Trailers--is there a downside?

dar

dar

A friend of mine is launching her first feature film, a horror/thriller. She's been given some advice about trailers that contradicts what I've learned, but I'm less than a newbie.

The question is: Is there any disadvantage, in terms of distributors, festivals, etc., to releasing a trailer for your film?

I thought it was pretty much a standard, even a necessity. But she's been told by some people that it can backfire on you (without much detail on what "backfire" means).

Can anyone give an opinion on this matter?

Thank you!
 
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I'd wager that the person saying that probably had a bad trailer for their movie and it only hurt them. As, of course, a bad trailer should hurt the image of your feature film or short, or whatever.

Trailers are meant to entice an audience into spending time and/or money. Thus, it is an artform unlike actually editing the movie itself. It's the reason why trailer editors get thousands upon thousands of dollars to cut them, and some only edit promos or movie trailers for a living.

If you have a good trailer, a lot of the times even if the product is not as good as the trailer, it will garner attention.
 
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Kholi said:
Trailers are meant to entice an audience into spending time and/or money. Thus, it is an artform unlike actually editing the movie itself. It's the reason why trailer editors get thousands upon thousands of dollars to cut them, and some only edit promos or movie trailers for a living.
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Pretty much this. :cool:

At the Vegas IndieMeet (hosted by ScoopicMan), one of the guest speakers is the guy who cuts the trailers for LionsGate. Spacing on his name atm. That's all he does. Just cuts trailers.

You know that expression, "Don't sell the steak; sell the sizzle!" ? That's his job.
 
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Zensteve said:
Pretty much this. :cool:

At the Vegas IndieMeet (hosted by ScoopicMan), one of the guest speakers is the guy who cuts the trailers for LionsGate. Spacing on his name atm. That's all he does. Just cuts trailers.

You know that expression, "Don't sell the steak; sell the sizzle!" ? That's his job.
Click to expand...

I would love to learn more about that. I would love to be able to cut down what I'm trying to express down to the essentials. It's not something I would need for everything, but it might still be something useful to have in the tank.
 
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Thanks for the info, guys.

Just to be clear, as I'm so new to this. Is there any reason why (besides the fact that the trailer might suck) a distributor would not want the film that had released a trailer already? That is what she was told--that distributors don't want you to release anything before they have a crack at it.
 
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There are various things that could hurt the sale of your feature film, releasing a trailer early is one of those things. By allowing a public eye and commentary, you may decrease the interest in your project inadvertently through negative attention.

However, it could also help a lot. If you get a lot of positive press, you get eyes. Some people will benefit from it.

It is a distributors job, though, to determine how they want to release a product to its full potential, and part of that is releasing the trailer strategically with press as well. They will probably have better press outlets than you, in this case.

Choose wisely.
 
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