the art of trailers
A weird pastime that I've indulged in for some time is watching and, almost excessively, rewatching trailers of a film or game. It's hard to describe a specific reason for it and seems like an insignificant aspect of a piece of media. And truthfully, most trailers do not more than be a glorified advertisement, cherry picking the fanciest parts to lure you into an otherwise unremarkable product.
However, every so often, a decision is made to take a more inspired path to produce something that's more than an amalgamation of highlights. A bit ago, in fact, the trailer for the 2017 game EVERYTHING managed to score the Jury Prize of Animation at Vienna Shorts Festival, shortlisting it for the Oscar for Best Animated Shorts that year. This showed that trailers at least have the artistic capacity to be on equal levels with short films. A distinction needs to be made as to how a trailer acts independently, and therefore should be judged apart from your judgement from its source material.
I've curated examples of my favourite trailers that I've found myself returning to during my binge sessions, or otherwise ones that stood out for one reason or another.
Any "spoilers" don't extend more than what the trailers show.
When in talks of notable trailers, the one that tends to come up often is the one of The Social Network (2010) (As a note, I will link the specific trailer that I am referencing). It's fast and snappy, perfectly mirroring the pacing and directorial style of the source film. Not to mention, of course, the iconic use of the choir cover of Radiohead's Creep by the Scala & Kolacny Brothers. It a haunting backdrop right from the start, with the lyrics adjacent to the ideas of the film, one of the seeking of approval and attention. It really is an all-timer when it comes to the trailers that go beyond. I can also handily one of the examples where the bar set by the trailer is met or exceeded by its source film.
Another one is of the adaptation of The Little Prince (2015), a movie that I feel has been incredibly slept on, let alone its trailer. The meaning and animation of the film hold a special place in my heart, and the trailer is able to so well convey both so well.
The trailer for Joker (2019) was the first one that I remember watching that stood out in my mind. It's a firework of a crescendo that continues to build tension for its entirety. Being able to see the chaos unfold from start to finish is incredible. I also enjoyed the typography choice of having all the title cards be bold, giving it a much more notable identity.
The re-release trailer for Donnie Darko (2001) is one that I didn't expect to like as much as I did, but it's one that I feel was done extremely well, being able to portray such an eerie and unnerving atmosphere perfectly. It seems to both give away too much and too little of the plot at the same time, yet it's undoubtedly one that I love.
On the other side of trailers that create a compelling atmosphere through intricate, carefully sequenced clips, are the ones that do very little telling, and instead focus on showing and immersing you in the world that they create. The trailer that embodies this idea the most is the trailer for Cyberpunk Edgerunners (2022) (content warning for this one). This one really is just batshit crazy. incoherently fast as it grabs you and holds on throughout the entire high-octane ride of a trailer. Making a trailer majorly comprised of explosions seem memorable seems impossible, but this one manages to nail it. Lots to love about this one.
A recent example of this is of the recent trailer of the upcoming UNBEATABLE. It's fast, punchy, and paced to perfection. The graffiti aesthetic works perfect in tandem with these types of trailers and sells you perfectly on one of my most anticipated releases of this year.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964)'s trailer is another good example of this, and it's a really, really weird one at that. Yet its quirkiness is super fitting for the mood that the movie brings. The short bursts of esoteric scenes seems like a divisive choice, but perfectly encapsulates what made the movie so charming.
Slowing it down is the trailer for Gris (2018). This one is just pure aesthetic with no narration or story in sight, and it's absolutely for the best. The game itself is a gorgeous work of art, with incredible colouring, animation, soundtrack, everything. Each frame truly is a painting, and the trailer knows it. Very pretty and unbelievably captivating. There are some other variations here and here that are equally worth checking out.
Picking it back up a bit, is OMORI (2020), which roughly follows the structure of the 2017 trailer. Although there are some polarizing aspects surrounding the game, the game itself is still a phenomenal experience, and this trailer shows that. The comparison of the vibrant and monochrome parts of the game are contrasted in a really compelling way. Admittedly, I do have a few gripes with it showing more portions of the game than it probably needed to, but they're strung vaguely enough to avoid any issues and deliver well on mirroring the dreary breakdown towards the end.
A mention to the original 2014 trailer, which is much more psychedelic and more in line with the previous few trailers, and is probably the one I prefer more personally. Anyway.
On the topic of good trailers that just miss the mark for one reason or another, is of Whiplash (2014). This one is notorious for, similar to the OMORI trailer, giving a bit too much away of the film itself. It again shows more than it probably needed to. Not to say it ruins the trailer of course, as it delivers phenomenally in embodying the tense atmosphere of the movie.
Another classic one that comes up often is for Alien (1979). I can't really say anything that hasn't been said before, but it is amazingly terrifying and tense. A masterpiece of a trailer like this also showed that for trailers with a central "monster(s)", which is to not show it at all. Almost all of these monster films (apart from the Godzilla films, I guess) depend on the fear of the unknown that the looming monster creates, and revealing it in the trailer immediately drops the suspense. Cloverfield (2018) was a great example of this, even if I didn't love the movie itself.
The trailer for NOPE (2022) is phenomenal for that reason. It's one of my personal favourite trailers in recent memory. Unsettling throughout, the way it masks the monster as a premise was an insanely inspired decision, alongside the entire marketing arm focusing on that aspect as well. It feels like it would've been worth to see the movie just to see what it actually looks like. It also gives very little crumbs of the premise itself, rather selling you on the atmosphere - and hell does it work. Definitely one of my favourite ones that I keep coming back to. As a note, its "final trailer" is ironically enough, the complete opposite of the aforementioned trailer, revealing an unbelievable amount of spoilers and of course, revealing the monster. But this isn't about bad trailers, as there's a plethora of those.
A couple of awesome notable mentions as well, maybe I'll say something about these in the future:
tick, tick... BOOM! (2021)
It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
Soul (2020)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)
The trailer for the 2018 game Tetris Effect was the inspiration for me to write this. It didn't need to show much of the gameplay at all (it's tetris after all), and instead uses the runtime with stunning visuals and music, along with the voiceover outline the eponymous psychological phenomenon. This trailer has been praised over and over, and it's very clear where it comes from. A addictively mesmerising watch, and the way that the title is used as a double entendre meaning the psychological effect and tetris-with-effects is just too perfect. Probably the most ethereal experience you could have with a trailer, ever.
The very last "trailer" I have for today is not a trailer, at least in the sense in which we've seen previously. The trailer for Mother 3 (2006) is a 30 second clip of a woman talking and tearing up about the game. An obviously unorthodox way of advertising, but in the context of the game it tries to advertise, I don't think a trailer would have been able to represent the game through a string of clips. It's such an inspired and genuine approach, and I think it's absolutely perfect.