The Trailer Has to Be Hitched Properly

When a movie trailer bores you, it doesn't bode well.  Not even a feeling of "this looks stupid" or "I don't want to see this" - just plain boredom washing over you and you click it off.  Yes, the "you" is really me.  And no, I will not reveal which movie.

It's a shame, because someone worked hard on that trailer.  SomeONE?  Many people.  Besides the trailer, the movie itself of course  But unfortunately I just didn't like the packaging and as such, I won't be seeing the movie.  And it probably will turn out to be hailed as top notch.

If it does turn out to be a great film, then the flip side of this particular flick is Superman Returns.  I'm not going to get into it beyond saying I loathed the movie.  However, I had been uber-excited to see it.  Hats off to anyone involved with the trailer for that film.  They managed to make it look amazing by cramming all the best bits into a well-paced and well-edited piece of comic book glory.  Excitement oozes from it and I watched it several times in a row.  And yet I will always regret not leaving the theater.

All this being said, it just goes to show once again that it really does matter how a story is presented/packaged.  A lesson I re-learned not so very long ago with Hoodwinked.

For the record, the first movie and its trailer I can think of which lived up to each other's excellence is Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.  But you probably saw that coming, no?  As I wrote in this post:  Banky said what a joy it is when a movie actually lives up to the way the trailer made you feel. Yep, our own personal hype for it had been fully delivered...in spades, or in this case, in coins.

I can definitely sympathize with the effort that went into the trailers, whether they worked or not.  For it can easily be applied to the writer's bane of the dreaded 'Query Letter.'  So, as I try to psych myself up to tackle a brand new take on a query letter for a book which, like Scott Pilgrim, can be described as epic, I'll keep all this in mind.