DVX+Andromeda Revised Trailer - Better?

Matthew Bennett

Matthew Bennett

Well-known member
I posted a draft version of this trailer not too long ago, and yesterday I cut a newer version.

The newer version (1B) is a lot more spoiler-heavy. I was trying to emulate the (what I see as) new hollywood "tell them the whole story" style trailer the best I could. My producer hates it though, says it has too many plot giveaways for a trailer.

Here's the draft (1A)

Tahiti Trailer 1A:

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uploads/432/Tahiti_Trailer_1a_480p.mov

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uploads/432/Tahiti_Trailer_1a.mp4

And here is the revised, story and spoiler heavy second cut: (1B)

Tahiti Trailer 1B:

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uploads/432/Tahiti_Trailer_1b_h264_large.mov

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/uploads/432/Tahiti_Trailer_1b_small.mp4


Which one do you think is a better promotional tool for a small-budget feature such as this? What about promotional tools targeted at producers/distributors vs. "the common filmgoer"... How would these two target viewers be treated differently in your opinion...? Any comments or suggestions are welcome of course...
 
mmmm....It was good but I liked the first one better....

This new one obviously gave away more of the story, but it gave away too much I think. The first trailer hooked me right away w/ the laundry room scene. But then went immediately into the fertilizer bomb, which I thought was jumping ahead too far too fast. Why not Intercut that clips of the washing machine scene with the progression of the story? at least for the beginning of the trailer. I liked that line "If they're bad people....their gonna do what they do anyway." Why not use that for a closing line. Or at least leave off the bomb plot at that point without showing us that nice fire escape shot w/ the burning tower.....

Save that for the fiilm....

As far as dealing w/ producers or distributors I'd say. Leave out the sub-text when dealing with them. Present your movie in a way that's going to make them bite. I think either cut will do the job for that. But you should probably go in there with some scenes to show too.

For the audience....of the two...I'd say the first.
 
The second trailer is much better. Although its still not clear who the guy with the gun is. All of a sudden there's just some guy with a gun telling him to snoop on these people. Everyone else you get a feel for who they are. Too many "f" bombs for a trailer. But the second is definitely the better promotional tool for either a distributor or filmgoer.
 
why is it all stretchy?

the Dynaic range ad color is AMAZING. and i like andromedas natuaral Grain.
 
the second...IMHO hands down...that to me was actually more interesting than the other one. good stuff.
 
The 2nd is much better. It's a lot more engaging than the other. Maybe a mix between the two could work?

Not going that far, there are a couple things I would fix with the 2nd trailer. The spying on the neighbors seems a bit out of the blue at first. You put the picking up of the note off the ground a little too far before they start talking about going through the neighbors mail, and I think that if you placed it right before the spying starts it would work better, and make the spying seem less strange.

Also, you included that same line from the large guy with the dreads about them being from the Polynesian islands, which was in the first trailer, but you did not include him saying "Tahiti". I liked the way he said Tahiti in the first trailer, and I think it would line up pretty nicely with circling of the word on the calendar.
 
The stretchy one is the bomb (looks wise). Even if it is "stretched out" it looks killer like that! It screams production value. Good acting too. It'll sell.
 
Looking really great, Matthew. I think this version is much better. I'll be honest, with the first trailer, I only really wanted to see it because of the Andromeda. Now I'm pretty intrigued by the story.

A couple others have mentioned it, but there is something a little off with your aspect ratio. Certain scenes are looking squashed or stretched. I played around with the dimensions in Quicktime and was able to get what looked like a truer proportion on those scenes, so you might want to investigate that. Would that have happened in Sculptor or in your final output to quicktime? I'm pretty interested in getting the Andromeda, so I'm curious if it's difficult to scale down the huge frame sizes to get a proper ratio.

Really, really nice work.
 
Wow. This is a tough one. Yeah, I remember seeing this trailer awhile back on here... good to see your still working on it, though.

Like most stated above, the second (IMO) is the stronger trailer, but it also DID give away a lot of the story. Too much, if you ask me. Especially with the final shot of the Space Needle (?) near the end. The trailer almost seemed like a short film in it's own, and just from watching it, I feel I could already know how the movie was going to start, develope, and end. That's not good for a trailer, cause then why would I even bother to check out the flick if I already know (or even think I know) the entire plot.

There's got to be a good medium, here. That's all there is to it. I think the second one could go back for another edit, and it needs to have LESS story telling involved. Pick up the pace , shorten it's length (?), and I really think it needs more involvement with the score. Add some sound effects, don't let a clip last more than a couple/few seconds. Know what I mean? It's just too story driven, and a tad slow paced, for a trailer.

Anyway, it looks great, and better than anything I've even thought about putting out there, so take my critique with a grain of salt. That's just what I noticed after watching it one time.

-brown
 
jaustere said:
Certain scenes are looking squashed or stretched. I played around with the dimensions in Quicktime and was able to get what looked like a truer proportion on those scenes, so you might want to investigate that. Would that have happened in Sculptor or in your final output to quicktime? I'm pretty interested in getting the Andromeda, so I'm curious if it's difficult to scale down the huge frame sizes to get a proper ratio.
Click to expand...

I think it's just a matter of getting the math right and making sure you understand all the way down the line how each program you use is interpreting the pixel aspect ratios.. I think that I definitely screwed that up a couple of times.. still learning and creating the 'fooloproof' workflow which every andromeda/scultor user must do..

Thanks for all the comments they are extremely intelligent and helpful.
 
Wow, really great looking footage, like I've said before Matthew!

Between the two I'd definitely go with the second; I was a bit confused in the original trailer, but in the second one I got a great sense of the plot, and the different story lines invloved (the "I love you" line tying back in the end with the shot of the space needle really screamed Hollywood to me...or maybe I shouldn't say Hollywood for the risk of it being offensive :cheesy: but it was damn good IMO).

The trailer almost seemed like a short film in it's own, and just from watching it, I feel I could already know how the movie was going to start, develope, and end.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, THATS what makes this trailer perfect. If you think about it, most if not all dramas with this same type of plot (involving a young couple who get thrown into a larger scaled event) have trailers which give you that initial "figured it all out" feeling; but the catch is the twists and the turns which are not in the trailer, and of course the WHY and HOWs. Tell me you didn't know how Titanic was going to end?? (ok that was a bad example but you get the point). I'll bet theres all kinds of twists and major plot points left out of the trailer which is why I want to see the full film now. Thats my take. But as always, I could be wrong.

Nice work Mr. Bennett. Andromeda technology definitely seems to be doing you well.
 
I remember seeing the first one a while back and don't take offense to this man, but that one appeared almost amature in a way, like it was "trying" to look like a bigger movie than it was. That said, the second one just nails it seemingly without effort. It just flows. Keep us updated on the movie's progress because the second trailer made me want to see your movie.

However, there were story elements I do wish you would have kept out of it. The smoking space needle is one of them. It may have even worked better if we didn't even know there was a bomb, but instead limited it to the suspicious neighbors idea and how our protagonist is trying to find out what they are up to. That would leave us wanting to see the movie and find out what they are up to. If anything, hint at the drastic situation, but do not reveal your ace in the preview. The bomb could be a twist that is introduced only in the movie then. Otherwise, I'm with everyone else here. I felt like I did see most of the movie. I feel like I know most of the plot points already and it's a matter of the journey from A to B to C that we have yet to see. However, the movie looks intriguing enough that I want to see how this journey plays out anyway. Again, keep us updated on when the movie will be released. I do want to see it.

Now, if you don't mind a small rant here (I should just start a blog about my thoughts and stop scattering them all around here) but I am personally against the trailers that try to summarize the films because we feel like we all ready know the whole story. The trailers that have really gotten to me as of late are the ones where they take one short, entertaining scene from the movie, usually something from the first half or third so they don't spoil to much, and use that. I recall Lady in the Water had one somewhat like that. The most recent one is the new Fantastic Four preview. Crappy movies aside, those trailers have really struck a chord by leaving us guessing how the rest of the movie plays out. Otherwise, the best trailers, to me, are the ones that just hint at things and don't leave you waiting throughout the transition from A to B for it just to get to B because of some shot you saw in the preview. In other words, I hate it when characters in a movie are in danger, but I already know they will both be okay because I remember a shot of them from the preview that the movie hasn't come to yet.
 
Wow!

The first thing that struck me was the quality of the audio.

The second thing was your the supporting male actor. Great voice. Great look. What's his name?
 
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