8

ways to cut your trailer like a distributor would cut it

Your trailer is not your movie, its a sales tool.
How would Lionsgate recut the trailer for your film? Before and after case study
A year or two ago I ran a workshop with the filmmaking team behind a film called Dead Wood.
They had made it for zip and managed to sell it to Grindstone in America, a part of Lionsgate.
During that class, we watched the trailer that they had cut for the film, which was pretty flashy and
had some cool VFX titles (which upped the look and budget perception). That trailer is above.
Then we watched the trailer that Lionsgate had cut below
Same film, clearly same genre, but hell, the Lionsgate edit has significantly more bite. So what can
we learn from these two edits for the same film? Especially when it comes to our own movies?
1. Watch 100 trailers for movies in the same genre and steal the best ideas. This is not art, this is
sales.
2. Go in hard, VERY hard, and shave out every unnecessary frame. This is a SALES TOOL.
3. Sound get the mix right, it should be punchy the difference between these two trailers is in
many ways more pronounced in the sound mix.
4. Music there are tons of great trailer music tracks now online, some very cost effective. Get the
BIG music.
5. Make sure dialogue is clear and not fighting with the music. Too often music drowns dialogue, so
mix the music right down in those moments.
6. Establish the genre and hook as fast as possible this is also about the tone and form of the
trailer as trailers have genre conventions too.
7. Throw the timeline of your film away, and retell the same story but with different shots in a
different order. This is hard to do if its your film. Remember, the trailer is not your movie.
8. Its still three acts. Watch the trailers, even listen to the music. You will detect three distinct
movements. Setup, conflict & all hope is lost Leave us with a big fat whats going to happen?
There have been a lot of films over the years that i have not seen because i found the trailer
unapealing, then by accident (or usually cos it was the only english thing on a foreign tv while on
holiday) i catch it and love it, and found it nothing like the trailer implied it to be.
Music and sound made a big difference in the second trailer it tell us the people came to the woods to
party and the extra footage helped and added to that. So when everything start to turn dark we feel
for the people more and this set us up for the horror at the end.
I always love seeing examples like this. Another good one to look at is this fan trailer for John Carter
compared to the far inferior Disney produced trailers. Had I seen this fan trailer instead I would've
had far better idea of what to expect and maybe that film would've fared better at the box office.

How to edit a trailer for your movie by the guy who cuts
trailers for movies!

My names Ross Evison, Im a filmmaker in my own right, but for the past 12+ years Ive been
working primarily as a freelance editor of film trailers, promos and commercials all over the globe.
In that time Ive cut a lot of material, some you may have seen, some you wont. Im going to share
with you some of the pointers Ive learnt in the edit room trenches to help get your film out there
and find its audience.
A good piece of marketing material is a bonus and a must for any film, on any budget level. It
entices, informs and most of all lets the audience in to your film. But how can micro budget films
create a piece of advertising that helps their film get noticed in this world of constant, instant
content?
You may have a great idea for how to market your film, which is fantastic and any fresh idea is
always a plus, but the following is for those wanting to make their regular trailer sing all the more,
its not meant to dictate exactly how to do it, but give a broad overview which can help improve
your piece.
Firstly the big lesson is the trailer is not the film.
A lot of low budget trailers suffer from wanting to put too much information in the allotted time.
Dont get bogged down trying to explain everything from A to Z, thats the films job. (I know, there
is a common gripe that trailers show too much but thats an entirely different blog post)
The best way to do this is to choose a story through line for your trailer, which, shock horror, may
not be the story you originally thought it was, but thats ok, its marketing, youre looking for the
best way to get an audience. All films have their strengths, so play to them.
Filmmakers are often precious of their own work and find it tough to choose what is the best part of
their story. Thats why getting a third party to cut your trailer or promotional material is often the
best way to go. Now, if you dont have that connection or cant afford to pay someone to do that,
then its up to you. But you have to be ruthless.
I would say the simplest approach is to think of the trailer as a visual synopsis.
Approach it as though youre writing a synopsis or at very least a logline, then build around that.
So these are fairly generic and I feel are pretty common for most genres:

Choose the story through line and stick to it.

Dont introduce too many motifs or characters choose whose journey it is if youre
fortunate to have a known performer, albeit in a minor role, utilise that fact.
Dont name check people who nobody knows.
Know the end, the theme and feeling you want to leave the viewer with.
The trailer doesnt have to be as linear as the film often better if it isnt.
Dont have random moments that come out of nowhere sounds contradictory to the
above point but you can put scenes in any order as long a the through story is being
followed, dont be afraid of mixing it up.
Writing copy (the voice over or captions) is tough, unless you have a way with words, dont
try and be too smart, serve the film rather than attempting to be clever with you words.
The copy should encapsulate your through line story and can be helpful to skip through
this. However, if you dont need copy, dont use it. If the film is strong enough let it do the
talking.
Stick with simple graphic captions often the best way if youre not graphically skilled.

Voice over is not a must, and bad VO can alienate the viewer (dont cheapen it with a fake
American accent, if youre a Brit and can read the lines, be a Brit, just be confident. Failing
that, stick with captions)
Dont let shots and moments out stay their welcome. The perfectly constructed moment
you created in your film CAN be trimmed right down in the trailer, dont worry it doesnt
ruin your film. It will always be perfect in the film.
Say something once, for example you may have two characters saying pretty much the
same point in two different ways, cut one out you dont need the other. Move on.

Whats the score?Now, music is also a big tool and I find it super important. If you are cutting your
own trailer and have no more cash in the bank then you wont be able to afford the new big music
cue, or the old classic track that may set your tone up perfectly.
So be creative, if you have music in the film that works, use it. There are plenty of music libraries
out there and musicians itching to build their portfolio of work who may be willing to write you
something unique. Ask them or perhaps you can barter with one, they may need a music video and
you need some music; exchange your talents.
Dont settle if you feel the music cue youve chosen isnt working. Often a change of music can be all
the trailer needs, it may help dictate the pace for the edit, it can assist with any emotional moment
youre wanting to create.
The wrong music can be a misfire and can ruin your trailer.
How long?A good length is from 90 seconds to 2 minutes, any extra is unnecessary. Hollywood
movie trailers generally run at 230, but often I feel they are too much, and they certainly can
labour the point.
Remember to keep building the trailer, make the story move forward, running on the spot is a
waste of time. The 3 act structure, like the majority of story telling, works great. Set up you place
and characters at the beginning, have some fun in the middle then push the turning point into the
final act where you either have your final promise of whats going to happen or throw in some
jeopardy. Escalate, escalate, escalate then stop!
The final image is important, if your film is a horror, end with horror, its a comedy, go out on a
great gag, if youve made a rom com, then make sure you end on some rom and com.
Spend time on your trailer, youve just put your heart and soul into your film (I hope), so dont quit
yet. Keep the quality control up, spend time on the sound mix, if you havent yet competed your
feature fully then give your trailer a colour correct. If a line of dialogue doesnt work or the delivery
is wrong or perhaps you want a character to say something more concise than how it is in the film,
then ADR it, there is no rule to say you cant. Again this is not the film, you dont have to implement
what you do in the trailer back into the finished film.
At the end give it a polish, then, when you think its done, go over it and buff it once more.
Never forget youre telling and selling the story. If youre still having trouble, imagine youve made
your film and someone asks you what its about listen to how you explain it, did you get it across,
was it engaging for the listener, do they want to see it? If so, then thats your trailer, you just told it
to someone, now go cut it.
And finally, do some research, watch trailers, watch them all the time, look at the nuances, how they
build the story, create the gags or the scary jumps, how they turn the emotional moments all with
editing short hand. Watch the genres that suit your film.
Trailers are a niche promotional tool and can often take a team of creatives to bring them to
fruition, but that shouldnt stop you just going ahead and creating it.

How To Make A Movie Trailer

They're perhaps the most important part of a marketing campaign.
Forget the posters, the image releases and all the talent blathering on about how fun it was to make
the damned thing.
The trailer for a new movie is the first time that we as audience members and dutiful film fans get
to make an informed decision for ourselves on whether or not a new film will appeal to our
sensibilities.
Would you have seen Star Wars if it hadn't been for that brilliantly foreboding first teaser? How
about This Is England or, um, Titanic?
Here's our guide for how to replicate that all for yourself...
Recruit Voice-Over Bloke
The Clich: All trailers need the dry and dulcet tones of a scholarly narrator.
Appears In: Star Wars, (500) Days Of Summer, everything else ever...
How To Make It Real: In lieu of actually hiring one of the professional blokes who lend their craggy
tones to the moving images of movie trailers, youll want to find somebody with an amazing set of
pipes to give your trailer an air of menace and authority.
If youre strapped for cash, you could get the same guy who provided your films quirky narration
to do the trailer, as well. Just like in (500) Days of Summer.
And if moneys really, really tight, record the voice-over yourself, pop it into your computer and use
a special filter to warp it until you sound all deep-throated and luscious. Easy.
Show All The Best Bits
The Clich: Trailers shouldnt hold back on the good stuff.
Appears In: X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
How To Make It Real: So you went through a horrible production, everything went wrong, and
youre left with an absolute stinker of a film.
Still, you need to make a living, so you'll be needing as many people to come and see this as
possible. Here, a little trickery is required.
Take all of the best bits from your film (anything with explosions, people yelling, or, like, massive
trucks smashing into each other) and chuck them all into the trailer.
Trust us, youll be thanking your lucky stars when people show up in their droves to pay good
money to see your rubbish.
Just prepare yourself for some scathing reviews. But you knew the film was rubbish to begin with
anyway, didnt you?
Use Some Clint Mansell Music
The Clich: Composer Mansells Lux Aeterna, written for Requiem For A Dream, is used to score
many a dramatic movie trailer.
Appears In: Sunshine, The Da Vinci Code.

How To Make It Real: The list of trailers that have utilised Mansells singularly breathtaking slice of
musical nirvana are numerous: I Am Legend, Sunshine, The Da Vinci Code, even Avatar turned to
Mansell for a bit of dramatic audio-love.
Easy enough to translate into your own trailer. Hop onto iTunes, download the track, and tinker to
your hearts content until your images fit the soaring scoring.
Adds layers of class and gravitas to anything its paired up with. Heck, it even made us want to see
King Arthur.
Dont Worry About Spoilers
The Clich: Trailers dont mess about worrying that audiences might get spoiled, they shove it all
unapologetically up there on the screen.
Appears In: Iron Man.
How To Make It Real: In this age of internet information overload, youll be lucky to pull off a Chris
Nolan and sustain secrecy about your flick for longer than the time it takes for a match to burn out.
(Even Nolan hasnt managed to stop the web spies from revealing a fair few of upcoming Inceptions
tricks.)
So beat the web geeks to it and chuck whatever you want into the trailer. Somebody dies? Make it a
feature. Got a massive scrap as the films centrepiece? You better not leave that bad boy out!
In the world of trailers, quantity really does overrule quality.
Write Some Funky Inserts
The Clich: Trailers are nothing without their wordy insert cards, which act as shorthand for the
films plot beats.
Appears In: Scream 3, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
How To Make It Real: One of the main things that has survived the silent film era is the use of wordy
inserts. Forget the adage that one picture is worth a million words; sometimes a few select
sentences will help you get to the meat of your trailer sooner.
Its all about the word selection here, as well. Scream 3 played around with the trilogy rules, handily
setting up the premise of the new sequel while giving us the impression that this was the
franchises endgame.
Other trailers use the inserts to add emotion and context. Superlatives are an absolute must your
movie is now awesome, unbelievable, groundbreaking, inspiring. Grab a thesaurus and throw a
couple of darts at it.
Get Some Media Quotes
The Clich: A trailer needs to be backed up with some sensational review quotes urging you to
watch 'the best film of the year'.
Appears In: A Single Man.
How To Make It Real: A survey of 2,000 moviegoers back in 2004 revealed that just 33% of people
take reviews into account when they go to see a movie (welcome to the age of free-thinking!).
Meanwhile, the IMDb was found to influence about 28% of film fans.
That said, 70% of those surveyed said that television ads were the main influence for their decision
to go take in the latest cinematic delight.

So, when alls said and done, its the ads that do the work. Of course, a major part of any TV spot is
the soundbites snipped from various outlets. So make sure you chase up publications and scour the
mags for the best quotes out there.
Bribing critics with Starbucks vouchers goes a long way, too. Just so you know.
Link To A Viral Website
The Clich: Trailers always have to end with the address to a viral website.
Appears In: The Blair Witch Project, Tron Legacy, The Matrix.
How To Make It Real: These days, your marketing campaign is only as good as your viral strategy.
Tron Legacy is currently leading the pack with its convoluted and intricate campaign, which
includes the Flynn Lives website, while Disney have been mailing website owners secret codes, and
revealing bits and bobs all over the internet. There was even a conference of the fictional Encom
company from the movie.
If you want your flick to have even a fighting chance in the market, youll need the trailer to
capitalise on all this information-dripping paraphernalia.
In Lieu Of Mansell, Get A Cool Track
The Clich: If you decide not to go with the Mansell score, a killer track will make any trailer feel
ultra-slick.
Appears In: Reservoir Dogs.
How To Make It Real: If Mansell is too predictable a soundtrack for your trailer, why not use an
awesome-sounding track to flesh out your aural landscape?
Best thing about it is the songs have already been recorded, all you need to do is have a play about
with the sound gauges and make sure the song beats hit the plot beats just right.
Have a browse on iTunes, flick through your favourite CDs (anything by Jacko, Daft Punk or Filter
works quite well), then let rip.
Tell Us Some Names
The Clich: Names and their associated past works hold almost as much weight as Academy Award
nominations, something that trailers should capitalise on.
Appears In: Avatar.
How To Make It Real: Unless your uncles Francis Ford Coppola, or Steven Spielberg once threw a
birthday party for you when you were nine, you may be a little limited in the name dropping here.
Nobody particularly wants to see the film From the goddaughter of the son of the husband of the
mistress of the pet of James Cameron, so try to ground it a bit in your own exaggerated reality.
Those superlatives will come in handy again here. You are now a visionary director, or the writer
of the groundbreaking, moving drama about a woman who once lost a balloon to the elements.
Show Off Your SFX
The Clich: Trailers should always capitalise on the groundbreaking visual effects that are on offer.
Appears In: The Matrix.
How To Make It Real: Simples; make sure you shoot a special effect scene, for a start.

All films should feature special effects (according to the Hollywood Bible), so you need at least one
scene with some fancy CGI showing off. If youre feeling the pinch, blow up a microwave in the back
garden, or drive your Grans old Ford into a brick wall.
Squibs are fun, too. Set a load up in your living room (attach them to anything that looks cool
exploding: some of mums crockery, the sofa etc), and let rip. Shove all that in the trailer, and youve
got yourself some sure-fire eye-candy.
If Its Foreign, Dont Tell Us
The Clich: Trailers shouldnt necessarily advertise a film as non-English speaking, as this could
alienate a wider mainstream audience.
Appears In: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
How To Make It Real: Easy enough: cut out all dialogue, use those funky text inserts, and let Voice-
Over Bloke do all the talking.
Or just dont make a film in something like NaVi to begin with.
Release A Red Band Version
The Clich: Trailers released with a Red Band rating contain juicier material (sex, filthy language),
and can give a more realistic impression of what the film's like.
Appears In: Get Him To The Greek.
How To Make It Real: Green band trailers are for losers talk about filmic castration.
What you want is a meaty, bloody, warts-and-all red band tease that slips off the censor shackles for
a right good jamboree.
With red band, pretty much anything goes. Nudity? Go for it. Swearing? Feel free. Violence? Let rip!
If your film is particularly stuffed with any of those three things, it's a red band you'll be after. So
really go to town.

Entrevista con Skip Chaisson

Q. Thanks for making time for us Skip. As a kid growing up in Sacramento, did you have any
idea that you would be doing what youre doing today? I always wanted to make kung fu
movies I didnt just want to make them; I wanted to be in them. I used to watch that Japanese
channel in Sacramento, and on Sunday nights they used to play Samurai movies, and I always
wanted to make those shows, and the commercials because they were just wacky. I didnt think
about doing that for a living but it looked like it was really fun.
Q. So I guess they really captured your imagination? Oh yeah, I used to watch that, and there
used to be this horror movie host Bob Wilkins, and he would host a creature double feature, and in
the middle of the show he used to show really bad trailers for old monster movies. I think I was 7 or
8 and I sent him a letter and drew a little picture and he showed it on TV. It was great.
Q. I know that youve always been into comic books and stuff like that. How does your
passion for that influence your work? Well its great now, because I do a lot of stuff for Marvel,
and thats really neat, because I grew up reading those things. That was a real big thing with Dad,
because when we would go to the military bases there was always a rack of comic books at the BX
and while dad was working, I would read comic books. I wasnt that good of an artist, but I thought
that I might be able to write comic books and I even wanted to be an art major, but the more I got
into it, the more I realized that it was difficult to make any money at it. Computer graphics were
starting to be the big thing in movies, and I thought that was more viable for me. Around that same
time I read that a lot of comic book artists would do storyboards as a way to make money, and I
began to make the connection with filmmaking and that visual mode of story telling. These days
when youre watching a lot of contemporary films theyre shot in a real comic book sort of way. The
images drive the narrative as opposed to the narrative driving the images.
Q. Now I know you work an insane amount of hours, so you must enjoy your work. What part
of the job do you enjoy the most? One summer job that Dad got me was working for the utility
district, and it was summer in Sacramento. It was hot, and part of the job involved going
underground into the sewer and it was tough. So, one of the things I think I like most about my job
is that I get to be inside in a controlled environment. Dad told me that when I got older I would
appreciate the experience, and he was right.
Q. So you like working inside?! LOL Thats a real unexpected answer.A. I get to do a lot of things
when Im working. I have the computer going, I have a movie going, I read scripts and Im reading a
comic book all at one time.
Q. Youre doing all that at one time? All at one time, and I can do that. There are a lot of places
where you have to multi-task, but its rare to be able to do it with stuff you like to do.
Q. So you have all your favorite stuff all around you? Pretty much. And when the kids come in,
and theyre playing, I can still work if the material is appropriate. We do a lot of scary movies.
Q. What part of the job do you love the least? The hours. The hours are very long.
Q. What do you feel makes your work unique in the marketplace? I think what makes our work
unique is that we bring our short form experience (trailers/commercials) to our long form work
(features/hour long TV), and we bring our long form experience to our short form work. What you
get from trailers is that you have to tell a story as succinctly as possible from the material available
without excuse, because thats the job you have to do. When youre working on a feature, and you
have a problem to solve, say something didnt get shot, your mind is much more open to the tools
that you have and how to use them.
There is a big plus to doing only one thing, and doing it really well, but there is also a big plus to
bringing all of your experience from other forms and applying it to what youre working on at that
time. Even though there are models and certain things that are common within the particular
genre, each story is still different, each character is different You can attack it a certain way, but

there are always variables within that, and when you do a bunch of different things, you can say
okay I know what needs to be done, but still bring a different flavor to it. Its easier to bring a
different flavor to it if you are trained to recognize stuff and then to let it go and say I just need to
do what works It's the basic Bruce Lee philosophy.
Q. That is the basic Bruce Lee philosophy isnt it? He was so dangerous because he was well
versed in so many different styles.A. Exactly. You learn what it is, be able to understand it not take
a bunch of things haphazardly, but you use whatever tools you have to fit that occasion because
youve worked in a bunch of different areas.
Q. Ive certainly learned a lot from you over the years Skip. Who are some of the people that
have influenced you? Well I was an intern at Columbia Pictures a long time ago, and one of the
best parts of that internship was that after I fulfilled whatever duties I was supposed to do drive
somebody here, plug in a TV there, I was given free rein to sit in with anybody at the studio. They
knew who I was and I could just hang out and watch. My immediate supervisor was an in-house
editor, and he was outwardly the most straight-laced guy on the planet, but inwardly he could
really get the job done. He taught me how to be aware of music just because youre doing picture
doesnt mean youre not aware of music, doesnt mean youre not aware of this or that. He gave me
a lot of really basic storytelling tools. At that job, by being able to sit in on anything, there were
always a number of people that I worked with who I could always learn from. There was Louis
Schwartzberg who would look at things from a whole different perspective. He could approach
things from the perspective of a dp and special fx guy. Theres a whole different mentality when you
are approaching a story where youre just making stuff up. Then when I started doing trailer work, I
met all kinds of directors and they all have their thing. I learned a lot from all those guys. But Tony
and Ridley, Ive learned a lot from them too. And from a business standpoint, Jerry Bruckheimer
really helped me figure out how to create a business thats still a business but can provide
entertainment and freedom for ideas. You would think that hes just all about business, but hes
great at fostering talent, and theres a certain way to go about it.
Q. Now how did the relationship with Tony and Ridley (Scott) begin? It was through Jerry. I
was working at Kaleidoscope Films and I had done a lot of trailers for Disney and Oren Aviv, whos
head of production at Disney now. He introduced me to Michael Bay on Armageddon and then I
think it was Enemy Of The State where he introduced me to Tony, and I had met Jerry
(Bruckheimer) before and it was Jerry and Oren who really put Tony and I together. It was that
kind of engineering. Tony and I struck up a great friendship, and he had several projects that he
wanted me to take a pass on and it was a lot of fun just to work with him.
Q. Did it feel great having such heavyweights taking an interest in you? I didnt really look at it
that way. I think I was really more excited to work on some of the particular projects. On Mission
Impossible I was really excited to work with Brian De Palma and Steph (Skips wife) and I had
become big fans of John Woo, so it was great working with him and when I was working on Ransom
with Ron Howard he said my name and it sounded like something out of Mayberry RFD. That was
pretty cool.
Q. Now one of the first projects I worked on for you guys was Spiderman. That was not long
after you set up shop. How many people were working for Skip Film at the time? Probably
four people. The assistant editor was also answering phones and getting lunch. It was crazy. The
original team consisted of David Lai in sound and Kimberly my executive producer. The other
editors that I hired on were people I had known for years because they were assistants. Throughout
my career there were people who gave me a shot when I didnt quite have the knowledge but they
thought I could do the job and had faith in my ability. So, I decided that when I got in a position that
I would always do that for assistants that I would give them a shot. I wouldnt want them to be
copies of me, but I would give them the tools and an opportunity to express themselves another
tenet of the Bruce Lee philosophy. The person that was answering the phones was my assistant; she
became an editor, now shes cutting a feature. Another one of the assistants is one of our senior
editors now.
Q. How many folks are working there now? We have between 12 and 15 full time, some
freelancers and it really fluctuates depending on whats going on.

Q. How much of the work is actually going on your Avid? At some time it all goes through me. Ill
either start the project or pick it up in the middle, or finish it. It functions like a basketball team
where everybody touches the ball. Weve got some rookies and some veterans. By having everyone
work on things it allows us to be more flexible with peoples lives and fight the burnout factor. No
matter how motivated people are, you can get tired. So, at any given time weve got everybody
working on everything.
Prior to founding Skip Film, Chaisson worked for several years establishing his reputation as a
gifted talent in the film community. He became well-known for his work as a director of special
shoots and an editor of clutter-busting theatrical advertising including, Mission Impossible I & II,
Braveheart, Titanic, The Truman Show, Pearl Harbor and the highly stylized, Gone In 60 Seconds.
This trailer inspired L.A. Times film critic Kenneth Turan to include a highly favorable review of the
trailer in his review of the film.
Chaisson is a member of the DGA, and a recipient of numerous Key Art Awards, a Clio, and a Golden
Trailer award. He holds black belts in several of the martial arts, and is married and the father of
three lovely children, Gianna, Brandon and Sophia.

The Art of First Impressions: How to Cut a Movie Trailer

by Stephen Garrett in Filmmaking, Issues, Line Items on Jan 13, 2012

Its only two minutes long. But its the way a film greets the world. For a self-distributor, it can
mean getting 100,000 hits on YouTube within a week. For indie filmmakers trying to make an
impression, its a chance to have their no-budget D.I.Y. movies stand shoulder-to-shoulder with The
Hobbit and Avatar 2 on iTunes. And it has a long shelf life; years after a theatrical release is over, it
will be one of the first things to pop up on a Google word search.
The humble movie trailer, once a delightful distraction seen only by punctual film goers exclusively
in movie houses, is now the principal way most movies get exposure and remain in the public
conscience. And as long as there is a computer and an Internet connection, it can be watched
anytime, anywhere, indefinitely. Along with the movie poster, it is arguably the most important
marketing tool available to a filmmaker.
A bad trailer wont automatically hurt a film. Strong reviews and terrific word-of-mouth can make
uninspired advertising irrelevant. Then again, not all films are bulletproof success stories. What
about that promising first feature? That peculiar but compelling foreign language film? That oddball
documentary with seemingly banal subject matter yet an undeniably hypnotic style? These kinds of
movies can really benefit from a memorable piece of advertising. (And, oddly enough, a bad flick
can occasionally make for a fantastic trailer. More on that later.)
Studio films typically break down into a handful of genres: action, drama, comedy, horror, sci-fi,
fantasy. They all have their conventions, and their trailers have a similarly categorized look and
sound. Thick sans-serif font with jaunty music? Comedy. Elegant serif font with dour orchestral
cue? Drama. These are mass-produced goods, and they are by definition formulaic. This is not
necessarily criticism; there are excellent studio films that have accordingly superlative trailer work.
(Trailer campaigns for huge franchises such as The Matrix, Harry Potter and Spider-Man are
particularly well-crafted.) But independent and foreign language releases are usually hard to
categorize. They often mix genres, subvert them or ignore them completely. Documentaries, too,
can defy definition. Is it an essay film, an experiential meditation, agit-prop, social commentary or
all of the above?
At Kinetic, the company my partner Christy Wilson and I co-founded 10 years ago, we have had the
opportunity to work on tremendous non-studio movies that arent the easiest to categorize; over
300 films, most recently Cary Fukunagas Jane Eyre, Agnieszka Hollands In Darkness, Constance
Marks Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey, and Tom Sixs The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence.
From a marketing point of view, the options are wide open which can be either intimidating or
liberating, depending on your point of view.

GETTING STARTED
So you have a movie and you need a trailer. Put very simply, a trailer is a condensed version of a
feature, so it should be a collection of its greatest elements. The best way to evaluate your film is to
see it first not as a genre but in terms of its fundamental characteristics. Does it have arresting
dialogue? Great cinematography? Searing performances? Memorable production design? Lead with
its merits.
Of course genre will guide the trailer process. But which aspects are the best ones to market? If its
a comedy/drama, do you make it funny with some gravitas, or serious with a few zingers for levity?
Do you let genre define the film? Doing so might attract more ticket buyers, but could also alienate
those people if the movie they see doesnt match their presumptions. Also, if the film has played on
the festival circuit, consider using laurels to tout its pedigree. Are there good reviews, and do you
want to add them to the mix? Or will laurels and reviews attract only a highbrow audience and
alienate the general market?

Do you think the trailer would benefit from a narrator? What kind of music is available are there
cues specifically composed for the film that would be appropriate, or is outside music a possibility?
Do you want a copywriter to get involved, or does the film have enough explanatory dialogue to
sustain itself? Now that youve unpacked your elements, decide on a creative approach.

RHYTHM AND STRUCTURE
Above all, and without exception, trailer editing is about rhythm. If you dont have an innate sense
of it, then your trailer will not sing. A trailer, cut well, will have a flowing motion to it, a sense that
everything plays off everything else, and will propel the viewer through the experience of the film.
Trailers build up excitement and anticipation, and a keen sense of rhythm heightens those
sensations.
While you may not choose for music to be the defining characteristic of your trailer, it still plays an
important role in its basic construction. It literally sets the tone and the rhythm. I usually start
every trailer by building my music bed, and that bed is generally composed of three music cues.
Why three? Because trailers lend themselves to a three-act structure.
Act One: Introduce the films characters and environment. Act Two: Complicate their world with
obstacles to overcome. Act Three: Intensify the conflicts and ratchet up the
tension/excitement/humor. (Montages invariably end up in Act Three.) There can be four acts,
there can be one it really just depends on the material. But three acts is a good place to start.
Most importantly: never resolve anything! Whenever possible, leave questions unanswered. Dont
tie up loose ends. Keep the audience wanting more.
I mentioned before that bad movies can have great trailers. Thats because trailers are about raising
expectations. Films are made because a group of people really believe in the ideas behind that
movie. All films start out being potentially great. By the time the filmmaking process is over, reality
has intervened. Is it still great? Thats open to debate. But a trailer doesnt reveal the whole movie.
It just reveals the movies potential to be great. It pitches the promise of the premise. And if the
trailer has seductive rhythm and an arresting structure, then any movie can look like a winner.

DISASSEMBLING YOUR FILM AND CONSTRUCTING YOUR TRAILER
In order to make a trailer for your film, you have to take it apart. Every trailer editor goes through
the film meticulously, breaking it down and turning it into basic building blocks. The main way to
do this is to create two sequences: a dialogue string and a visual string. These are highlight reels.
But theyre also like basic ingredients. Imagine taking a cake and reverse-engineering it, extracting
the eggs, flour, sugar and butter.
Editors are like tailors. They cut materials and shape them, letting them out here and tucking them
in there, until they make a perfect fit. But editors, particularly trailer editors, are also cooks. They
take their materials and they boil them down, condense them and extract their essence in order to
flavor the overall meal.
Common sense might suggest that the editor who cut your feature should cut your trailer, too. But
in certain ways they are the least qualified. Yes, they are familiar with the footage, and trailer
editors need to be, too. But feature editors are too familiar. They have lived with the footage for
months, sweated over the choices and labored to make every shot fit perfectly into the specific
context of the film.
Trailer editors, on the other hand, are disrespectful. They de-contextualize everything. That half-
smile the heroine gives to her boyfriend that secretly devastates him? The trailer editor only sees a
smile. A dog bark is a dog bark. Its not Spots excited howl that saves the life of his master its
just a dog bark. Trailer editors have to see everything for what they are inherently, not how they
function in the feature film. They have to unpack the feature in order to repack it and turn it into a
trailer.

There are also many familiar editing tropes in trailers: dissolves, fades from black, fades to black,
white flashes with the metal-door slams, fast-paced flutter-cuts, double exposures, speed
adjustments, audio rises, audio drones, audio stings. These effects are like the images from the film
itself: they are tools in a toolbox. Got something lush and romantic? Use dissolves and fades. Got
something fast-paced and tense? Use increasingly faster hard cuts that crescendo in a metal-door
slam and a white flash. This is simplistic, but the basic message is this: Use these tools (the sound
effects, the editing tricks, etc.) to tell a story. And to sell a story.

STRIKING THE RIGHT TONE
Certain films have subject matter that might turn off audiences who think theyve seen that type of
movie before. Myles Bender, senior vice president of creative advertising at Focus Features, was
concerned that their new production of Jane Eyre would be perceived as too literary, too outdated
and be viewed as a chick flick. He requested a trailer that played down the traditional romantic
melodrama and emphasized something else: horror. So Wilson mined and exploited the darker,
eerier aspects of the film and treated the story not as a treasured classic but as a very modern tale
of madness and obsession.
Lets say your film deals with controversial issues. Some people who might really love the movie
may recoil when they learn what its about. Respect that. Dont rub peoples noses in it. Be subtle.
Or at least be tactful. In Ryan Flecks feature debut Half Nelson, released by THINKFilm, Ryan
Gosling plays a beloved high school teacher who is also a crack head. When we did the trailer, we
were very conscious of not naming what drug he was using. We alluded to drug use, but we werent
specific. Also, this movie is about so much more than drug use. Its also about adults inspiring
teenagers, having human weaknesses and getting second chances in life. So we underlined the
tragic parts, emphasized the positive and didnt dwell on the more salacious, negative aspects.
Before we started Kinetic, Wilson cut the trailer for L.I.E., a critically acclaimed drama about
pedophilia on Long Island, released by Lot 47. In this case, the material is so potentially toxic that
its difficult to explain the story without it seeming lurid. But the movie had a melodic yet sinister
song (Donovans Hurdy-Gurdy Man), sumptuous cinematography (courtesy of Romeo Tirone) and
evocative shots (thanks to director Michael Cuesta). Lot 47 co-founder Jeff Lipsky asked Wilson to
make a trailer using only the one song, drop all the dialogue, and cut a montage peppered with
critics quotes and laurels. He asked her to create a mood instead of a narrative; something that was
by turns alienating, thrilling, dangerous and ultimately haunting. Without saying a word, it is an
incredibly faithful reflection of the film.

MUSIC-DRIVEN (AND MONTAGE-DRIVEN) TRAILERS
L.I.E. is essentially a music-driven montage trailer. The song and images dictate the feeling and
structure, but dont reveal a story. Certain filmmakers have such a distinct visual style and use of
music that the best sort of trailer for their films is usually a music-driven montage. Gaspar Nos
Enter the Void is a perfect example. The trippy film about the ghost of a junkie watching over his
stripper sister in the neon-drenched city of Tokyo practically begs to be a visual head-trip trailer.
IFC Films, who released the film, totally supported that approach, but vice president of marketing
Ryan Werner and director of marketing Shani Ankori wanted to make sure the two main characters
were also established. So the montage is book-ended with the two of them talking to each other and
promising to always be together no matter what. Along with being a string of trippy images set to a
pounding techno cue, the trailer also has an emotional undercurrent that humanizes the material
and makes the psychedelica oddly poignant.
Another incredibly visceral filmmaker is Lynne Ramsay, whose 2002 film Morvern Callar, released
by Cowboy Pictures, follows Samantha Morton as she assumes her dead boyfriends identity, claims
his book as her own and becomes a celebrated author. Cowboys co-heads, Noah Cowan and John
Vanco, wanted the trailer to tell that story, but they also wanted it to be impressionistic and to
showcase the visuals and the music. The film has an incredibly eclectic soundtrack (Aphex Twin,
Stereolab, Lee Hazlewood, Ween), and I used four different cues throughout. The story is about,

essentially, an identity crisis, so the music keeps getting interrupted by stray bits of dialogue that
are jolting realizations. The structure of the trailer is one of disruption and deliberately jerks from
exultation to anxiety and introspection.

DOCUMENTARIES
Although documentaries are technically non-fiction, they usually abide by the same rules as fiction
films. They tell a story. The trailer for the Zeitgeist release Bill Cunningham New York, cut by our
junior editor Laura Tomaselli, is absolutely about fashion, since the subject is a fashion
photographer. But its also about the sacrifices one person makes in order to do what he loves. She
makes his story compelling in two minutes because she captures his monastic, Spartan lifestyle and
contrasts it with flamboyant wealth. And she shows how this man has just as much individuality,
taste and style as the most outrageous clotheshorse. Its an eloquent ode to having the courage of
ones convictionswhether its what you wear or how you choose to live. And the opening line is a
killer set-up. Icy Vogue editrix Anna Wintour says, Ive said many times that we all get dressed for
Bill. A power-broker like her, bowing to one man? Tell me more.
While Sundance winner and Oscar nominee Trouble the Water, also released by Zeitgeist, has
compelling protagonists, its fundamentally about Hurricane Katrina. But what makes the film
riveting is the you-are-there video footage that was shot during and immediately after the storm.
Zeitgeist co-presidents Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo wanted to play that up, so the trailer
focuses mainly on that; the stylistic flourish of white flashes with thunderclaps, used
metaphorically in other trailers, is used here literally, to recreate the ravages of the hurricane. You
see the main characters, but the focus is on the storm and the governments reaction to the storm.
Its a classic case of show, dont tell.
Sometimes, the most obvious marketing angle isnt always the right one. Werner Herzogs
Encounters at the End of the World, an affectionate and near-mystical portrait of a group of
scientists living in the extreme climates of Antarctica, is narrated by the Bavarian director and is
rife with his trademark Teutonic cadence. When I cut the trailer for THINKFilm and Image
Entertainment, I saw Herzog as a major selling point; so, using the eerie choral music from the film,
I cut together a series of arresting images and accompanied them with Herzogs joyfully nihilistic
ruminations. But THINKFilm president Mark Urman surprisingly suggested that I drop Herzogs
voice. What remained, just the images and the music, became far more intriguing and absorbing,
and ultimately far more powerful.

USING SUBTITLES
Years ago, distributors were wary of using subtitles in their trailers for foreign language films and
relied on a narrator instead of dialogue to explain the story. More cynical minds might say that it
was a lack of faith that audience members didnt want to see something that wasnt in English. But
theres a more practical reason: trailers go quickly, and its hard to read while so many images are
flashing by. These days, trailers now happily carry subtitles. In this digital age, one could argue that
people are far more adept at processing a barrage of information quickly. Regardless, subtitles are
another tool for trailer editors. The question is, how to use them effectively?
For the most part, I treat foreign language dialogue the same way I treat English dialogue: to
advance a story, set a mood and share emotion. The trailer for Cristian Mungius 4 Months, 3 Weeks,
and 2 Days, released by IFC Films, has 20 subtitles in it. But they convey urgency and tension
(What are you going to do?, Once we start, theres no turning back, Want to tell me whats
going on?). The dialogue doesnt actually reveal information. It raises questions. The more
subtitles, the more tense the trailer gets. (The trailer is also a good example of how to handle
sensitive material; nowhere does it mention that the film is an abortion drama. The images hint at
the plot, but nothing is explicit).
In the trailer for Tomas Alfredsons Swedish vampire thriller Let The Right One In, distributed by
Magnolias genre arm Magnet, I only use three subtitles. Halfway through, theres a quick exchange:

Are you a vampire? / Would you like me anyway?; and at the end, Will you be my girlfriend?
Otherwise, the story in the trailer is told wordlessly, which Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles, as
well as former senior vice presidents Tom Quinn and Jeff Reichert, completely supported. The
economy of dialogue is helpful from a marketing point of view theres a good chance that U.S.
horror fans with no knowledge of international cinema might give this one a look, even if they
usually avoid subtitles. But less is also more; the spare dialogue increases the dramatic tension in a
lovely, somber way.

USING COPY AND NARRATION
Copy and narration are an acquired taste. Because Hollywood movies overuse copy and narration,
they can look and feel tired and uninspired. They are also literally disruptive; youre watching a
great image or listening to a line of dialogue, and then suddenly its interrupted by some deep bass
voice or a card full of text. Conversely, if you can cut a trailer without copy or narration, then the
movie is explaining its own story organically. Showing rather than telling is always more
interesting, so I try my best to avoid copy and narration whenever possible.
That said, there are always exceptions to the rule. Copy is a great way to set up a premise quickly
and economically. In the trailer for Carlos, Olivier Assayass sweeping five-hour epic about an
international terrorist, released by IFC Films, it helped immensely to have three copy cards at the
beginning: IN THE 1970s AND 1980s / ONLY ONE MAN / COULD HIJACK THE WORLD. That sets
the time, place and global impact within seconds. Because Bill Cunningham New York is an episodic
portrait of a man, the trailer uses one-word copy cards that allow an impressionistic structure
while reinforcing Cunninghams identity:
PHOTOGRAPHER. / PERFECTIONIST. / LONER. / MAVERICK. / VISIONARY.
When the premise is more complicated, narration is actually more expedient. Copy cards are good if
they are brief. Its difficult to sustain an idea over multiple cards; after three cards, you risk losing
the train of thought. Thats where a narrator is ideal. He or she can express a paragraph in a few
seconds, while allowing the audience to focus on a related visual montage that strengthens the
trailers overall message. IFC Films documentary The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 is an
electrifyingly immediate work of cinema vrit that relies on a few very long copy cards at the
beginning to explain that this is long-lost footage shot by a Swedish TV crew during the black power
movement in the U.S. But for the trailer, no one on screen says that, and telling all of that exposition
on copy cards would slow things down. Instead, Ryan Werner and Shani Ankori requested a
narration that delivered the summary context quickly and compellingly.

MAKING A TRAILER ECONOMICALLY
Lets say theres just no budget to pay for music (either from a composer or from a music library).
Or, even more importantly, the director chose not to use music for thematic reasons. Also, lets say
that theres no budget for a copywriter or a narrator, either. None of these things is necessarily bad.
Practically 99 percent of trailers have music, copy or narration, so those few trailers without them
actually have an advantage in terms of standing out from all the others.
Kelly Reichardts Wendy and Lucy, about a down-and-out woman and her dog trying to get to
Alaska, deliberately had no music, to accentuate the films stark, unsentimental mood. David Fenkel,
president of Oscilliscope Laboratories, the films distributor, wanted Reichardt to be involved with
the marketing, and she and I quickly decided not to use music in the trailer. We also both prefer not
to use copy or narration. So that just left the films strongest asset: Michelle Williams. But her
performance in the film is so riveting that we used her dramatic predicament to create the music
and rhythms of the trailer. Her escalating desperation and increasingly extreme circumstances
formed the structure of the trailer, and key bits of dialogue accentuated her stress and anxiety.
There is innate music in the spoken word, if you listen for it.

IFC Films Day Night Day Night was another extreme situation. Julia Loktevs harrowing depiction of
a suicide bomber preparing to sacrifice herself is so narrowly experiential that the viewer never
really knows what is happening at any given time. The movie is disorienting, so I tried my best to
make the trailer equally so. I found structure in repetition; as the main character goes through her
training, she repeats phrases and words that others give her. The natural rhythms that arose were
the material that I used to give the trailer a shape and a sense of danger and emotional vertigo. No
copy, narration or music was necessary.

REFERENCING THE TITLE
It sounds silly and even somewhat obvious, but if someone in the movie says the title of the film,
you should consider using it in the trailer. If the films title is cryptic or somewhat elusive, then that
dialogue can give it context and possibly even a sense of poetry. Why risk a ticket sale due to
confusion about the title?
No one in Half Nelson explains the title. But when we were working on the trailer, we were allowed
to use an outtake that explains it: a snippet of audio that intros a piece of music (This song is called
Half Nelson, for those times when youre feeling kind of stuck). Its at the beginning of the trailer
and was used as a cheat to seem as though Gosling is hearing it on his clock radio.
Morvern Callar has such a strange title that one could be forgiven for not thinking of it as a womans
name. So at the beginning of the trailer, we use a piece of a phone conversation from the film
(Mervill Coller? No, Morvern Callar) that makes light of the name and we also show a
computer screen where the name is being typed.

NO RULES, ONLY GUIDELINES
Everything I have written so far can be disproved by another trailer that I (or someone else) has
done. My ideal trailer doesnt have copy, narration or subtitles. But one of my favorite trailers is for
Matteo Garrones Gomorrah, which I cut for IFC Films and which has guess what? Very lengthy
copy cards, a healthy dollop of narration and loads of subtitles. Its incredibly helpful to have a
three-act structure, with three distinct music cues. But the trailer for L.I.E. has exactly one song and
only one act.
You never really know what shape a trailer will take until you start cutting it. Look at the films
assets, weigh its limitations, and then find a rhythm and structure that works best. There is no one
perfect way to cut a trailer. A movie can have five different trailers, all of which take a different
approach and all of which do a great job selling the product.

A TRAILER IS ITS OWN FILM
Trailers have their own internal logic and should function separately from the movie they are
promoting. If cut well, a trailer can be something you want to watch again and again. But (of
course!) it should also make you want to see more.
In most cases, unfortunately, people may only ever see the trailer. Thats why trailers should never
resolve anything. If a trailer gives too much away, then viewers might feel like theyve already seen
the whole movie and dont need to look at the film. Always leave them wanting more. A trailer, cut
well, needs to arouse, provoke, seduce and beguile. These are romantic adjectives, which is the
point; you need to make viewers fall in love with your film even before they have seen it. Again,
trailers are about promise and possibility. They have to tap into irrational and emotional impulses.
They have to invoke a sense of want and need. To paraphrase Shakespeare by way of John Huston,
they are the stuff that dreams are made of.

The Realities of Trailer Marketing by Dan Schoenbrun

For independent filmmakers hoping to use an appealing trailer to create interest in their
undistributed film, the process of getting a trailer into a movie theater or onto a mainstream digital
platform like iTunes or Yahoo is something of a Catch-22. Independent filmmakers want their
trailers seen in these venues in order to increase exposure for their projects, but its nearly
impossible to get placement in either venue unless a project is already quite exposed.
Lets start with theaters. Filmmakers going the DIY route, or who have partnerships with small,
niche distributors, should all but count out the possibility of getting their trailers into the major
theatrical chains. These theaters generally show four to six trailers before a feature. Two of these
slots are allotted to the studio releasing the feature, and the remaining trailers are decided on by
theater executives based on demographic research. Its a well-oiled system, with no clear entry
point for small independent filmmakers especially if their films arent playing at the chains in
question.
Independently owned theaters provide an entirely different quandary. These theaters generally
only show trailers for films that they will be playing. Elliott Kanbar of Manhattans Quad Cinema
elaborated on this practice in an e-mail to Filmmaker, explaining, Its an important aspect of
marketing films. Trailers are owned by the filmmakers/distributors and they require the exhibitor
to play them in advance of the film opening. Filmmakers four-walling a theater should expect that
theater to play their trailer in advance of the run; again, though, others will have a hard time.
It can be just as difficult and costly to get a trailer into the mainstream digital realm. Yes, iTunes
and Yahoo both allow open trailer submissions. (iTunes contact address is trailers@mac.com, and
Yahoos is yahoocs@blssi.com, but note that each site has specific instructions about what details to
send.) Both sites are also quite selective about the trailers that they accept. As a prerequisite for
consideration, iTunes requires that films already have a theatrical run planned, or have been
accepted to a major film festival. Meanwhile, Yahoos submission form asks the filmmaker to
specify release date and distributor, two fields that should give an idea as to how far along they
expect their trailer submissions to be. A simple perusal of either sites current trailer roster
confirms that both iTunes and Yahoo favor studio films and indies being released by large
distributors almost unilaterally.
The rare self-distributed title does make it onto iTunes (recent examples being Jennifer Foxs My
Reincarnation and Tze Chuns Children of Invention), but these projects generally have a good deal
of hype behind them before they reach Apple. In an e-mail, Invention producer Mynette Louie
discussed how that films festival run was an asset in getting it on iTunes. They actually first
posted our [trailer] in May 09, four months after we played Sundance, while we were in the thick of
the fest circuit, Louie explained. Then when we did a theatrical release in Feb 10, we just e-
mailed again to ask to repost on their homepage, but offered them two exclusive clips of the film as
well. When you do this, they have more incentive to post/feature [your film].

Trailer Jargon by Dan Schoenbrun

Thanks to the increased prevalence of digital trailer platforms like iTunes and Yahoo, the days
when editors could deliver trailers entirely on celluloid are long past. Nowadays, in order to cut a
trailer for both theatrical and digital use, editors require a long list of costly deliverables. To give
filmmakers an idea of the complexity of this process, heres a brief glossary of items and terms used
by the trailer editor. D.S.
HDCAM MASTER The HDCAM Master is what an editor will create the trailers various video
elements from, including the DCP (digital cinema projection file), the current standard for digital
projections in movie theaters. Its also the version that will eventually be used to create the trailers
35mm theatrical print. The standard HDCAM Master features four tracks of audio, but one can also
use an HDCAM SR, which features 12 tracks.
Be sure to include a time-coded version of the trailer on your HDCAM Master, as well as a textless
version (one that includes graphics, but no actual text). This will come in handy when the trailer is
needed for overseas use or if the distributor requires a clip for inclusion on a tribute reel.
PRORES QUICKTIME FILE Most trailer editors dont own HDCAM decks, so they need to edit from
a ProRes Quicktime file. Make sure youre editing on a time-coded export, as all non-HD footage will
eventually need to be matched back to the original HDCAM Master, a process that requires the
rental of a post-production facility with an HD editing bay.
ASPECT RATIO If your trailer will be shown theatrically, the editor must create two versions in
order to conform to both flat (1.85) and scope (2.35) aspect ratios. Its cost-effective for editors to
first create a version in the flat aspect ratio and then simply pillar-box, a process in which black
bars are added to the left and right sides of the screen in order to expand it to scope.
AUDIO MIX Editors must create two audio mixes for a trailer: one in 5:1 and one in stereo. A 5:1
mix is required in most movie theaters and is three times more complicated to create than a stereo
mix. Stereo is preferred across digital platforms. For most theatrical screenings, the trailer also
needs to be certified by Dolby. Filmmakers should also make sure that their Pro-Tools audio-mixing
session is saved, in case an element (such as a song with an expired license) needs to be replaced
later on.
AUDIO STEMS Distribution companies commonly require editors to create different versions of the
trailers audio, each one lacking certain elements. Most common is an M&E stem, a version of the
trailer that contains music and effects only and which needs to be created in both 5:1 and stereo.
Also commonly required is a dialogue-only stem, but this stem is needed in stereo only. These
stems are necessary if the trailer is to play on a program like Access Hollywood, or as part of an EPK,
where only certain audio elements are featured.
35mm PRINT Many theaters dont screen DCPs, so the editor will need to create a 35mm print
from the HDCAM Master. For 35mm, an optical soundtrack must be created and then wedded to the
print. Luckily, though, both stereo and 5:1 mixes can be embedded onto the same print, so if the
trailer is screened in a smaller, non-Dolby theater, it will still sound fine.

The importance of a good trailer by Bill Woolery

For over 2 decades, Bill worked as a trailer editor for major studios and production companies on
their theatrical and TV campaigns. He has since moved into editing trailers for documentaries and
non profit humanitarian projects for use in fund raising. He has established himself as the go-to
trailer expert for documentary and independent film producers and is often asked to speak and
critique trailers in seminars hosted by Carole Dean and other high-profile members in the
documentary community. His regularly scheduled Trailer Clinics help give filmmakers the tips
and tools to improve their fundraising trailers.
An example of Bills past work is the trailer for The Unbearable Lightness of Being. My boss tossed
me the project saying, We dont know what to do with this, so come up with something. It turned out
to be one of my most satisfying challenges. Janceks chamber music set the tone for the editing. The
film tanked at the box office, but AFI now includes it on their 100 best American films list. A young
Daniel Day-Lewis stars with Juliette Binoche.
How does editing a trailer differ from editing an entire film?
These are not only two different styles of editing, theyre two distinctly different realties. A trailer
incorporates the same scenes as the full-length piece but uses a totally different language to
express them. When filmmakers come to me, its often because they tried cutting their own
trailers. After much labor in the edit room, they were never able to achieve a sequence that felt like
a trailer. There is a characteristic pace and flow to a trailer you dont find in narrative editing. Its
the same material but presented with an urgency and immediacy thats very different from your
whole film.
A feature documentary has emotional moments, but a trailer is basically one emotional moment
from beginning to end. It takes you immediately into an emotional reality and holds you there until
it drops you at the end. During that span, it must also convey specific information: who the
characters are, what the story is about, why the characters are doing what theyre doing. Most
importantly, it must answer the questions: Why is this doc (or feature) something you should see?
And why is it important to see it now?
These are a few of the many elements that make a good trailer and constructing it is more
complicated than most narrative filmmakers realize. A well-edited trailer is a very busy world. At
every moment youre moving through multiple arcs: characters arc, the main story arc, the
emotional arcs. Theyre all intertwined. Its a lot to keep track of. And over-arching all that is the
build.
The build is probably the element that most clearly defines the difference between trailer editing
and feature editing. A trailer must maintain a continuous forward momentum. This momentum
usually picks up in speed and urgency in the second half of the trailer.
How to evaluate a potential trailer editor for your project?
Beware the editor/producer/filmmaker who has some downtime and says, Sure, I can cut you a
trailer. Ill do it as a favor. Also, stay away from anyone who thinks a trailer is basically a cut-down
of the feature because you will get a cut-down of the feature and not a trailer.
Why should a trailer editor be used instead of just an intern or the editor already working
on your film?
During the past 10 years, the role of the trailer has changed, especially in the funding strategy of
documentary and indie production. Traditionally, trailers were edited by the filmmakers
themselves because (a) budgets were tight and (b) they had the edit system and media sitting there
in their second bedroom. Outsourcing a trailer didnt make sense. Over time, with the
development of the Internet, people became accustomed to seeing videos (addicted to seeing them,
really). Eventually, the pitch, the proposal, the text on your website all of these took second place

to the video trailer. It was as if your project wasnt real unless your intended audience could see
something on the screen. Today, some distributors or funders will ask to see your trailer before
talking to you. So the trailer has become the most critical element to getting your project funded or
distributed. It needs to be really good, really effective. Paying a trailer editor is now considered
a sound investment. (I totally agree!)
What are the different types of trailers? such as theatrical, TV etc
If you check the Doc Trailers page of my website youll find this:

Fundraising Trailer the key element to your projects success

Work-in-Progress Trailer to find your finishing funds
Showcase Trailer specifically pitched to buyers/distributors/broadcasters
Sizzle/Teaser trailers to generate buzz when you dont have much to show
Theatrical Trailers the all-purpose video that establishes your projects identity

The majority of my editing projects now involve FUNDRAISING trailers. As a trailer category, its
wide open because it depends on what you have to show, how good your footage is and what you
want to accomplish with it. In terms of length, it could be anywhere from 3 to 8 minutes long,
possible up to 12 if youve got a compelling story and/or extraordinary footage that can sustain it
that long. It also has to do with who its intended for: a foundation, grant qualification, a private
funder. Research your intended viewer and find out what theyre looking for.
Everyone agrees a trailer should not reveal the end of the story. For theatrical-style trailers that is
certainly the case. But when youre putting together a fundraising trailer the purpose is to sell your
idea to people who can share your vision and might invest in it. They need to see what theyre
buying all of it. Its important for them to know you have a satisfying ending so dont hesitate to
show it.
WORK-IN-PROGRESS trailers run longer so the viewer, usually a major funder, can feel confident
about the projects progress, that their investment is worthwhile and in capable hands. In terms of
length its determined by the funders needs and could be anywhere between 4 to 14 minutes.
Every project needs a THEATRICAL-STYLE trailer. This is the one thats used as the all-purpose
calling card for your project, the one you post on YouTube and Vimeo and the projects website.
Its normally made after your doc is finished and mastered but sometimes theres need for it
before the projects gets to that point. This kind of trailer is short, usually 1.5 to 3 minutes. Its
energetic and dramatic and makes no obvious solicitation for funds and does not reveal the end of
story. The cliff-hanger ending that works so well for commercial entertainment trailers is also the
most effective out for documentary trailers.
Finally, there are TEASER or SIZZLE trailers. These terms are used pretty much interchangeable.
Their purpose is generating advanced buzz for the project. In both cases, theyre often put together
with rip-o-matic images from the Net with a voice-over telling you how great the project will be
once the viewer contributes the funds to realize it. These kinds of trailers might include a
pedigree montage of the filmmakers past projects if they exist. A teaser is short, 30 seconds to
a minute and a half, unless the past projects are very prestigious and need screen time to be
showcased.

The Little Known Art Of Cutting Trailers

Ric Thomas trailer for The Pirates
It is sometimes said that the movie trailer is better than the film itself. This is often true, and in
some cases, we have trailer editor Ric Thomas to blame. Ric works at award winning film
marketing trailer company Empire Design in London, a company responsible for some of the most
iconic poster designs and trailers of recent years, including Kill Bill, Casino Royale and Prometheus.
Ric spends his time editing together trailers for some of the biggest blockbuster movies coming out
of Hollywood, carefully crafting a piece of advertising that has to make us want to see the film. In
the hands of a skilled editor a story boiled down to selected moments, artfully pieced together and
set to music can take us on a powerful emotional journey. With that in mind, we recently had the
chance to talk to Ric and ask him about his experience of trailer editing.
What made you want to be in entertainment and what made you want to be an editor?
It was gradual process, beginning with a passion for theatre and music; I explored various facets,
from performance to directing and music. My theatre studies university course was very focussed
on new media, and I gradually realised that I was enjoying editing more than the theatrical side. Of
course Id always edited, from splicing 8mm cine films to crashing an edit from VHS to VHS, but it
was only then that I realised I wanted to do it is a career. I moved to London and went for every
runners job going, and then luckily ended up working my way up at Empire. I knew that I wanted to
work in trailers from the second I found out it was an actual job! For me its the distillation of
editing taking something thats two hours long and telling its story in anywhere between 5 second
and 5 minutes. Luckily for me, it turned out that the skills Id accumulated through theatre directing
and messing around with computers had actually prepared me well for trailer editing.
And now?
Im a senior editor, cutting trailers and TV spots for upcoming releases. Im currently juggling
several films: BATTLESHIP (Taylor Kitsch), THE PIRATES! (Hugh Grant) and THE BOURNE LEGACY
(Jeremy Renner, Hugh Grant). Ive probably worked on over a hundred films in the last 7 years,
including TOY STORY 3, DESPICABLE ME, KNOCKED UP, TRON, and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM.
Whats a typical work day?
The work itself is never typical, but the process which make up the days, weeks, and months
generally begin with watching/breaking down a movie for editorial content, creating a concept for
cutting, cutting and submitting materials, and revising materials until the concept is abandoned or
goes to be finished. The process for each trailer ranges from a few days to even a few years.
Why are the best bits always in the trailers?
Well, I actually try not to do that. The key idea is to tease the audience, leave them wanting more.
The rise of the internet is allowing people to put more content out there, from the first five minutes
of the film to the long promos that we saw for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last year. Its all
about creating awareness, and I think that everyone goes a long way to avoid spoiling the film
experience.
Whats the best thing about your job?
Well, one of the best things is being able to see films years before theyre released you really feel
part of the process. Then theres solving extremely challenging problems. Every project is
completely different from the next and you have to exercise all your creative acumen since its your
responsibility. You have to tell a clear concise story, create a tone through selecting and cutting
music, develop a visual style through editorial while collaborating with graphic artists and solving
the challenges of the narrative in a way that satisfies the producer, the studio, and often the talent
involved with the picture.

What is it that you think makes you good at what you do?
For me, I think its a combination of being diverse creatively (music, web design, creative writing
background) and very critical of my work. This generally forces me to work a little harder, but I
often find you get out what you put in. I like to think Im a perfectionist. Not that everything I do is
always perfect in everyones eyes, but I have to have everything up to my personal standards before
it goes anywhere.
What are you most proud of?
Im really proud of the teaser trailer I created last year for Aardmans film The Pirates! The client
came to us with a brief for something original and I came up with the idea of rewriting the lyrics to
Drunken Sailor to sing through a list of all the fun things in the film. It ended up having a nice, silly,
tone that the guys at Aardman really liked as it fit with the film. They put a karaoke version on
Facebook and people could record their own version of the song in this day and age, and with the
advent of digital, its really important that films create a piece of advertising that helps their film get
noticed, and things like that are a fun way of doing it.
Any advice for people looking to create a great trailer?
Id say the most important thing is to watch trailers as many trailers as you can, look at the nuances,
how they build the story, create the gags or the scary jumps; how they make the emotional
moments, all with editing short hand. Also, the big lesson is the trailer is not the film. Dont get
bogged down trying to explain everything, thats the films job. Choose a story through line for your
trailer; youre looking for the best way to get an audience. All films have their strengths, so play to
them. Know the ending, the theme and the feeling you want to leave the viewer with. And for me,
music is probably the most important tool we have. More than anything it quickly indicates tone
and rhythm, which are massively important in the short form.
Here are links to a couple of trailers and TV spots Ric has edited in the past.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hicMZpkl9-w - Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-ESq-Z8Vqc - Cemetery Junction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWOFLtsDvbw - The Pirates! In an Adventure with
Scientists
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6vpFUsG7Dw - Battleship
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtmb2Wxr_o - The Lorax
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfUZND486Ik - The Invention of Lying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5JeFffjw-4 - Diary of a Wimpy Kid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Ac2P7qI3U - Miss Potter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gDFIGAXZa4 - Toy Story 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmU-059skZY - Smokin Aces
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDrSA1gTuKc - The Bourne Legacy

El trailer cinematogrfico como herramienta en la publicidad

bidireccional
Nuez, Alejandro M.
El Proyecto de Grado trata la creacin de un trailer cinematogrficode la pelcula Trainspotting
(Boyle, 1996). El formatoutilizado ser el de video-clip y se publicitar dentro de lamisma pieza
audiovisual la banda de sonido de Underworld,Born Slippy.La publicidad cinematogrfica y
discogrfica siempre hantrabajado de manera independiente realizando distintosproductos
audiovisuales, con diferentes alcances y targetspublicitarios. Si bien esto funciona (ya que a la hora
decomunicar, ambas piezas lo hacen) no existe un productoaudiovisual que consolide ambas piezas
en una sola. Es decir,un producto audiovisual que tenga dos targets publicitarios,y las
caractersticas de ambas piezas.Por lo general cuando se ve un film y despus se escucha lamsica
por separado, esta ltima transporta automticamenteal film, como por ejemplo ocurre en la
pelcula Gladiador(Scott, 2000). Otras veces pasa lo contrario, cuando alguienescucha la meloda de
Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) automticamentese sugiere la idea de Sam tocando el piano. Estas
dosparticularidades suceden porque dentro del film el audio y lasimgenes se fusionan
dramticamente, de tal manera que setransforman en una sola unidad dramtica. No se puede
decirque esto sucede en todas las pelculas, ya que no todas logranesta unidad, pero en la mayora
en las que las composicionesvisuales y sonoras que estn bien trabajadas
independientemente,lograr esta unidad es muy importante.Trainspotting es una pelcula que ha
generado en el pblicopregnancia con su tema musical Born Slippy. El mismopertenece al genero
chill out - tecno y presenta una variedadincontable de efectos sonoros y percusiones.La idea de
trabajar el audio de esta banda (Underworld) enun timeline compartido con imgenes del film,
tiene comofinalidad lograr una unidad narrativa que emocione y motiveal espectador. Esta unidad
narrativa de la que se habla es lamisma unidad que puede evidenciarse en pelculas
comoCasablanca o Gladiador. La propuesta del Proyecto de Gradoes lograr esa misma pregnancia
antes que el espectador veael film, para de esta manera captarlo, y que las imgenes ysonidos
residuales que tiene en su mente lo lleven automticamentea ver la pelcula.