This goes into the pile of standard fanboy/girl complaints that I am 100% in agreement with. Far too many films give us almost the entirety of the story in less than three minutes. Surprises, money shots, plot twists, everything. Now, for some films it's just impossible to do that by their nature. Say a Christopher Nolan film like INCEPTION or THE PRESTIGE. The trailers for those films did what good trailers are supposed to do: Give a primer on the the plot and characters, a taste of the tone and a look at the one or two visual flourishes that may occur.
But these days, even for dramas, they give away everything. In fact... Let's look at some examples right now. The aforementioned trailers for INCEPTION and THE PRESTIGE.
THE PRESTIGE:
INCEPTION:
What did we learn in terms of plot in those two trailers? The basics of what to expect. The consumer sees just enough to decide if this film is something he or she wants to see. It's not a beat for beat replaying of those films as anyone who has seen them can attest.
Now... Here are the trailers to films where it was given all away in three minutes.
SOUTHPAW:
CASTAWAY:
We find out WAY too much of these film's plots and character arcs. Hell, Castaway has one lone character and guess what... We learn he gets back home before seeing the film.
The worst part is... I don't know what sort of focus group testing tells them these sort of things work but... For myself they really don't. I don't want to know everything about a film beforehand. Granted, especially for genre works, it doesn't always matter. Spie films, super heroes, action films... we know what we are getting into mostly. But must they show us every money shot? Every moment that is supposed to be fist pumping? These don't ruin the film in it's entirety always but c'mon Hollywood... Don't any of you remember when Mr. Orange shot Mr. Blond in RESERVOIR DOGS? When Bishop showed up to rescue Ripley but then the Alien queen shows up out of nowhere in ALIENS? These were important surprises that imprint themselves on the audience and make for memorable and therefor PROFITABLE films, in both the long and short term. Today I understand there are outfits out there that do nothing but cut trailers. Often the directors and producers are not involved in the process... they really ought to be though. The trailer is the first contact people have with a particular film. You would think that the directors would understand that and want something that intrigues but doesn't give away the essence and experience of the film for free.
