Tease

I normally hate trailers for films. Even though I love (and miss) the guy who performed the "In a world..." voice-overs, I often can't stand watching trailers for films I've seen, even if I hate the movie too. Don't get me wrong. I love watching them, but so often there seems to be a tried (but not necessarily true) formula for enticing an audience... even if it isn't necessarily accurate to the content, tone or story of the film in question. The narrator says something very brief, but largely unnecessary, clip of the actors saying something entertaining, maybe something more indicative of the story, flash cut to action, flash cut to action, louder music, more action, explosion/blood/sex scene, CUT MUSIC, witty line of dialogue, titles up, release date. What's the purpose of a trailer? Like a book cover, it's generally for publicity - so more people will buy tickets, or pick up the book. "Here's what the story is, and the big name actors, maybe some awards it won already... and some A.D.D. video editing." Go!

But! Look at this!

You should (eventually) see the film because it's haunting, brutal, beautiful and terrible but I've never had as much fun with a trailer. And it goes against almost everything I've just whined about.

The thing is that films rarely are enticing when you describe the story itself. It shouldn't be this way, but take a look at the tops of the box office lately. According to imdb, they are...

1) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

2) Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

3) Public Enemies

4) The Proposal

5) The Hangover

What are the synopses for these films? By themselves, not great movies. (Are any of these great movies?)

Robots come to earth and explode things, nasty "actress" bounces around, nerds freak out.

A bunch of semi-famous screen actors provide the voice for some animals running around in the... um... ice age.

JOHNNY DEPP kind of plays John Dillinger (but not really), robs a few banks, breaks out of a few prisons, has a few suave lines of dialogue.

A strained, forced relationship between a cold boss and a promising assistant turns romantic... Sandra Bullock, people!

And finally, a bunch of guys (including Andy from The Office) go to Vegas for a bachelor party and it gets out of hand.

So you need big name actors, and the right compilation of scenes (action, dialogue, sex appeal etc.) because the story isn't going to sell it... ... ... by itself.

WHICH is why the A Clockwork Orange trailer is so hilarious and awesome, because it tells you almost NOTHING about the story, not even bothering to tell you the most basic plot points or any actors involved. Instead, it vomits the most generic buzzwords that will be attached to the film - WITTY, SATIRE, METAPHORICAL, FUNNY, BEETHOVEN (that was my favorite). The crazy is that the story is, by itself, pretty enticing... even without mention of the director, or that it is based on the Anthony Burgess novel, or that it's set in a dystopian Britain.

Remember whenever it was that The Simpsons Movie was coming out? There were a few brief trailers out there that was merely the title, the release date, and Homer doing the Spider-Pig bit. That's a different scenario - a Simpsons movie is a Simpsons movie, and I'd read an article, that I'm too lazy to track down and link now, that said the writers really didn't want that clip to be given away in the trailer (it was, undeniably, the best part of the whole film) but the studio producers were adamant about it. Something about keeping the only funny clip out of the trailers and having half-empty theaters... etc.

But I forgot to ask the question. What makes you want to see a movie?