If you, like me, are often in search of new and exciting modes of procrastination, then likely you have found yourself in the positive feedback loop of watching movie trailers on YouTube. You begin with wanting to just catch a glimpse of the new Hunger Games trailer and, before you know it, you’re watching the trailer for the next Nicholas Cage film destined to flop.
The movie trailer as a form is almost as old as the movie itself. The first trailer was made in 1918 in order to advertise for an upcoming musical, but soon the idea caught on as a riveting and new stunt for advertisers. Before long, trailers for films were being shown at the theaters. For many decades, the production of movie trailers was not in the realm of the studio, but actually outsourced to the National Screen Society. They are notable for that classic format we associate with movie trailers: the dramatic text flashing across a scene as a deep voice booms “In a world…” However, with the advent of new Hollywood, a lot of directors and their associated studios took it upon themselves to craft their own trailers, in accordance with their reputation for breaking the traditions of the old Hollywood system, including its National Screen Society. Just as these filmmakers moved film to a new place in its subject matter and styles, so did they move the film trailer to new artistic heights in its ability to engage audiences.
Historically, these video advertisements were shown after the films, hence the name “trailer” as it “trailed” or followed the showing of a film. Of course, once they realized that many moviegoers left the theater after the film and had no desire to sit through commercials after the credits rolled, they soon began showing these advertisements before the showing. Now, movie trailers are not just reserved for visits to the theater, but also are available online and widely shared through social media. It seems that promotion for new movies revolves around both well-crafted trailers and elaborate social media campaigns, from The Hunger Games’ Capitol Couture website to the bizarre hashtag #WalrusYes for the upcoming film Tusk. Moviegoers today can still anticipate a good 15 minute cushion of trailers from the listed start-time of the movie until the actual start-time of the movie. To some viewers, this is an opportunity to arrive a little late without missing their show, but to others who still show up on time, trailers are artistic endeavors in and of themselves, crafted to entice and engage moviegoers in five minutes or less.
For those lovers of movie trailers, Recess is here to provide a year in review of the good, the bad and the ugly in the world of movie trailers of 2014. (Disclaimer: I have yet to see any of these movies, so they are being judged solely on their trailers, because that’s only fair, right?)
The Good
Gone Girl
Any trailer that plays Elvis Costello’s “She” and doesn’t making me think of Notting Hill is a success. Plus, it teases the movie well, suggesting the central conflict within the movie with Ben Affleck’s chilling words, “I did not kill my wife; I am not a murderer,” without giving away the resolution.
Visitors
The camera scans across countenances as if scanning across lunar phases. The trailer seeks to emulate the eerie and entrancing affect of the movie, appropriately advertising the nonconventional movie through a nonconventional trailer.
The Wind Rises
A Studio Ghibli film is almost guaranteed to please, but their beautifully constructed trailers are rarely appreciated on their own grounds. This trailer deserves to be among the good purely for the sequence from 2:42 to 3:29, in which a shot of paper airplane transforms into a shot of an authentic airplane then back to the paper airplane, amidst the backdrop of Miyazaki’s beautifully illustrated skies. It is impossible not to be enchanted while watching this trailer.
Anita
Serious sounding voice-overs? Check. Old, fuzzy news footage? Check. Bolded, capitalized words expanding onto the screen? Check. This follows the documentary trailer formula to a tee, making me feel impassioned before even seeing the movie. As an added bonus, there are shots of white, male senators looking uncomfortable, including the likes of Joe Biden and Newt Gingrich.
Ernest & Celestine
This is quite possibly the cutest trailer that I have ever seen. With giggle-worthy gags and an adorable friendship between a little mouse and a bear, this trailer enters us into the world of this movie and makes me wish I could stay there. It looks simply delightful.
Hank and Asha
Any movie that grapples with computers and dating gets instantly labeled “the” modern romance. As studios lament the death of the rom-com, this trailer does seem to promise something earnest, sweet and worthy of ice cream with girlfriends. If a trailer can make you feel a sweet nostalgia for rom-coms, then it is successful as far as I am concerned.
Dear White People
If one movie trailer can capture almost all of the race conversations I’ve seen bubble up on Duke’s campus, then I can only imagine what the movie could do.
Whiplash
This trailer goes from “inspirational journey of a musician” to the next Black Swan in a record 40 seconds. The olive branches hugging festival names are also reassuring to the seriousness of the movie at hand.
The Theory of Everything
Easily the better of the two trailers teasing historical, romanticized narratives of British scientists (see: whatever movie the ever likable Benedict Cumberbatch is starring in this year). Eddie Redmayne could win an Oscar just for this trailer.
Birdman
Hands down, THE best trailer of the year. Dramatic, yet ridiculous; evocative, yet ironic. EDWARD NORTON. EMMA STONE. MICHAEL KEATON. Enough said.
The Bad
Summer in February
It seems that Dan Stevens goes as well with period-pieces as Keira Knightley does–he probably could even recycle his wardrobe from Downton Abbey. This trailer falls into the category of movie trailers in which the entire movie is given away in the trailer: what is the point of even seeing the movie?
Horns
This is Gone Girl minus any real intrigue, plus horns. Literally.
Septic Man
Oh god, not the septic man! In all honesty, I’m not as intrigued by people talking down through manholes as one might imagine I would be.
St. Vincent
Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky”...how original, definitely have not seen that used in the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy, or at the end of This is the End, or in Adam Sandler’s The Longest Yard, or … (I could do this without end.)
If I Stay
Apparently, there are not enough teenage romances involving dying girls–oh wait, A Walk to Remember, The Fault in Our Stars, and that ever-classic Romeo and Juliet. No thank you.
Exodus
Let’s make a movie about Egypt and cast all white people in the main roles!
The Ugly
The Interview
The trailer that launched a thousand ships as Kim Jong-un threatened a merciless retaliation upon its release. This may be one of the few times that I sympathize with Kim Jong-un: this trailer sucked.
Sex Ed
The last thing I want to associate with Haley Joel Osment is sex. (Also, congrats to Haley for appearing in two of the movies on this unfortunate list.)
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
“We really need a pseudo-live action SpongeBob movie,” said no one ever. Also, when did all of the characters go to the gym? I’m pretty sure sponges can’t develop muscles.
Tusk
This is perhaps the only time that I will ever say this: I would rather watch The Human Centipede. #WalrusNo.
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