One thing that occured to me as we were watching a clip from Magnolia this week in class is the amazing phenomenon of movie trailers. When done right they can be brilliant, and in my humble opinion infinitely better then the movie they advertise. I know that they aren't always put together by the director, but the reason I bring Magnolia up is because it has one of the best trailers I've ever seen for a movie. In fact, I think it was much better then the movie it advertised, which I recognize is a weird thing to say but here's why. I think the concept behind the movie is clever, and even experimental in some regards but the finished product is muddled, too long, and incomprehensible at points. The trailer on the other hand is a sleek piece of filmmaking (P.T. Anderson actually put the trailer together) with NO voice overs and Aimee Man's brilliant music enhancing what looks like some powerful scenes. It's too bad it doesn't all come together in the movie, but it doesn't mean that the trailer can't stand alone. So, I tried really hard to dig up the trailer, but with no success. Apparently archiving trailers is not at all the thing. Can I say that trailers stand alone as their own brilliant subsection of film? That they make nods to a plotline, give us the best acting and lines of the film, and do it all in 2-3 minutes? That at times they falsely advertise a film to persuade us it's better in clips and cuts then it is in full lenghth? Sure I can cause it's my post!
4 comments:
I completely agree Rekha. Trailers remind me of a question you might get asked at a job interview: "Tell me why we should hire you in 30 seconds." 2-3 minutes is all the person is given to convince us, the audience that we should see this movie. Isually I'm the one who can get easily sucked in. How can you not? Often the best scenes (funniest, romantic, action packed, etc) and bests lines are cut and pasted together with a good musical score or song. Sometimes though they can give too much away or decieve you. I'll admit it though I love trailers. Anytime Coming Attractions is on E! I'm glued to the screen. Often I check out apple trailers once a week. I don't why I enjoy them so much I just do. Why do we enjoy seeing scenes or commercials for our favorite TV shows?
One of my favorite trailers is for the movie Garden State. There is no talking or voice overs. Its simple but so complex. Clips of funny and confusing scenes play while Frou Frou's "Let Go" enhances the essence and plot of this movie. I'll put it up on my blog.
R & L,
First I'd like to say that I'm unreasonably impressed with myself for posting on a blog. This is so "2006."
I like the comments re: trailers. I think the condensation of material which necessarily cuts out what's "good" or "entertaining" about a movie can force some neat art. Which, as you pointed out re: Magnolia, may end up more interesting than the final product. And maybe even better than trailers that get you pysched for the movie are trailers that leave you w/o the info you would need to even decide if you wanted to view the movie. What I mean are those trailers that are so extremely quick-moving and rely nearly completely on the surprises of collage, perhaps shocking the audience into attention for 2 or 3 minutes but effectively transfering nonsense. This seems to me to be one of those great places where the accessibility of art-tool technology overshadows the best interest of art made for making money. Another example are radio stations' ads for themselves (those things have a name, but what is it?) where the frequency number and catchphrases are mixed with an often baffling mix of representative songs (and sometimes sound-bytes from TV shows (???))that the station may be prone to play for our immense enjoyment. But the clips of the songs don't last long enough to enjoy them as we are used to enjoying a pop song (or maybe they do...) and sometimes they become indecipherable. Plus funny voices are often employed. The dumb point I'm trying feebly to make is that maybe some pretty interesting if unintentional experimentation is going on where it doesn't seem like it should. Like whoa.
However, I'm gonna have come down on the other side of the TV debate. I don't TV is rotting anyone's mind or anything (well, maybe someone's...), but it just doesn't seem like it's that good either. Though I did watch the first season of the OC recently, and was quite pleased. Do you guys like that show? It's really good.
-Steve
I watched the Garden State trailer on Danielle's blog (thanks for posting it), and I'm totally getting it. Something I've been minorly obsessed with regarding film is editing, and I think nowhere is editing more crucial than a trailer. As Steve and everyone has mentioned, the movie is distilled down to its most emotional/funny/best moments in trailers, and editing those together in a coherent, interesting, and artistic way is an amazing skill.
In the Garden State trailer, the Frou Frou song Danielle mentioned really dictates the form. As the tempo of the music picks up, the edits come faster, the clips get shorter, the emotion of the performances becomes more intense. Which is not only neat, but really is emblematic of the larger film, since the film uses the soundtrack in an overt, Cameron Crow-y kind of way. The use of music in the trailer is not only good advertising (as in it actually gives the mood of the film) but also the two are aesthetically congruent. Know what I mean? No easy task...
P.S. I loathe voice-over in trailers.
Have you ever wanted to see a movie of only previews? I have: Just two hours of trailiers for the most hyped-up movies. That would be amazing...Or would it?
Anyway, I will add myself to the list of those who think the previews are often 'better' than the movies they advertise. (I watched the Garden State trailier btw, and think it falls into this catagory as well). But why is this? Are they really better? Can they even be compared?
I would say no. To me movies and previews are completely different. There is no anticipation with movies. We are there, we are watching. Previews are all about getting us excited for what we WILL NOT see. The two are separate arts. Of course previews are going to be fun. This is their whole point: Just to show lots of fun stuff, (the best clips, music, lines, etc), but two hours of them with no movie following thier showing would be a complete let down... The preview may make the movie look better than it is, but is there ever a preview that doesn't? You know what I mean?
Post a Comment