Trailers

[Lee]

What, in your opinion, makes a good, dramatic movie trailer?

Personally, I think having a suspenseful/mysterious opening and a fast-paced closing montage of action is good. Obviously, dramatic music helps greatly and including some of the more remarkable shots from the film. There are some movies where the trailer has been better than the picture itself.

Give some of your thoughts,

Lee

[Ornsack]

I think you just need to keep it short and simple. And if it's a big budget blockbuster then you've gotta have a quick money shot which makes you shout "F*ck me!!!".

Don't get many of those these days.

[crossfire]

ya basically its jus a collection of 2 seconds of each of the best scenes, with powerful yet not intrusive music.

[pan-modo_pictures]

It depends, but usually I could care less about a trailer packed with action. If it's a sequel anything can work, as long as you don't show too much. In my opinion, less is better. Have some good music, different shots, as little dialogue as possible. For amateur films;
-Get your name out of there. No one but yourself really cares that its the new film by Barry Andrews.
-If the film is a short, low quality piece of garbage, don't show many clips, and make it quick.

[joe]

If the film is a short, low quality piece of garbage, don't show many clips, and make it quick.

If a film is garbage, there's not really any point in making a trailer, other than maybe for practice. And I don't think its a waste to put your name in there. It's good for people to associate your name-no matter how small it is-with good solid work. If its trash, then I would probably recommend leaving your name out as well.

On the question about a good trailer, I think less is more definitely. And its hard to nail down a specific equation for a good trailer, it really just depends on the type of film, style, etc.

[crossfire]

its not that smart to make a trailer for something thats short, because to make it more than 10 seconds your probably going to end up putting more than you should have and too much dialogue.

[mickcar73]

build up to it, like you do some long clips at the start to gaet the general story. Then show loads of clips every second really fast and blah blah blah

[crossfire]

ya exactly like that with good transitions though, for some reason jus cutting directly to the next 2 second clip doesnt work too well

[maj_barnes]

http://files.filefront.com/BoBCoD_Episo ... einfo.html

This is just a copy of a Band of Brothers' trailer that I did for CoD, but it does make you want to watch the episode (if there was one).