At the risk of pointing out the obvious, that Straight Outta Compton trailer is an example of how to do a trailer right, no?
Posted by
con_carne
Feb 11 '15, 11:49
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A trailer that makes you actually want to see the movie instead of one that makes you feel like you've just seen the entire movie.
I am a sucker for movies about musicians. That said:
In several places, the famous songs (title track, Gangsta Gangsta, F*ck the Police) are mixed/edited in a way that make you need to hear the whole song. One way to do that is to go and see the movie! The hooks are teased but left out. This builds tension during the trailer. This tension is released when Ice Cube sings F*ck Tha Police in the concert scene, and that moment feels great, IMO.
Of course, the trailer is wise to put Dr. Dre in the center. You can see the "fifty dollars" scene as the gooey core of the film. But it also focuses on Eazy E and Ice Cube. These three are going to be the people the target audience cares about. There are a couple of other conflicts laid out. That is done efficiently so the trailer can get back to the business of dazzling you with its recreation of past time and place.
Okay, who spotted Snoop Dogg and Suge Knight? With the latest arrest, they had a chance to exclude Knight from the trailer, but they left him in. While notorious today, he was part of the story back then and that's fair. Knight is a tired-ass relic of the past, yet the black and white intro makes it clear the movie tells the story of a time when things were different.
Speaking of that intro, I guess it's necessary so the message of the movie can be conveyed favorably to a wide audience. Is singing about gangsters the same as being one? Some say it is, but the answer here is no. Also, these musicians seem to be acknowledging their responsibility for making violence and misogyny an enduring symbol of the west coast and they are at least saying why they did it. *shrug* Whatever. That intro is really for reluctant theater owners who are afraid of bad stuff happening at screenings again. People like myself who actually live in Los Angeles know a lot has changed since the time of the movie and I guess they wanted to gently remind exhibitors of that fact.
There are some things that are gratuitous in the trailer: the naked girls and Fast and Furious car chase. Meh, I figure those are included for an audience other than myself, but whatever. I never watched rap videos much and am not a F&F fan.
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