In a world...where one man...

I'm a sucker for trailers. When I was young I remember always wanting to go to the cinema fifteen minutes early because I wanted to catch the all the upcoming films (or 'extras' as my yaya would call them). I remember watching the trailer for E.T., bristling with excitement, and feeling a sudden craving for Reese's Pieces (I am the perfect patsy for product placement).

To this day my fascination with trailers lives on. I can spend a large chunk of my day on Apple Movies, wasting time and bandwidth watching spots for films that, in majority, will most likely suck. I know watching trailers is hardly a clear indication of how the actual film is going to be, but I've always approached them as separate entities to the films themselves. And it really pisses me off when I go to the cinema early and they show fast food and public service ads instead.

"In a world where (fill in the scenario)...one (man/woman/hero/pig) will (fill in highly implausible course of action to be taken)."

Of course, where would trailers be without the ubiquitous Trailer Voice?

I love the Trailer Voice. He's been a part of my moviegoing experience all my life, and he's not so much a cliche' as he is an institution. I saw a documentary on him once, and the dude is MADE. A limo picks him up, he shows up at a recording studio, records for a couple of minutes, limo takes him back home. You gotta love someone who rakes in six figures for speaking a couple of lines. As a former voiceover talent myself, I can only wish that I got paid remotely close to that...

Oh and by the way, the Trailer Man's real name is Don La Fontaine. Although there are several others like him whose voices we know so well yet probably never recognize if we bump into them in the streets. So let's give props shall we?

Here's the classic trailer from Seinfeld's The Comedian, featuring voiceover artist Hal Douglas:



Here's a great clip that features five of the very best:



I don't think I can stress the importance of a trailer enough. It's a one minute chance at getting people to sit up, lean over, and pay attention. You have one minute to intrigue them, sucker them into a sense of belief that your film is worth shelling out some hard earned dinero for. Audiences nowadays are all too aware and jaded when it comes to watching movie spots- they've grown tired of the usual fade-in/ fade out montage set to hyperkinetic bullet time set to a rap song by today's sellout rapper of the month. For a trailer to really hook today's savvy audience, it's gotta throw out all the cliches and present something different.

That said, check out this trailer for the new Kate Winslet film Little Children. I have no idea whether it will be good or not, but I'm pretty sure it will be since I pretty much love Kate Winslet in anything. What I like about it is the total absence of the classic trailer templates- foreboding soundtrack, the omnipresent "whooshing" sound effects, and Mr. La Fontaine and company are nowhere to be heard. Instead, it cleverly makes use of a chugging train, and uses the imagery of a child playing with toy trains as he eventually brings them together to collide. Brilliant. I'm there.