fits into a certain box. That way, they know what they're spending their money on and are more likely to spend it.

And I have no problem with this. Moviemaking is a business; businesses have to make money; and successful selling strategies are the best way of doing this. Sadly, for now, the bombastic approach to trailer music seems to be a part of that process, and as long as it is, it ain't goin' nowhere . . . and probably shouldn't.

My beef is that the movies could be better. There is still an astonishing amount of money to be made in The Movies, but there also seems to be an astonishing lack of talent at nearly every level of the industry, from writers to producers to directors to marketers. Looking around the sixteen screens at my theatre this weekend is enough to make me depressed; and business reflects it. And yet just last year, there were numerous great movies, from There Will Be Blood to No Country For Old Men to Ratatouille to Knocked Up. There'll be great movies this year, too; they just haven't gotten here yet.

It's a fascinating industry; no wonder we love it.

[indy4 155]

I'm fine with this style, as long as it's done correctly. AWE was a brilliant trailer, but Prince Caspian is not. There's the same style, but AWE is just executed much better.

What I hate is those little endings to movie trailers.

For instance, Sweeney Todd. The trailer makes it look fantastic, the title comes up, it's all good. But then they add that little "At last, my arm is complete again" segment, and it feels so out of place. They did the same thing for RotS theatrical trailer, showing Vader at the very end. Didn't feel right.

EDIT: this is one of the greatest trailers ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8oLL44bq_Y

EDIT: Melange, you should see the teaser trailers to A Bee Movie. They were very unique.

[Jacck 23]

Agreed wholeheartedly. I was disappointed to hear this type of music even infecting the beginning of the IJ4 trailer. Luckily the Raiders March came in just in the nick of time.. any later and I would be thinking "I hope that's shepherd's pie in my knickers"..

[King Mark 3,631]

I could not agree more that this style of trailer makes me want to quit watching trailers -- I swear to Science, if I have to see/hear the Prince Caspian trailer ONE MORE TIME, I'm going to . . . to . . . well, I'll just complain about it some more.

hahaha me too

[AI 0]

I have always been fascinated by trailers. Every dvd I rent, I always watch the trailer after the film.

They can be a little misleading, but not really. You can't dress mutton as lamb.

The hard hitting modern trailers are in sync with the visuals. The film culture is like that now, people desperately trying to impress each other with their skills, to make something even edgier than before. They are really just pussy cats.