Scott Kirsner at CinemaTech, has a good post on whether the movie trailer needs to be overhauled, and looked at from a different perspective.
Here are some of the ideas he and a group of people came up with while brainstorming the idea:
* Why just one trailer?* Why are trailers only made once the movie is done and ready for release?
* What about putting out trailers unpolished?
* Why not put it out while in production?
* Trailers are too obviously marketing gimmicks.
* Why not use them to introduce the story, characters, personal issues?
* Explain why you're doing the project.
* Documentary trailers could offer more background, stats and images.
* Go more indepth with characters to draw people into the film.
* User the trailer to offer "entry points" into the movie.
The point in all this is the technology today offers directors the opportunity to offer up all sorts of content that could make it easy to get people interested in their projects. The cost is pretty much zero, other than their time, and they could have someone do it for them quickly, and just be the final decision-maker as to putting it up online.
These trailers don't have to be the "official" trailer thing that we always seen advertised, they can be put together and played in very rough form. People aren't interested primarily in professional trailers, as they are in getting involved with what's going on in the film, and making connections with characters.
There is just too many possibilities and opportunities to keep doing things as they've been done in the past. The list above is a good starting point on starting to try different things.
Comment Preview