http://faerye.net/tag/trailer 2007-02-05T21:58:08+00:00 Felicity Shoulders http://faerye.net/ http://faerye.net/post/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-movie-trailer 2007-02-05T21:58:08+00:00 2008-06-08T12:19:32+00:00 <p>I am so sick of bad movie trailers that I could scream. Forget screaming, I&#8217;m almost to the point of sneaking into movie theaters and editing the trailer reels with shears and Scotch tape.</p> <p>Recently, it seems that almost all movie trailers follow one of two truly horrible patterns:</p><p> <b>Pattern the first:</b> Actors and producers sitting around talking about why the movie is so &#8216;neat&#8217; for three minutes, intercut with small pieces of actual movie. Directors, who can be assumed to have some ability to tell stories, albeit in pictures, occasionally appear; screenwriters, whom one might expect to be proficient in the use of words, never. The hodge-podge of inarticulate, faint praise leaves you eager to never see the movie in question and, further, to never again go to a movie theater, where these expanded trailers usually appear.</p> <p><b>Pattern the second:</b> The trailer begins by giving the setup, which for many plot-driven movies is a reasonable thing to do. It then proceeds to show you the first and second twists, along with the romantic subplot and pieces of truly inane dialogue that only exist to drive along the plot. Yes, it&#8217;s actually the 30-second version of the movie, a crappy and unflattering 30 seconds at that, and this type of trailer is the one I see most often. Why would anyone think this is a good way to sell a film? Movies that one wants to see for reasons entirely unrelated to plot and suspense do exist but by no means predominate, and this sort of stultifying exposition-ridden tension-drainer of a trailer is used for all genres.</p> <p>Stop it, Hollywood. Whatever sleep-deprived, drug-addled cretins you have putting together these trailers, fire them. Hire a few 16-year-olds with average IQs. If this is the way you try to motivate the movie-going populace to go to movies, it&#8217;s a wonder that you are <a href="http://wonko.com/article/324" target="links">lying about the box office &#8216;slump&#8217;</a>.