Amph The Trailer Park: The Three Stooges (2012)

Welcome to the Trailer Park, the place where we discuss the trailers that
give us glimpses of movies coming soon to a theatre near us.

If it's about trailers we'll talk about it here. Good trailers, bad ones,
trailers that seem unrelated to the movies they represent, trailers that spill
the beans on the story and ruin the movie for us, the popularity of trailers,
and on and on. Promotional trailers have virtually become an art form unto
themselves. A well-made trailer can generate tremendous excitement and buzz,
and a bad one can kill a movie in it's crib through bad word of mouth. (At
least for me.)

One of my pet peeves is trailers that give away too much of the story.
There have been at least a dozen films in the last few years where I never
bought a ticket because I felt I already knew the story and the sense of
discovery was gone because of the trailer, I had no desire to see the film.

So turn off those cellphones, get comfortable in your seats, get that baby quiet,
and let's talk trailers.

Are trailers more important today than they were in the past?


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Trailers are definitly more important now than what they were 10 years ago. I attribute the start of the whole 'trailer' buzz back to TPM's first trailer back in 1999. I remember knowing the trailer was out and being astonished that I could download which I did...of course it took a few hours at the time.

Now days movie site are big on the web and the culmination of a movie site is the trailer. We have countdown clocks and world premieres for trailers now days. I think it is safe to say they are very important.

I used to love trailers. Now I try to avoid them at all costs.

Forcefire discusses trailers and posters for movies in The Art of Marketing. He's a bit out of his update routine, but he should be back into it once the school year gets going. The current topic is "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension".

One of my major pet peeves in trailers is that they spend too much time convincing us that there will be some kind of romance in there and not enough convincing us that the plot is worthwhile.

I suggest watching the trailer for "little children" to see a great trailer in action. it's probably the best trailer of 2006, and maybe for some time before that. check it out here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/newline/littlechildren/hd/

i just watched it again, and as i've read the book, i can say that it does a superb job of putting the characters in without giving the outcome away (though a crucial moment is there, you wouldn't know it unless you've read the book). it's just a fantastic trailer all around. great editing, music and scenes.

I used to love trailers. Now I try to avoid them at all costs.

Why is that Zaz?

Because they are essentially the movie in minature. I don't want to see the whole plot.

One of my pet peeves too. And I have one theory on this.

I think the companies that are hired to edit these trailers
are filled with people who want to be filmmakers themselves.
So instead of designing the trailer so that it "entices"
people to go see the film, these idiot editors do just what you said, they
make a mini-movie. It's all about their ego. They don't intrigue, or tantalize or
motivate you to go see the film. They show you the essence
of the movie. You're not curious. No mystery.

I'm not gonna see CHILDREN OF MEN when it comes out. I saw the trailer,
and I feel like I've already seen the film. Why should I spent 8 bucks
to see the movie? They already gave it to me.

I was totally bored during CASTAWAY when Tom Hanks and Wilson the soccer ball
were on the island. Why? Because I saw the trailer and knew he got off the island.
So much for dramatic tension and suspense.

Yes, yes, but. They are approved by the film makers themselves. The stupidest one I've seen recently was the "Mask of Zorro" sequel, which disclosed the major plot point. The film tanked.

I don't think this thread necessarily overlaps, but I will talk to Forcefire about it, as I was asked for permission.

i do love trailers because i can decide very easily if i want to watch the movie based on them. i agree they suck because they are mini movies and all but somehow i ike the rush they sometimes give me through cutting all these tiny scenes together. i guess i'm just weird.

my favourite trailer off the top of my head was the one for ice age which had me laugh so hard and i saw that before the disney atlantis movie started and that sucked so much in comparison. i wanted to see ice age for months and was very eager. so, that one worked.

I don't think so.

Everything I've ever read about trailers says that the director of the movie isn't allowed anywhere near it. Its all approved by the studio that probably has little to nothing to do with the actual movie.

And no, it isn't about ego on the part of the trailer editor. It isn't like he sits on the job and says I could do this better myself and tries to prove it. There are alot of people putting alot of time into something that is going to only last 2 1/2 minutes.

This is about marketing an entire movie in 2 1/2 minutes. Yes, major plot points should be and usually are not revealed but your big set peices, big jokes, etc (which some people get confused with plot points) are fair game because thats whats going to bring people in.

I am a fan of the book as well, and also a fan of the trailer... however, didn't you find that the trailer seemed a lot darker and more suspenseful than the book? The book had a lot of black humor in it, and didn't seem to exude such darkness ya know? I also found it interesting that they chose to ignore introducing a huge storyline from the book into the trailer (Ronnie)

And no, it isn't about ego on the part of the trailer editor. It isn't like he sits on the job and says I could do this better myself and tries to prove it.

Right, but that isn't what I was suggesting. I didn't say he thought he/she was thinking
they were "improving" on it. But they do want to put the thing together in a way
that doesn't do it's intended job (in a lot of cases.) Their job is to sell the movie and get people excited about seeing it, not give people a compressed, cliff notes version. And I've seen PLENTY of those. In fact, just this week I saw TWO of them, one for the new Robin Williams as the comedian who becomes a politician and the other the aforementioned CHILDREN OF MEN, about a future Earth where no children are being born.

I wish some of the people putting the trailers understood the concept of
"less is more."

That is the intended job, to sell the movie. Might not work for you, might not work for a lot of people in the end, but you work with what you've got.

I personaly fail to see how "Man of the Year" or "Children of Man" are "cliff notes" versions of the movie. Thats what the movies are about. Him actually become president or Owen protecting the unborn child aren't major twists to be protected its what the movie is about.

I personaly fail to see how "Man of the Year" or "Children of Man" are "cliff notes" versions of the movie. Thats what the movies are about. Him actually become president or Owen protecting the unborn child aren't major twists to be protected its what the movie is about.

Well, since the movies aren't out yet, we can't absolutely know for sure if they revealed too much. But for me, it was too much and I'm entitled to my reaction. The purpose of a trailer is to get me to buy a movie ticket and they persuaded me to do the OPPOSITE and not buy a ticket, so they lost my business. That counts as a failure.

YMMV

Movies and storytelling are all about what is revealed to the audience and when that
revelation takes place. I was TOTALLY into the CHILDREN OF MAN trailer as they presented this sad, bleak vision of the future...where no one can have kids anymore...I thought what an interesting set up and premise! And the social upheaval and such looked very interesting...
and THEN, oops! Well, it's actually not true ... there is ONE woman who is PREGNANT!
Well, gee, they gave me this great setup...and then they tell me that set up is no longer valid. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! The revelation that there is a pregnant woman on a planet where no one can have any kids is a HUGE surprise! And you put THAT in the trailer? Good grief.

If you want to see a truly amazing trailer, watch the one for the Fountain.

Sure we can. Thats the plot of the movies. Thats what they're about. That would be like saying that showing the Titanic sink in the trailer for that movie ruined that entire movie.

You're not playing fair Weezer. TITANIC is a based on a historical event known the world over. Everyone knows the boat sank, and you could put that in the trailer, but not everyone knew how Rose got off the boat and lived to tell her story. In that case, you could reveal events already universally known, but you wouldn't want the particulars of your character's destiny's revealed.

As I said before, YMMV.

Look, this is simple. You don't reveal the whole plot of your film. It's bad form.
For example, if they had released trailers revealing that Bruce Willis is DEAD for
95% of the film THE SIXTH SENSE, and that is CERTAINLY a big part of the plot, do you think that movie would have had the same impact? Of course not. That revelation is what got people buzzing and made the film a success. And they were smart enough to save that for paying filmgoers, not put it in the trailer. Fair enough?

I have no idea what that means.

I just assumed it was your manual sig.

And yes its an extreme example but it really is the same thing. If they just left out the pregnant woman they'd be leaving out what the movie is about. Then you'd be complaining about how misleading trailers have gotten these days. I'm not saying that there aren't examples of bad trailers out there. I'm just saying that these aren't good examples to prove your point either.

Edit: They aren't revealing the whole movie. They're telling you what its about. You can hardly compare a "twist" to telling you what the movie is about. What you are saying is that they shouldn't tell me that there are aliens in Alien because they should save the surprise for when the aliens show up.

What you are saying is that they shouldn't tell me that there are aliens in Alien because they should save the surprise for when the aliens show up.

That is absolutely NOT what I am saying and STOP putting words in my mouth.
You're repeatedly twisting what I'm saying to idiotic levels and then ignoring
my responses.

That's utterly ridiculous. If the NAME of the movie is ALIEN(S) it's obviously
likely to have aliens in it.

For your information, YMMV stands for YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY.
It's a polite, respectful way of saying, "you're entitled to
your opinion and I'm entitled to mine and let's agree to disagree."

It's intended to be diplomatic and cordial, but with some people,
it doesn't take. I'm amazed you didn't know what it means, since
you seem to think you know EVERYTHING!!!!

As soon as we get to 'stop putting words in my mouth', we're in trouble. This conversation ends *here*. Agree to disagree, gentlemen, if you please.

I'm not putting words in your mouth though I am presenting rather extreme examples. I should of used SoaP without showing any snakes or planes, but I didn't think about that until it was too late

The reason for the extreme examples is simply to show that there is a certain catch-22 here. You have to work with what you have. Not all of these are great movies that you, I, or anyone else is going to rush out an see so you do have to show something of it or there is no point in having a marketing campaigne behind it at all. Film buffs and the like might like to keep away from the "spoilers" but in most cases they only end up being spoilers because they already have the context to put it in. 99.9% of movie goers don't have that problem so the trailer has to appeal to the lcd (thats lowest common denominator).

And agree to disagree is an unstated agreement on any message board.

Edit: I'll pull that last line since I didn't see Zaz's comment before my post. Though I did google YMMV so you are right about at least one thing

And...moving right along.

Pet Peeve: the trailer features a very funny joke. You see the movie and realize that it's the only funny joke in the entire movie.

I know exactly what you mean, I've had that experience.

And I've seen trailers for comedies that weren't funny
for a minute and a half and I'm thinking to myself,
gee, if they can't even keep me smiling and laughing
for a minute or so, how can they do it for two hours?