If you ever go to the movies with me, you may find it odd that I always try to see the movie trailers before every film.
Now, some of you may scratch your head and ask why I enjoy seeing them. On DVDs, people usually like to skip straight to the menu page, ignoring all the previews so they can simply enjoy the movie. And most people see previews as just a way of letting people know a movie is coming out.
But for me, I think they are more special than just 3-4 minutes of an advertisement, showing bits and snippets of a movie.
Since I was a little, movie trailers have always fascinated me. Going into a theater, sitting down and seeing that green screen pop up with the film rating has always given me goose bumps. The more trailers shown before a movie, the better. Even in my free time growing up, I would go on YouTube to look up the new up-and-coming movies trailers to see which ones were good.
If you think about it, movie trailers can transform what someone thinks about a movie in only a few minutes. They have to capture the attention of millions of people, all with different tastes and preferences. They have to not spoil too many scenes but show just enough for people to understand the premise of the movie. They have to enhance the conceptions of what we think about a certain film while having the right song or melody play in the background.
These components combined form a video with awe, excitement, and interest and that is exactly what I love about them. When I sit down and I see a movie trailer, I am always amazed by how much they can entice you, make you jump in your seat, laugh out loud, or be enraptured by what the trailer tells you about the movie.
It builds up a sense of hype that can influence millions of people. Seeing a trailer for a well-known book series or a well-known character or story can make people even more excited for it. The producers can just show a couple scenes and already have many, many people wanting to buy tickets. When I was in a movie theater and saw the trailer for “Les Misérables,” the trailer only showed a few words with Anne Hathaway singing “I Dreamed a Dream” and just by that alone, I was electrified and couldn’t wait for the film release. Or when the previews for new, unknown movies like “Avatar” or “Interstellar” or “Boyhood” came out, their trailers showed the original and brilliant concepts and story lines that made them stand out and later become top movies in the respective years they were released.
In my opinion, movie trailers resonate and are impactful in more ways than people realize. How they are displayed and shown to us plays a much bigger role than just being a form of advertisement — it adds an element of emotion and thrill to preconceptions of a movie and makes a lasting impression for people as to what to expect and look forward to. I will continue to look forward for those 8-10 minutes of thrill and entertainment while I await a movie, always wondering what trailer will be shown next after that bright green screen pops up.
