Paying Attention. Movie trailers are among our highest media arts. We don’t tend to look at them quite that way–some would say they’re just commercials for a film and that is certainly their purpose, but in the right hands, with the right attitude, a movie trailer becomes an art form with an approximately two and one half-minute life span. How to communicate the drama, the excitement, the beauty, the comedy, of a 110 minute film in that short time period is the key skill required to produce a great movie trailer. These short films are created by editing and production houses who–like most production skills in Hollywood–are specialists. Their job is to sift through the movie and all of the movie’s various themes and scenes and pick the very best and most enticing, and then sequence it all into a single, compelling message. Not infrequently, the trailer version of a film is better than the film itself: quicker paced, to the point, dramatic, more tightly edited. This post is the start of a continuing series on The Art of the Trailer Film, and it’s from one of the most anticipated films of the year, “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice”. Enjoy.
The Fine Print: Embed via YouTube, who we thank for their graciousness and Warner Brothers and DC Comics, who are producing/distributing the film. All rights belong to their respective holders.