Whether or not nowadays trailers accurately represent the movies they are made for is up for debate. And more often than not, the entire plot is revealed. Why would I pay $15 to watch a story that you narrated in less than 2 minutes?
Not many people are aware that movie trailers are not made by the directors and editors of the film: there are separate agencies involved. Neither do we realize the tremendous amount of work that goes into the trailer. But first things first, why are trailers even made?
The purpose of a movie trailer is to get the viewer to watch the movie. Over the years, marketing agencies have gotten pretty good at manipulating audiences. When we look closely, it is pretty evident that most of mainstream cinema is using the same template to make its trailers. The sad version of a pop song, for instance, or rhythmic repetitions of sounds are some of the usual suspects.
The simple qualities that make us human are exploited by these makers: empathy, grief and thrill, for example. The trailer makers know that using familiar songs in the background would make the audience feel an automatic sense of attachment to the content of the trailer. Cliffhangers are also effective devices as humans are curious animals, after all. We need to know.
We would like to think that trailer makers of big production houses have it easy with star cast and big budget films. In reality, however, a great trailer can be made from very little extravagance. Of course, we find ourselves drawn to a trailer starring Anne Hathaway or Leonardo DiCaprio but what ultimately determines if we will pay to watch a movie is the content of the trailer itself.
Another important thing to keep in mind is that the view count on YouTube cannot be used as an evaluation criteria for the trailer. It is easy to bait people to watch a trailer with a Big Star on the thumbnail. Yet it is the quality of the trailer that determines the performance of the movie in the box office.
My biggest pet peeve is when I know too much about the movie by watching the trailer. But once in a while, you see a trailer that gets you SO excited to go see the entire movie. You know, when it has the perfect balance of gist and suspense. Well, that does not guarantee that the movie itself will end up meeting your expectations.
One of my recent favourite trailers was for the movie 'Annihilation'. And, to everyone's surprise, the movie actually lived up to the trailer! Ocean's 8 trailer was also pretty entertaining. However, the same cannot be said about the movie.
More importantly, even the editors of the trailer are not thinking about the actual quality of the film. Their job is to make a 2-minute long experience to get you to the theatre. The trailer-making process is more intricate than you think and, in my opinion, it should be taken more seriously and frankly for exactly what it is - media manipulation at its best.
