I find an article that considers an idea and concludes it's false is one of the most refreshing "hot takes" I could hear. I also felt like trailers were getting long as hell but apparently we were both just getting old. Appreciate the insights.
Today's Stephen Follow's sub stack write is one of my faves yet...totally interested in your analysis! I created a 1 minute trailer for my doc and in your research it shows docs have the shortest trailers..for a reason...one festival judge said my trailer didn't tell them the plot LOL..I knew I did it right...264 acknowledgements for my doc Interpreting Erik later...sometimes you have to just stand by your decisions. Love your newsletter! Donald D'Haene London, Canada
While I must leave you conclusion around your mood and advanced years to you :) .... I will say this- I love trailers and have loved them for years. The length bothers me not so much... but there is certainly a more recent trend (few years?) of giving away way too much of the plot. I suspect there is rationale around attention spans and social media reveals etc, but man, that is *the most infuriating bit about trailers in recent times.
Always great research. For me, it's not the length of individual trailers, but the number of trailers per session. Often 20+ minutes of trailers before we get to the film. Some are promoting films to be released 6-months to a year later. I'd be more tolerant if the trailers ended before my $20 popcorn does.
I would hypothesise that older trailers that may have run longer nevertheless had fewer scenes, each of which was longer in duration. So a three minute trailer in the 60s might only have half a dozen shots averaging around 30 seconds each. And of course there were also voice overs and captions! Compare that with today’s trailers, which often come with a “pre-trailer,” and then have significantly more scenes within them because they are cut much faster and therefore actually reveal much more of the movie. I’m not sure this would be easy to do, but it would be great to find out the average number of shots per trailer over time.
I find an article that considers an idea and concludes it's false is one of the most refreshing "hot takes" I could hear. I also felt like trailers were getting long as hell but apparently we were both just getting old. Appreciate the insights.
Today's Stephen Follow's sub stack write is one of my faves yet...totally interested in your analysis! I created a 1 minute trailer for my doc and in your research it shows docs have the shortest trailers..for a reason...one festival judge said my trailer didn't tell them the plot LOL..I knew I did it right...264 acknowledgements for my doc Interpreting Erik later...sometimes you have to just stand by your decisions. Love your newsletter! Donald D'Haene London, Canada
While I must leave you conclusion around your mood and advanced years to you :) .... I will say this- I love trailers and have loved them for years. The length bothers me not so much... but there is certainly a more recent trend (few years?) of giving away way too much of the plot. I suspect there is rationale around attention spans and social media reveals etc, but man, that is *the most infuriating bit about trailers in recent times.
Always great research. For me, it's not the length of individual trailers, but the number of trailers per session. Often 20+ minutes of trailers before we get to the film. Some are promoting films to be released 6-months to a year later. I'd be more tolerant if the trailers ended before my $20 popcorn does.
my rule is to not open the popcorn till the feature begins
I would hypothesise that older trailers that may have run longer nevertheless had fewer scenes, each of which was longer in duration. So a three minute trailer in the 60s might only have half a dozen shots averaging around 30 seconds each. And of course there were also voice overs and captions! Compare that with today’s trailers, which often come with a “pre-trailer,” and then have significantly more scenes within them because they are cut much faster and therefore actually reveal much more of the movie. I’m not sure this would be easy to do, but it would be great to find out the average number of shots per trailer over time.