How interesting! It’s so true, I’m always complaining to my hubby that trailers now are spoiling the films by showing all the best bits, leaving nothing for surprise. And I never knew how the term trailers came about! Thanks for the explanation, you learn something new everyday don’t you! 👏
To your point, the only three trailers that got me genuinely hyped for the movie in the past few years were “Vice”, “The Batman” and “The Brutalist”. All of them unveiled limited parts of the movie but left me wanting more.
Same! And it’s even worse when movies DO follow that formulaic storyline and then also ruin what’s left by giving it all away in the trailer. Double whammy. Too many appetizers and snacks ruin one’s appetite for the main course.
Several years back, I had the great fortune of seeing the Aronofsky film “mother!” The trailer was intriguing enough to entice without giving away the farm and the payoff was an experience I’ll never forget. That evening, I saw a film the way the filmmaker hoped I would: without foreknowledge of every plot point. With this film in particular, the effect was profound.
Since then, I often find myself scrambling for the remote to turn off a trailer before it gives away too much of the film. Sometimes I’m too late, and when I watch it later, every time a plot twist occurs, I feel cheated by my foreknowledge. Frustratingly often, it’s something that could easily have been omitted from the trailer.
Avoiding trailers is not without its perils. Sometimes, the foreknowledge you avoided turns out to be information that would have prevented you from wasting your time on a bad movie.
All of the above assumes that the trailer in question is a fair representation of the movie, but that is often not the case. It seems more and more common for trailers to bear little resemblance to the movies they are meant to hype. It’s a classic bait-and-switch scam. When a trailer for a bleak, slow paced, existential crisis on celluloid is a laugh out loud, fast moving affair, you can bet that the studio’s marketing department is to blame. I always get the sense that some marketing genius created the mismatched trailer as a Hail Mary play when he realized that the movie would bomb on its own merit. The tactic may bring audiences in, but no one likes being manipulated and leaving viewers feeling snookered is poor form.
How interesting! It’s so true, I’m always complaining to my hubby that trailers now are spoiling the films by showing all the best bits, leaving nothing for surprise. And I never knew how the term trailers came about! Thanks for the explanation, you learn something new everyday don’t you! 👏
To your point, the only three trailers that got me genuinely hyped for the movie in the past few years were “Vice”, “The Batman” and “The Brutalist”. All of them unveiled limited parts of the movie but left me wanting more.
Crazy how bad trailers are these days.
The very best movie experiences I’ve ever had, were the ones where I had no idea what was coming.
Today, I enjoy the oddball movies that do not follow the typical cookie cutter storyline and cannot be properly stuck into categories.
Ruben Östlund, Todd Solondz anyone?
Same! And it’s even worse when movies DO follow that formulaic storyline and then also ruin what’s left by giving it all away in the trailer. Double whammy. Too many appetizers and snacks ruin one’s appetite for the main course.
Very well put.
Several years back, I had the great fortune of seeing the Aronofsky film “mother!” The trailer was intriguing enough to entice without giving away the farm and the payoff was an experience I’ll never forget. That evening, I saw a film the way the filmmaker hoped I would: without foreknowledge of every plot point. With this film in particular, the effect was profound.
Since then, I often find myself scrambling for the remote to turn off a trailer before it gives away too much of the film. Sometimes I’m too late, and when I watch it later, every time a plot twist occurs, I feel cheated by my foreknowledge. Frustratingly often, it’s something that could easily have been omitted from the trailer.
Avoiding trailers is not without its perils. Sometimes, the foreknowledge you avoided turns out to be information that would have prevented you from wasting your time on a bad movie.
All of the above assumes that the trailer in question is a fair representation of the movie, but that is often not the case. It seems more and more common for trailers to bear little resemblance to the movies they are meant to hype. It’s a classic bait-and-switch scam. When a trailer for a bleak, slow paced, existential crisis on celluloid is a laugh out loud, fast moving affair, you can bet that the studio’s marketing department is to blame. I always get the sense that some marketing genius created the mismatched trailer as a Hail Mary play when he realized that the movie would bomb on its own merit. The tactic may bring audiences in, but no one likes being manipulated and leaving viewers feeling snookered is poor form.
Better idea: read a spoiler-free review.
I miss good films.