Trailers: The Amazing and The Deceiving

Have you ever been online and were completely bored? My guess: Absolutely. Whenever I get caught in this situation, I tend to decide to go to the gym, or do homework, or do something reasonable with my life, but finals are fast approaching and my ambition is slowly declining. So, I spent some time on youtube, and watched some trailers for several films that will be released over the next few months.

I never really considered the importance of a good trailer before, yet it is the very foundation for building an audience. When we go to the movie theater as a family, my dad always makes us go about ten minutes late so that we don't have to sit through the previews. When I go by myself, or with friends, I try to get there early because I secretly love the previews. Not all previews, but the ones that are the most intriguing. It's like opening presents at Christmas. I love the feeling of finding the next great movie  to go see.

What makes a great trailer? The music, the cuts, and the parts of the general plot that is chosen to be shown, all come together to entice people to go see the film. Most of all, the trailers that really strike me are the ones that leave me asking, "Wait! What's going to happen next?" or ones that leave me spinning through a "new world" or ones that have me sitting on the edge of my seat, tied down with suspense. Trailers that are not so successful are ones that make me say, "What's happening?" or are completely too realistic. Of course, it is a preference that varies between audiences and people, but overall a good trailer leaves people wanting to know more.

There is nothing worse than seeing an amazing trailer, going to the movie, and walking out completely disappointed. Most of the time I find that the trailer drew me in because they used their best scenes in the trailer. This has happened to me too many times to count. The biggest disappointment that I had was last year when I saw the new adaptation of The Three Musketeers. Talk about being disappointed. This has always been one of my favorite stories, and this ruined it. The acting wasn't the best and the plot just left a lot to be desired. Another film that disappointed me was Snow White and the Huntsman. It was alright up to a point, but again I wasn't really impressed with the plot or the acting as much as I was with the graphics and animation. With the exception of the Queen (whose character was played brilliantly by), I had been expecting so much more. The winner in disappointments was definitely the movie Eragon that came out a few years ago. The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini is a great one, and this movie did not do it justice. Nothing really matched up character, setting, or plot wise, and left me feeling like I had entered a completely different world than the one I expected.

I'm hopeful that the trailers for these next films are in-line with what the actual movies will present. Here are some of the trailers (they are good ones!) for movies I'm really looking forward to:

The Hobbit

City of Bones

So, youtube is not letting me upload the others, but you should definitely check out The Host, Oz the Great and Powerful, and  Les Miserables.

~Amber Capogrossi