Guest Blog
Coming soon: Checking out movie previews
By Jen Pontzer, Staff Writer
February 29, 2008 | 6 a.m.
Some people collect comic books or spend their days playing football. Others party every night. Still others enjoy the thrill of knitting sweaters. I watch movies. I even spend my days watching movie trailers to find out what is coming soon.
I become overly excited when watching new trailers online. If it’s one I think is really good, I go and find out more information about the movie. I send the best ones to my friends on a weekly basis. I love the anticipation of a new movie.
However, I have come to find that not everyone shares my love of previews. My mother can’t stand them and would rather jump to the feature film. For those who do know exactly what I’m talking about, I get into discussions about new movies all the time, what looks good, and what I want to see and why.
I never really wondered why trailers are called trailers even though they come before the movie. It doesn’t make much sense. I think “preview” is a more accurate term, but I like the way “trailer” sounds.
According to the then Paramount trailer division head Lou Harris, as told to the Los Angeles Times in 1966, "The first trailer was shown in 1912 at Rye Beach, New York, which was an amusement zone like Coney Island. One of the concessions hung up a white sheet and showed the serial ‘The Adventures of Kathlyn.’ At the end of the reel Kathlyn was thrown in the lion's den. After this 'trailed' a piece of film asking ‘Does she escape the lion's pit? See next week's thrilling chapter!’"
Trailers have become quite a bit more advanced since then. Nowadays trailers feature anything that might grab an audience’s attention. Trailers are shorter today because it is thought that people don’t have as long of attention spans. They tend to feature fast cuts mixed with text and narration.
Because trailers are assembled before the filming is completed, they often feature scenes that don’t make the final cut. A good trailer will tell you what you need to know about the movie without giving too much away. It also shouldn’t show you the only funny or dramatic scenes the movie has to offer because this will only leave moviegoers disappointed.
Trailers you should watch
”Speed Racer” - "Go, Speed Racer, go!" This trailer is well-made mostly because of the graphics. The bright, candy colors are eye-catching, and filmmakers managed to capture the spirit of the cartoon show on which this movie is based. The pace of the trailer is comprehendible because it’s not so slow it loses your attention and not too fast that it loses you completely.
"Son of Rambow” - While the title makes it sound like a knock-off Rambo movie literally about Rambo’s son, the trailer makes it clear that that is so not the case. The trailer is heartwarming as it tells the basics of a story about a boy who sees “Rambo: First Blood” and decides to make his own action/adventure film. The trailer doesn’t make it quite clear that the boy is part of religious group that bans television and movies, which is a nice layer on which I hope the movie expounds upon.
”Kung Fu Panda” - What is great about this trailer is the reveal. It appears to be a movie about the best animals in martial arts,until you get to Panda. He is what you might call the black sheep of the group. He is not good at martial arts at all, but he is cute and furry. DreamWorks is showing that it’s just as good as Pixar in terms of animation with this trailer.
”Teeth” - While a totally improbable concept (though I know some women wish it weren’t), the trailer for this movie is very well-done. The story is about a girl who has teeth in her vagina, which she discovers after being assaulted. The trailer goes from showing her as a shy girl to looking pretty twisted. It makes good use of the black screen, leaving some images up to the viewer. It also uses childlike music, giving an utterly creepy feel to the trailer. The only downfall is the cliché text at the end: “Every rose has its thorns.”
”Star Trek” - J.J. Abrams' new film, “Star Trek,” is one of the best examples of a teaser trailer. It shows just enough for you to be intrigued without actually telling you anything about the movie. This one does it by showing men welding a ship together with voice-overs of famous quotes on space travel. At the very end the camera pans up to show “U.S.S. Enterprise” written on the spaceship.
The best sites for trailers
Apple Trailers - Apple offers new trailers for blockbuster films as well as indie films. You can search for trailers by most recent, studio, most popular and genre. It also has a section for trailers that it gets exclusively. In addition, it has lists for what’s opening this week, the weekend box office and the top five soundtracks. There is a movie poster above each trailer’s title depicting the movie. Most of the movies have a summary page.
Yahoo! Trailers - Yahoo! also boasts the newest trailers, as well as its own exclusive trailers. It has categories for recently added and most popular. All in all, the selection is pretty similar to Apple’s. However, Yahoo!’s trailers don’t have the kind of quality that Apple’s do. Its trailers are a little blurry, and the sound quality is poor. What it does better than Apple is make it easy to find a specific movie trailer by title in its archives, which also include trailers from as far back as 1967's “The Jungle Book.” While it has the best selection, its interface leaves a lot to be desired, with clips that don’t work or don’t download correctly.
Internet Movie Database - The Internet Movie Database, more commonly known as IMDB, is a great place to search for trailers if you already know what movie trailer you want to see or even if you just want to watch trailers from a certain genre or time period. Search bars also include “by name” if you want to see trailers featuring your favorite actor. It also lists the top ten trailers. IMDB wins the oldest trailer contest with “A Dog of Flanders” listed with a release date of 1914. IMDB has both its own trailers and links to other Web sites with trailers for the selected movie.
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