Top 5 Favorite Movie Trailers

The trailer for the new Dark Knight film is just beautiful to watch, like gritty little rocks dipped in vinyl.  It gave me shivers.  But I didn't feel invested emotionally, and haven't even seen the film yet.  Which is odd, because I love Batman, especially this most recent Christopher Nolan re-boot. 

This made me think about my favorite trailers, and why each of them appealed to me.  Why I still remember them to this day, and the way I felt when I first laid eyes on them.  Good trailers are like high school crushes; the movie doesn't always turn out the way you wanted it to, but the story of the Beginning - all that angst and excitement and anticipation - that's what you remember most of all.

Here's my current list of favorite trailers - in no particular order - and why I love them so:

"There's one thing you should know about me.  I specialize in a very specific type of security..."

Inception has one of the best, most suspenseful soundtracks in movie history, and it is utilized well in this trailer.  As far as sci-fi goes, the best trailers are the ones that leave the audience dying to go see the movie, but still not even sure what it's about.  Inception delivers that.  By the end of this trailer, I had no effing clue what this movie was about, but I knew I needed it in my life.  

The Pariah trailer made me swoon.  The lead actress, Adepero Oduye...just the way her voice cracks with perseverance...takes us on a journey with her heartbreaking recital of a pivotal poem from the film.  There are just enough scenes alluding to a climactic confrontation in the girls' family, but it's just a peek.  And by the end, we understand that someone is an outcast, and someone is getting the eff out.  And we want to sign up to see that journey, no matter how painful it is.

I, unabashedly, love every damn thing about this movie.  I love the movie AND the trailer, and that doesn't happen often.  Good sci-fi gets audiences to suspend belief for two hours.  Great sci-fi is able to create a world, without tons of CGI, that audiences will believe could exist even after the movie is over.  Another Earth achieves this.  And when people talk about wanting to see more compelling roles for women, this is what they're talking about.  I can't say I've ever seen a character quite like the one Britt Marling has created, on film.  Also, the sound track is surprising and perfect at the same time.

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I had no interest in seeing V for Vendetta.  All I remember is being completely disarmed by the use of Cat Power's song, "I Found a Reason" in the trailer.  That, along with a slow montage of bombs blowing up left and right...that's like a lovely 2-minute tribute to John Woo.

So, I don't like scary movies, especially ones that are borderline supernatural, which this one sort of could be, from the trailer.  I wanted to see "The Strangers" after this trailer.  In the vain of the "Rosemary's Baby" trailer, this leaves you with so many questions.  And the music is just mesmerizing.  Are you scared yet?



Honorable mention is the trailer for the movie "End of Days", which I sadly can't find the version of the trailer I remember online.  Yes, I said "End of Days", starring former Govna' of my home state, Arnold Swarzenegger.  There were a few trailers for this movie; I'm talking about the extended version one using the song Angel, by Massive Attack.

I will never forget when I first saw it, flipping through albums at a record store in Lower East Side Manhattan.  This trailer came on the TV screen hanging in the corner.  I looked up and was completely transported by it.  When the commercial came to a close, I looked around and saw that everyone in the store had been watching it.  Mesmerized.  Now, that's good storytelling.

Any trailer faves of your own?

don't need rules

I discovered one of my favorite video editors on YouTube.  In this video, KatrinDepp combines everything I love most about Doctor Who (the epic emotion, the swashbuckling adventure!) with a delicious cover of one of my anthems for life, Seven Nation Army.  I am in awe of his talent and I watch this thing over and over to get editing tips.

This is THE BEST trailer for a TV Show I HAVE EVER SEEN. EVER. (drops mic, walks off stage)

As a video editor who specializes in creating trailers, I of course have a few do's and don'ts about how to elevate them from good to great.  Here are my top three.

1. Never let your trailer go on for more than 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
2. Never show "the kiss" (pivotal romantic moment between two characters).
3. Never show moments revealing major plot points.

This trailer, for NBC's new show Awake?  Just blew my #1 don't out of the water.  It is 4 minutes and 17 seconds, and it is PURE BRILLIANCE.

I am happy and joyful to give up my #1 Don't after this. :)

"In life you always have a choice. Sometimes, it’s easier to think that you don’t."

I took this quote from a British sci-fi fantasy show called, Merlin.  Spoken by Guinevere, future Queen of Camelot, who starts out as a brown servant girl in this re-telling.  Her very existence puts the traditional story on its' ear.

I write teleplays, screenplays and short stories.  I also create movie trailers and "videokards" (more on that later).  I love taking traditional storytelling (your basic Steven Spielberg, David vs. Goliath, Neo and The Matrix type-stories) and updating them for the world I actually live in as well as the world in my head.  For example, I'm the only person I know who fully expected Trinity to turn out to be "The One" in The Matrix.  What an interesting twist that would have been, huh?

"In life you always have a choice. Sometimes, it’s easier to think that you don’t." - Guinevere, Merlin.  

For several years, I didn't know how to make the stories in my head into real live movies and TV shows, and also make money and provide a future for myself, my husband and my two kitties (more on them later, too!).  Many people have this dilemma.  So, for about a decade, I put the creative part of me on hiatus, let it dribble out in moments, but basically spent the majority of my life getting through school, making money and finding stability.  But, pssst!  Guess what?  Stability doesn't actually exist.  It's as much a figment of your imagination as the stories in my head.  I'll admit, it was easier to think I didn't have a choice.  Having a choice can be a terribly overwhelming responsibility to take on.  But, I am discovering, it is far more painful to limit yourself and your possibilities, by thinking choice is out of your hands.

Now, at 36 years old, I am putting "stability" on hiatus.  I am striving to become a good writer, director and editor, and striving less to find jobs based on how much crap I can take, or how well I can manage other people's lives.  The goal is to do what I love and get paid for it, so work is no longer work.  And life is all about choices, right?

I don't have a clever way to end this post.  Beginnings are much more fun, don't you think?