New Approach to Movie Trailers

There is a growing trend for people to curb their enthusiasm to see a movie because all the best pats are in the trailer (especially comedies) and they aren’t wrong. The Batman V Superman trailer appears to reveal the third act villain and surprise team-up, 99% of the plot elements of Deadpool are in the trailer and even Episode VII recently tried to mislead the audience regarding a character’s fate…but the trailer ruined the surprise.

Trailers spoil movies and reveal more than the average attendee wants to see before stepping foot in the theater.

Instead of using footage from the actual film, the marketing team should be regulated to the scenes on the cutting room floor. Trailers should be made up 100% of alternate footage, deleted scenes and images not in the final version.

Almost every scene in a movie is shot multiple times, from different angles with slight variations on the timing and delivery. If these alternative takes are used in lieu of the actual scene then the audience can’t anticipate what will happen next because it will be different. This approach will still keep the feel of the movie without ruining the experience while watching.

Alternatively, there are sometimes entire deleted scenes that can be leveraged for use in the promotional footage. The downside is there is normally a reason these shots are cut and might not fit with the final tone but they still use the same sets, characters and production values of the rest of the film. It can still be a good representation of what type of experience the audience can expect.

An additional benefit to using deleted scenes is the audience (and press sites) can’t piece together the story ahead of time. Marketers could generate red herrings, reinforce crazy fan theories or save the best moments of the film for when fans actually see the movie.

This is just one way which Hollywood can continue marketing movies but implement a different approach that is respectful of the creator’s job and courteous of the audience’s desire to be surprised when watching a film, instead of just waiting for that one scene used in every TV spot.

How would you like to see movie trailers constructed? Do you think everything is fine just the way it is or should there be a new take?

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