It is no secret that a film can live or die with it’s publicity campaign leading up to the film.  If sold right, you can get butts in the seats to see any movie, whether it is any good or not.  Trailers play a large part in these campaigns, from the first twenty second teaser to the full blown epic three-parters, and often they are successful in piquing the average viewers interest.  Trailers are hard workers too and are often taken for granted by the average viewer who pays no attention to how what they are watching is effecting their psyche.  These babies have to offer a huge amount of appeal in anywhere from thirty seconds to two minutes on the outside. This might sound easy for a Disney adventure, but can you imagine having to be the poor sucker who had to cram the three hours Lord of the Rings into that little box?  Talk about a time crunch.  Trailers, like their movie mommies, tend to have a certain structure to them.  They start off setting up the premise where the second part dives you just slightly deeper in the story to hook you and then the third part drives it home making you want to DIE if you don’t see the movie now.

I love movie trailers and if this whole screenwriting thing doesn’t work out, I wouldn’t mind settling into a career as a Trailer editor.  I think if done properly they can really draw you into the story — a story that almost can exist on it’s own, without the accompaniment of the bigger piece.  Set aside the fact that they are constructed to make you want to see more, there is a certain amount of closure you get with a good  one that just gives you the warm-fuzzies.  A good trailer transcends a movie and becomes it’s own work of art.

You might think that this is a rather mundane topic to post about, and perhaps it is, but I have done it with some context.  I was recently shown the trailer for Brad Pitt’s new movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  Watch it here:¹

After the first viewing I was absolutely blown away, so much so that I had to immediately watch it again.  Now, I can’t say for certain that I know what the film is entirely about, nor do I really care. The premise is set up well enough that I’m not floundering and as the trailer progresses you can tell that the eponymous Benjamin has a certain tension with fair lady Cate Blanchett, and to be honest, that’s just fine with me.  Not being a Brad Pitt fan myself — I have nothing against him, I just think he’s overrated, that’s all — I probably wouldn’t have just run out and saw this movie before, though I might now.  I think the trailer is absolutely beautiful.  It’s moving and poignant with the music taking us on highs and lows perfectly in time with the images we see on screen.  Thanks to this joy that was the trailer, I am excited about seeing this movie when it comes out at Christmas.

That said, we can all look forward to the following movie.  Watch me insert my tongue firmly in cheek.

W.

I have absolutely no interest in seeing this movie and that’s not just because it seems to be painting Dubbya in a unsung struggling hero light. I think if I had to watch a biopic about the President Coat Tails I would have to stab myself and the person closest to me — despite whether the message was Pro-Bush or Anti-Shrub.  However, I did feel the need to add this trailer in because at the end it introduces all the characters to you and instead of listing the name of the actor who plays the character, it went ahead and listed who the character really was.  This is possibly because the glossy character portraits painted are so blindingly shiney that you can’t see who they’re actually supposed to be.  That, or it was made especially for Mr. President’s eyes himself, who needed to be told that this was just make believe and those people on screen are just “actors.”

Third day in a row my Wii Fit Graph went down in numbers instead of up (way to jinx it Carrie).

BMI: 22.23 (from 22.61)

Weight: 59.8 kg (from 60.8 kg)

A full Kilo! Though I expect that number to go up tomorrow after the huge burger I ate tonight.  Such is life.