Editing Trailers, and the Webseries 'Fuzzy Days, Noir Nights'

Ever since I remember wanting to get into film (high school) I always gawked for days at the trailers of my most anticipated up-and-coming films, watching the previews twice or more a day to get pumped for the film. The fact that even after investing a couple of hours worth a month just re-watching these trailers and showing them to friends etc. continues remind me how impressive and fun it must be to be a trailer editor.


Trailers are more commonly known as previews, they show us some exciting plot points and enticing information about the film without giving too much away. In order to keep people excited for the film, I find most blockbusters leave you with a common phrase or image to remember the film by. For example, Avatar constantly had posters of profile shots of the Navi and recently, the Robin Hood trailer, one of my most anticipated films in a long time, has the fantastic use of phrase as Ridley Scott films usually do "Rise and Rise again, Until Lambs Become Lions". The phrase alone leaves shivers down my spine.

I kept these things in mind when editing my trailer for the webseries Fuzzy Days, Noir Nights,(FDNN) which will be released September 2010. Through the process of reading through the scripts, mapping out a Trailer Plot summary, and adding a few sounds, I realized how much fun and how little time it took me to edit it. I spent about 4 hours over two days putting together the trailer and the only proplem was trying to show exciting parts without giving things away.

So here's a few tips.
-if it's a show or series, put enticing and exciting shots out of episodal sequence, this keeps them guessing.
-play with your video effects like fade to white, brightness, simple stuff.
-make sure the people or the camera is moving during each shot when the plot picks up, keep it fresh and use as many angles as possible
-music is key, it drives the preview as much as the occasional dialogue. So as the grail crusader once said "choose, but, choose wisely"
-be sure to put a fresh character in the next shot, or at least a shot where they are in a completely different setting and costume, keep the colour flow constant, human attention spans are low, damn plebs ( :-) ).

But as far as I can tell they are the easiest promotional tool to get people to stay tuned and they can make or break a film. Now here are some production stills from FDNN and an awesome trailer for Robin Hood. Take note, this is what awesome looks like.



Christian A.V. Petrozza

Comedy is in Brevity: That Guy With The Glasses Goes Viral

An online film critic and founder of the "(Film) in 5 Seconds" internet phenomenon, That Guy With The Glasses (TGWTG) has made countless movie lovers, and haters come together in laughter at the spoofed and satirical renditions of films in their shortest form. Of course these films are either summarized in the most critical but comical manner but at the same time summarizing their value in their visual and stylistic aesthetics and poking fun at them by leaving most of the plot out.

The video below is one of his videos on Amadeus, a critically acclaimed film with an elegant and stylistic aesthetics. Instead of embracing them, TGWTG decides to use only the parts in which Mozart cracks his most contagious and nerdy laugh (which he does often in the film) and end it with his abrupt and gritty death. This struck a huge chord for me because upon first seeing the film and reflecting upon it those were the parts that I remembered, and like many others I nodded at my computer screen and thought That's pretty much the whole movie.

Since his videos became viral, many people have made other "5 Second" summaries of films not yet done, often crediting TGWTG in the very abrupt and quick end credits.

This culture of re cutting or critiquing a film through its key themes, or elements of style and script which could make it funny has also led to the internet phenomenon of re-cutting films into genre-specific trailers. 10 Things I Hate About Commandments (Based on Footage from Heston's The 10 Commandments) is an absolute favorite and prime example of how movie lovers engage in post-production activities to pay homage and have fun with their favorite good, or bad film.

Christian A.V. Petrozza




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