Dear readers,

Welcome back to the Trailer Brief!

With the long weekend & U.S.A.’s disappointing exit from the World Cup, I needed a few extra days to put this together. Honestly though, who would have read it the morning after the 4th of July weekend anyways?

It’s been a while since I’ve broken down trailers myself, so this edition has an extra long Creative Review section. There have been so many awesome trailers in the last couple of months!

Click the “Read Online” button above to watch the links below natively in the post, without redirecting to YouTube.

I hope you enjoy this (late)(and long) edition of the Trailer Brief! Thanks for reading!

Primetime — Teaser
Studio/Network: A24
Creative Agency: CREATE

CREATE broke through the “biopic fatigue” plaguing audiences and dominated the internet with this exceptional teaser.

Creative Highlights:
The two things that immediately stand out are the control-room video wall and Pattinson’s creepy impression of Chris Hanson narrating the piece. Both create such a sense of uneasiness — Is Chris talking to us? Are we being watched?

What really pushes the teaser forward and creates so much tension are the unpredictable changes in each panel, coupled with the clicking sound effect. At the beginning, you don’t know where to look. Once you get used to one pattern, another emerges. You hardly notice when halfway through the pace picks up, and the tension rises.

Craft Insight:
CREATE broke the mold and the payoff was massive. While it seems like a new biopic is announced every month, the originality of this teaser cut through all of the fatigue people had been feeling. By delaying the reveal of Pattinson as Chris Hanson, the audience was drawn in, trying to put the pieces together of what this movie was about.

The genius in the control-room video wall layout, is that obviously it alludes to the subject of the film, but it also allows the editor to slowly pull back the curtain, increasing the suspense quickly in such a short piece. By showing only parts of a larger image, or stretching a single image across multiple panels, the audience is constantly wondering what it is they’re not seeing, which is perfect for a teaser.

Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother — Teaser
Studio/Network: Orion Pictures & Amazon MGM Studios
Creative Agency: Mark Woollen & Associates

This rhythmic teaser juxtaposes an Islamic Hadith regarding respect for parents with Mahershala Ali slicing his way through enemies on a mission to protect his family.

Creative Highlights:
The percussive music track from the film score, along with an overlay from Phoenician Order Music, feels perfectly at home both in the dramatic family environment, but also in the violent combat scenes. It leads the charge from the very beginning and doesn’t relent until Ali’s character finds peace in the last act of the spot.

The narration ties the whole spot together beautifully. It serves as the perfect backdrop for the visuals, and gives context to what we’re seeing. The choice of flashing the film title whenever she says “your mother” was brilliant and pays off so nicely when we get the Ali ID graphic when she finally says “your father.” The combination of the voiceover and the visuals says “this is not your typical religious movie.”

Craft Insight:
The spot builds in a way that we don’t see in many modern teasers. It’s only 56 seconds, but feels much longer with how the drama builds and then settles for the last third of the piece. The pacing and rhythm are a lesson in how to be fresh and engaging in such a short duration. The atypical copy run, with such beautiful graphic design, immediately captures the audience’s attention and creates a lasting impression.

The Debut — Trailer
Studio/Network: A24
Creative Agency: Mark Woollen & Associates

The team at MWA put together a fantastic trailer that will resonate with anyone who has been doubted when trying something new.

Creative Highlights:
Bookended by Julianne Moore sitting in a restaurant, we see her transformation from the beginning to the end of this trailer. The chemistry between Moore and her costars shines by allowing longer shots to play out, stopping the music so the audience focuses on the setup and the punchline. The high-tempo piano track from Hit House and the custom orchestral piece from Evolving Sound, were the perfect choices to navigate the story beats and comedic moments. It also plays really nicely into the musical theater nature of the film. The graphic design is so clean and also fits very nicely into the world of the movie. It’s simple, but not boring, which is the sweet spot for trailer copy.

Craft Insight:
At first watch, it seems like the restaurant scenes are the same scene, but when you go back, you realize that it’s actually separate parts of the movie, as Moore is in a different outfit. It’s a great example of using different parts of a film to prove a thesis in a trailer. This spot is about her transformation from an empty-nested housewife to a strong independent force of local theater. Having that strong direction helps guide the rest of the editorial decisions from the beginning to the end of the spot. You’re not selling a movie, you’re selling a story.

Union County — Trailer
Studio/Network: Oscilloscope Laboratories
Creative Agency: [Unknown]

This heartfelt trailer is a prime example of how to market an indie film.

Creative Highlights:
In a film that doesn’t have the spectacle that’s easy to market, this trailer magnifies the stellar performances and documentary-like filmmaking. The trailer stays grounded in the lives of the characters and showcases the harsh realities that actual people struggle with. In an era where filmmaking talent is a form of currency, I applaud the decision to draw attention to it through the reviews.

The keystone of the spot comes halfway through. The review GFX states “it feels like someone opened the door to the real world” and then a character delivers the line: “Our stories might not be the same, but they’re still similar. I’m sure we’ve all had the shame and the guilt.”

Ending the spot on the open-ended question “So what’s it going to be?” while Cody puts his backpack on as he exits the warehouse was the perfect way to close the trailer. The audience wants to know which decision he’s going to make.

Craft Insight:
The beautiful thing about this trailer is how true it stays to the heart of the film. Big budget films get the luxury of larger advertising budgets, allowing for a teaser and a trailer + multiple shorter spots. A low-budget indie film gets once change to make an impression. This trailer captures the look, feel, and texture of the film. It sets up the story, while not giving too much away. It makes you really want to see the movie. It’s a perfect indie slice of life trailer.

Wildwood — Teaser
Studio/Network: LAIKA Studios
Creative Agency: Mocean

Audiences online respond to the emotion injected into this beautiful teaser, which racked up nearly 90 million views.

Creative Highlights:
Set to M83’s “My Tears Are Becoming a Sea,” this trailer highlights the artistic beauty of stop motion. It lets the visuals take center stage by not being too sound design heavy. Showcasing the range of emotions that the animators were able to achieve, along with some of the more subtle “how did they do that?” moments, was the perfect way to introduce the audience to this new world.

The story still comes through, though, even without much dialogue. We’re introduced to several magical factions and the conflicts that occupy their world.

On top of that, "From the hands that created Coraline” is one of the best pedigree cards we’ve ever seen.

Craft Insight:
We can expect a trailer closer to the release date that fills in the gaps of who the main characters are in the magical realm. The goal of this teaser was to give audiences a first look at the film 14-years in the making. The teaser succeeded in getting audiences excited about the project by satisfying their curiosity surrounding what it will look like. Leaning heavily on the visuals, and letting the sound design and dialogue take a back seat let audiences be fully immersed in what they’re watching. The story beats are laid out in front of them, and the audience is able to participate in putting the pieces together.

The Invite — Trailer 1
Studio/Network: A24 & Annapurna
Creative Agency: GrandSon Creative

Trailer 2 came out last month, which made me revisit this hilarious, uncomfortable Trailer 1.

Creative Highlights:
The way GrandSon toys with the aspect ratio is something extremely unique and works very well in this trailer. The feeling of the walls closing in, along with the staccato music track, makes the audience feel as disoriented as the characters do.

The song, a custom trailerization of Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell” plays very well on the premise of the movie, and the added orchestral elements sell the swinger-suspense-thriller vibe.

The graphic look is clean, and the rotoscoped text doesn’t feel out of place or distracting. The cast run is so clever, but the comedic moments in the trailer don’t outshine the suspenseful moments, which can be tricky with a cast that includes Seth Rogan.

Craft Insight:
I really love how this trailer allowed one song to carry us from the very beginning through the end of the spot. The trailerization allows the song to build in a very unique way, creating natural gaps for stopdowns and jokes to land. It helps the whole spot feel very cohesive, even though it bounces around with a couple non sequiturs and throwaway jokes.

The lesson on the cast run is to find unique moments in the film that lend to clever uses in a trailer, not "let the cast introduce themselves.”

Vought Rising — First Look
Studio/Network: Amazon Prime Video
Creative Agency: X/AV

X/AV ushers in the next era of Prime Video superheroism with this fun trailer.

Creative Highlights:
Propelled by Verdaunt’s custom remix of Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s “Strange Things Happening Every Day” this trailer transports us back to the 1950’s. The rhythm created with the diegetic sound effects and percussive hits help move the story along and introduce us to all of the new characters and settings in this famed franchise.

The song was such a perfect match for this trailer, as it playfully points to the horrific human experiments and sets us firmly in the time period.

Craft Insight:
Released as a “First Look”, this spot does a great job at connecting the new show to the existing franchise, introducing the new stars, and setting up the new story. It’s a tall order to do all of those things for such a famous franchise in such a short period of time. This was done exceptionally well due to unique song choice and cheeky inside jokes for the fans scattered throughout the trailer.