Making trailers : an artform

spidey

spidey

Shogun Assassin
I was bored yesterday, so I decided to make this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJX8VVKMzis

I wonder how much someone gets paid to edit trailer for studios. I think trailer editing is an art itself. have you seen any trailer that makes you think "oh man!" ? Like some trailers are so good some times, cutting this made me think about that the other day.

any thoughts?
 
I use to cut 'em for Columbia and PictureHouse. Both paid about $15,000/spot. They would request many, but only air maybe 10% of them. Lots of approvals: studio, producer, director, actor. Turn-around is 3-5days all finished.
 
spidey said:
I think trailer editing is an art itself.
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That is it right there. A trailer can make or break a film. How do you give out enough info to really interest a potential viewer, yet not give the movie away.

It's more than just a condensed version of the film.

So I wholeheartedly agree it is an artform.
 
spidey said:
I was bored yesterday, so I decided to make this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJX8VVKMzis

I wonder how much someone gets paid to edit trailer for studios. I think trailer editing is an art itself. have you seen any trailer that makes you think "oh man!" ? Like some trailers are so good some times, cutting this made me think about that the other day.

any thoughts?
Click to expand...

trailer editors for the studios (i used to be one) get paid anywhere from $350/day to $1200/day depending on their experience. some may get more, but these were the general numbers three years ago. a lot of the top trailer editors have a relationship with a trailer house for assignments but work from home.
 
Doc Bernard said:
That is it right there. A trailer can make or break a film. How do you give out enough info to really interest a potential viewer, yet not give the movie away.

It's more than just a condensed version of the film.

So I wholeheartedly agree it is an artform.
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Agreed, it's not like making a film. A film is composed of four ingredients that appeal to an audience: "The Ride", "Moments", "Story", and "Characters". You'll find in trailers, it's selling the promise of an emotional experience (aka "The Ride") by artfully stringing together the right "Moments". On the flipside, a film wins word of mouth primarily with solid execution of "Story" and "Characters". And "The Ride" and the "Moments" are the color.
 
did bad trailers stop bad movies from making profit?

how many times did you watch a bad trailer for a bad movie that ranked really high in the box office.

i don't think a bad trailer can break a movie, but a good trailer can sell a movie.
 
But Amr, you are not considering the "average viewer". Profit and PROFIT are two different things. I could make a film that makes one dollar over cost, and I can claim I made a profit.

But if I make something that puts me millions over costs, that is PROFIT. And if the trailer does not bring those paying customers in, regardless of the quality of the film, it is not going to really succeed. I will just be covering costs.

I have gone to see maybe 3 movies in the past year, and why? Because the trailer sold me that it could be a good movie. I don't go because I see some line of text that gives a synopsis of the film. I want something substantial to let me know what I am going to see and spend my money on. I bet there are some really well done films out there, but if the trailer does not grab me, I have already lost interest in it.

I am not alone in this.
 
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Editing trailers is definitely a tricky thing. I've made a few trailers for my feature, but I still don't think I've nailed it, and so I'm making another one as we speak.
 
Billy Pilgrim said:
Editing trailers is definitely a tricky thing. I've made a few trailers for my feature, but I still don't think I've nailed it, and so I'm making another one as we speak.
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It's been my repeated experience that the worst person to make a trailer for a film is the person who made the film. They have unrealistic expectations and can't see their film for what it is, and don't understand that what works in a film doesn't always work in a trailer. I've had enough bad experiences that at this point, if the client is a producer or director or worse, both, I won't take the job.
 
Rarely does a trailer convince me to see a film. It may pique my interest but most trailers are so poorly done that I will wait until the film's release then check out the IMDB rating. So many trailers will give away the entire movie that I feel like I already watched the thing. Why spend the $10 bucks when I know how its going to end?

I find that the trailers are best when the movie is good. That may sound obvious but when the movie has so many scenes and clips and moments from which to choose, the trailer editor has many places to go and can create multiple edits. But, when a movie is terrible, the editor is limited. Which is why I notice that when a trailer or commercial continually shows the exact same scenes over and over again, the movie is going to be horrible. Take for example the movie "Couples Retreat". The best part of the trailer, ANY trailer version, was when Vince Vaughn was in the water and surrounded by sharks, "well the circle of life is circling our lives." After seeing that clip 2 dozen times, it became apparent that that's all they had to work with. I eventually rented that movie (upside is that it was beautiful on Blu-ray) and it was even worse than I had imagined.
 
Batutta said:
It's been my repeated experience that the worst person to make a trailer for a film is the person who made the film. They have unrealistic expectations and can't see their film for what it is, and don't understand that what works in a film doesn't always work in a trailer. I've had enough bad experiences that at this point, if the client is a producer or director or worse, both, I won't take the job.
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If I could afford it, I'd have someone else cut the trailer for me. The entire budget of the film was $2,000 and I'm still currently broke, so that's out of the question.
 
Billy Pilgrim said:
If I could afford it, I'd have someone else cut the trailer for me. The entire budget of the film was $2,000 and I'm still currently broke, so that's out of the question.
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I sort of went from the opposite. I started just editing trailers and films for other people then to directing. I basically edit my own trailers now. If I can afford a cream of the crop trailer editor I would pay for it. It is an art and it can be stressful depending on what you are working with.


This would probably be one the the hardest trailers that I've ever edited. They basically wanted me to take crraa....and turn it into something watchable...for the most part. Because of this trailer...the producer wanted me to re-cut the whole entire movie. Hey... I did it for the money....and it wasn't much either. :2vrolijk_08:

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I AGREE
 
Now that is one hot fudge sunday... but they should have named that place "double dippers"... or even named the flick "double rippers".

Amr's question is a good one... I've seen some REALLY bad trailers and wondered how they could have done worse just picking somebody off the street. Also... agree with Bat... guys that make films rarely see their own film from the right perspective to SELL it.

In my opinion... most trailers give way too much away. If there's a plot-twist and I figure it out ahead of time I most likely won't go see the flick.

I think M-Night went off the rails years ago... but "The Village" was promoted perfectly... the trailers had my interest so peaked I couldn't stand it... then I saw it on opening day and the movie climaxed with Fonzi jumping the shark. (< m.night's credibility IMO)
 
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