Monday, September 26, 2005

when trailers are better than their films

am i crazy for thinking this? there are definitely examples of movie trailers that outshine the films they advertise. i'm one of those people who must be at the theater early enough that i get to see all the trailers, cause it's neat to get excited about an upcoming feature, but it's just disappointing when the movie doesn't live up to it...and ever since i discovered apple's movie trailer page a couple years ago, my predicament has gotten worse b/c i'll obsess over the trailers that i like, only to build up to a full length that makes me wish i could just have seen a, well, longer trailer.

a primary example:

the most notable is sin city. now, i enjoyed this movie, and i think robert rodriguez did a freaking incredible job bringing frank miller's artwork directly from the page to the screen. (i know some people will disagree with me on how good this movie is, but i would argue with those who dispute the second point - it looks simply incredible, like the panels just came alive.) still, even though i liked the film, it was just .nothing. compared to the trailer (#1).

there are two main reasons for why this trailer is stunning. (1) the music ("cells" by the servant). i've heard, briefly, the full song with words, but the instrumental version used in the trailer is so much better - i really think the beat makes your heart and breath synch with the rhythm (yeeeees i know that's hokey), but the music is helped out a LOT by (2) the PERFECT editing. this is a great example of EXACTLY what editing should be like - how it works with the music, how it introduces the visual elements and the noir, how it chooses which color shots to use and when. you get glimpses of all 3 story lines and all the major characters. it's just a really fine piece of work, that trailer.

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