Wednesday

When a television channel is going to show a new movie, why doesn't it use the original film trailer to advertise it? The simple answers might be that the studio doesn't let them, or that the channel wants to appear original, but when so much time, money and research has been spent on making the perfect advertisement for the film, why wouldn't the channel want to use it? Trailers are laboured over intensely, often begun before the movie is even finished. Some trailers are better, or suggest better, than the end result will actually be. I try to avoid trailers for comedies, because inevitably they give away many of the jokes. A good comedy will make that joke funnier when you see the full movie. Trailers are a condensation of what is great about films: photography, music, script. In the best trailers you'll see some great, atmospheric shots, listen to some good music, and hear a few good lines. Still, the most original trailers have to be those that completely avoid using any footage from the movie. I believe both Woody Allen and Alfred Hitchcock have done this, but there may be more.