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Saturday, June 27, 2009

50 Greatest Trailers of All Time

Hey Wavers! You know what you need today? A massively entertaining distraction. That's right, so put down that dusting spray, kick off your fuzzy slippers and check out the 50 Greatest Trailers of All Time. What do they have in common? What surprises you on this list? What do you totally disagree with?

My two cents: GARDEN STATE - I really enjoyed the movie, actually, but this trailer doesn't really do it justice. I don't think I'd decide to see the film based on this trailer. BLAIR WITCH, on the other hand - genius. The CLOVERFIELD trailer - great stuff.

Each trailer has a great explanation of why it works and let me tell you, Wavers - it is just fascinating.

Now we know that trailers are edited and produced by companies hired to do just that. Or did you know that? I found that out awhile back. These trailer houses are given the footage and they go about fashioning the most powerful trailer possible. So after you've enjoyed the heck out of these trailers, ask yourself - what are the trailer moments in your script? Do you have them? Make that your one writing question today - where are your trailer moments?


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4 comments:

Christian H. said...

Strange that none of Hitchcock's trailers made it. "Corruption" against 'North by Northwest?"

The funniest one had to have been Seinfeld's (even though he didn't appear in it).

I can say I love trailer moments. That's how I write. I would love to have every page and every scene fighting for inclusion in the trailer but in the end the movie will never get finished if you do that.

I just find spots where I feel I can do something "peak-y" or "vallley-y" (are those words?) and look for some emotion I can use with either dialog or actions.

If I can make a trailer in my head that would make me want to see it I think I've done my job - and would bet on it.

Martin_B said...

The trailer can do a lot to clarify a movie. I remember seeing Richard E Grant's memoir "Wah Wah" at a film festival before release. Now he is the same age as me, and we are both from southern Africa, and I could recognize many of the adult types he portrays because my parents had friends just like that, but the movie didn't quite gel for me.

Later it was released and I saw the trailer, and I said, "Aaaaah, so that's what the movie's about."

The trailer editor had managed to find the story in the movie and put it on screen in the ninety seconds or whatever length a trailer is.

Jon-Luke said...

I thought either "Independence Day" or "Godzilla" should have been in the top five - They were really great trailers. People were talking about them - Also what about the Star Wars Movies?

If anything I thought that "Cloverfield" stole their trailer ideas from those movies.

Denis Faye said...

For my money, the best trailer of all time was the teaser campaign for Die Hard II.

We hear grunts and frustration from a black screen. Then Bruce Willis lights a lighter. He's filthy, crawling through some kind of duct. He announces, "How can the same thing happen to the same guy, twice?" Then the lighter goes out. End of trailer.

So much better than that actual movie.