Like many of you out there, we spent this past Sunday evening with our buddies consuming obscene amounts of pizza and watching TV; more specifically, a series of 30-second snippets interrupted occasionally by a football game. While some of the commercials were great (Oh, Conan, at least the Swedes love you!), what really intrigued us was the abundance of mesmerizing movie trailers.
For us, movie trailers can be just as exciting as the movies themselves. By stylishly presenting a few key scenes, trailers give us a general idea of what to expect while leaving us thirsting for more.
In order for a trailer to successfully hook viewers, it must stray away from some hackneyed tendencies. Trailers often give away too much information. "Gran Torino" (2008)'s trailer not only revealed the movie's premise but force-fed plot-points down our throats. Whet our appetites, don't drown them.
In a trailer, less is more. "Cloverfield" (2008) seized our attention by turning a seemingly wild party into a scene of chaos and destruction without ever revealing the face of its monster or even the film's title.
Regarding comedies, advertising teams must be careful not to waste all of a movie's punch lines, because viewers can sense a dearth of comedic diversity. For example, one might chuckle at Kevin James' rotund nature in the trailer for "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" (2008). Yet, if fat jokes become boring after 30 seconds, how could an audience survive 90 minutes of James precariously riding a Segway?
Sound can also make or break a trailer. In trailers for "Pineapple Express" (2008), slow motion footage of James Franco breakdancing is synced to MIA's hip-hop ballad, "Paper Planes." The catchy tune and presence of cannabis-related humor baited viewers to see the film, only to find that "Paper Planes" was, ironically, MIA from the actual film.
"The Strangers" (2008) trailer made us cringe by excluding sound. No, you did not accidentally sit on the mute button. During one pivotal point in the trailer, a montage that included Liv Tyler screaming and crawling away from a masked pursuer omitted sound and left our pants wet from silent terror.
On Sunday, the trailers were mixed. The trailer for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (2009) succeeded in emphasizing action-filled scenes without disclosing too many plot details, almost making us forget all about the fact that Shia LaBeouf went on a drinking binge, totaled his car and made the writers adjust the script to incorporate his mangled hand.
Meanwhile, the "The Year One" (2009) trailer, while lacking in substance, accentuated its venerable cast, concentrating its time on actors Jack Black and Michael Cera, and even flashing a glimpse at "Superbad's" (2007) McLovin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse. This trailer also acted as a prelude to Black's steamy love scene with the raunchiest 82-year-old in Hollywood, Cloris Leachman, in the subsequent episode of "The Office."
"Up" (2009), on the other hand, was borderline boastful. The trailer actually recited Pixar's previous triumphs. For the last time, we already know you guys made "Finding Nemo" (2003).
So next time you go to the movies, make sure to get there early enough to catch the trailers. Who knows? Maybe you'll catch a glimpse of a goateed Will Ferrell battling giant computer-generated crabs in a preview for "Land of the Lost" (2009).
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Zach Drucker and Chris Poldoian are freshmen who have not yet declared majors. They can be reached at Zachary.Drucker@tufts.edu and Christopher.Poldoian@tufts.edu.
