The Art of Trailer Making — PART 1
In this article, I will take examples of some great trailers in the latest cinema to illustrate what makes a trailer better than others and sticks in your head.
When was the last time you saw a trailer and thought this is a piece of art? A few months back I saw one such masterpiece: Chernobyl. If you have been following the current movie and series scene, you must have heard about Chernobyl. But I am not talking about the show and how great it is. But I will be using its trailer to explain the anatomy of a great trailer. Other than this we will also have a look at the trailer of Watchmen Series by HBO. I would highly recommend watching both these trailers on youtube before you continue to read this.
The Recipe
Of course, as it is to any other form of art, there is a recipe for a good trailer. And as it is with any other form of art, There are exceptions to rules, always.
But we won’t be talking about exceptions. Not today. We will be discussing a basic guide you can follow to take your next trailer two notches above.
Pacing
The First thing to keep in mind is the pace of the trailer. It begins at a slow pace. But why? Because your mind is filled with noises. It is filled with information not related to your movie. It can’t just jump right into the world of your movie. NO. It needs to be made blank first. Only a blank mind asks questions. If you already have too many visuals at starting, the viewer will get distracted. You don’t want that. So you start at a slow pace. So that the viewer can start to absorb himself into your world. Once you have caught his attention and now the mind is intrigued as to what to expect, you can start. To start you need a good dialogue, a deep one if possible. The dialogue can’t be specific, one who is speaking this dialogue can’t be in that scene. Why you might ask? Because we don’t want to get into the specifics of the movie. We want a generalized version. Now that you have established a heavy dialogue you can start building up pace. It is up to you how you do it. Numerous examples are there but mostly it depends on the project you are working on. For a serious historical docudrama like Chernobyl, you need a more prolonged building of pace. For a more action-focused series like Watchmen, you build the pace quicker. Another variation is the trailer of Whiplash. Go watch it if you haven’t already. No matter what kind of genre your movie is dealing with, Almost all trailers follow this general style pacing. At least the good ones. Then there are exceptions. We won’t be repeating this exception disclaimer again.
Layering the music
The next ingredient you will need to make a perfect trailer is Music. Now music is linear but that doesn't restrict you to only use one. The key here is layering. You need to layer your music clips. Start from a subtle and low sound. Barely noticeable. Now start using small but effective sound cues like BWAA or other SoundFXs. If you don’t know what I am talking about watch this awesome video from Auralnauts called How To Make A Blockbuster Movie Trailer.
Another example I would like to take is from the Chernobyl. Look how they perfectly use the PA system sound and layer it over and over to create chaos, confusion, and fear. One of the main reasons it creates fear is called: “Fear of Unknown.” What it basically means is that it is a natural human tendency to feel fear when we don’t understand, comprehend or know about a thing we are seeing or feeling. Here you don’t exactly know what is being announced on the PA system. It creates the fear subconsciously. This technique is frequently used in cinema and is the reason why you fear masks and clowns because you don’t know their real intentions and motives. Blame the evolution, I guess.
That being said one of the finest use of layering of sounds I have seen in recent times is in the Watchmen trailer again by HBO. I can’t get enough of it. You have to see it for yourself how they layer one sound with another with perfect scene cuts according to music. Remember the scenes cuts and music have to be in perfect harmony for a great trailer.
Transitions
Now if you have just started to experiment in the field of video editing or movie making, you would have seen awesome transitions, zoom-cuts, and likes of it. No matter how tempted you are for using it in your next project, my advice will be: “KEEP IT SIMPLE”. If you want a professional final look to avoid using complex transitions. “fade to dark” and “sudden cut” are your two friends. Trust me you can make an awesome trailer from using these two only. Another thing you should keep in mind is to cut the video clip right when there is a sudden drop in the music. Use the inbuilt music visualizer available in most video editing software, to look for such peaks. It will take time to achieve mastery over this. Another important point you should remember while adding anything to your trailer is:
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. — Antoine de Saint-Exupery
That is it for this part. I will be realizing the next part soon. If you want to keep up and get notified, feel free to follow me on Twitter. Also, I would love to see what you make. Share with me your next awesome project.
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Thanks and see you next time.
