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Movie Trailers: The Good and the Bad

Addison

Auror
Last night my brother showed me the trailer for the new Ninja Turtles movie. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Out of the Shadows". I gotta say it looked cool, I'll probably take my brother to see it. But I'd be more inclined and excited if they did a proper trailer.

Take a look:

Like I said it's a great trailer, I'll see it with my brother, but they could have done such a better job. They basically laid out the movie. A trailer should be like the back cover/inside flap of a book. Covering the who, what, where, when, why audience should care.

We saw a whole lot of who, moderate what, we already know where and when, the why...it seems like they're banking on the already established fans of the series.

As someone who took film classes I can tell you: a trailer should cover the core elements (the five W's) in scenes that are both telling and a bit suspenseful in a short time. A trailer, even a promo, is like the log line in picture form.

Using the above trailer, we didn't need to see the japanese suits or the punks before they obviously became Rhinos (there's a spoiler in the trailer, trailer shouldn't spoil!) all that was needed from those snaps shots, to get our attention, would be to see that fore arm raise and the shredder blades snap out.

I know the trailer is to send a message and entice people to come and see the movie. But it kinda defeats the purpose if you show them so much that they can piece things together or they go to the movie and say "Oh I know what's coming, I saw it in the trailer.".
 
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Addison

Auror
I've been looking all over for good trailers. True that some are good some are bad and everyone has their own opinion. But based on the criteria I learned and studied, and what I've felt draws me to a movie, I gotta say this one takes the top.

So what do you think? What makes a good trailer? A bad trailer? True that some trailer can be good while the movie is bad or vice versa. Or the trailer can be as bad as the movie or as good as. If you have a favorite, least favorite trailer or ideas on what makes a great trailer, please post. :)
 
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Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
Red letter media did a cool analysis of trailers. A lot of them now seem to follow the same beat pattern.

 
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