Which other trailers do you consider to be very high standard, not necessarily becuase of the film they represent but because of their use of music, editing, and great shots.

A few that spring to mind are Episode 1, LOTR, The Matrix, Judge Dredd and Pearl Harbour.
Any more favourites out there?

I was also wondering -
Who directs trailers? Are they made by the director, or some studio executive?

Agreed with a few of yours... Pearl Harbor -- what, what an amazing trailer... Then there was the film... For shame...

What else is there? Hmmm... Generally Bruckheimer's films tend to have good trailers, I remember being stoked for Armageddon because the trailer was so slick.

The Patriot also had a great trailer, then there was the film...

Now that I think of it, all the best trailers are for doggedly average films.

Most anything that uses a great piece of film music in it doesn't have a hard time looking good. I agree with you on Spider-Man, great trailer; much thanks should go to E.S. Posthumus for that one.

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Who directs trailers? Are they made by the director, or some studio executive?

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Usually they are done by specialty houses like (in LA) The Ant Farm, Craig Murray Productions, and Tony Silver Films.

A friend of mine works for one of them, and has done quite a few of the trailers over the years. Usually the trailer company puts it together, then shows it to the studio for approval/changes, etc.

Kevin

Hasta here mentioned E.S. Posthumus, and I just wanted to say that I just received their "Unearthed" CD yesterday in the mail and I must say I have never listened to any single CD three times in one day (consecutively I might add). Not only did Spider-Man utilize "Pompeii" to its full potential, but I could almost swear that the Time Machine trailer also used the track "Tikal" in the beginning of the trailer, and I think even the trailer for John Q got in on the action with the use of "Nara" in its beginning. That's adding to a growing list of movies that haved used their music....Planet of the Apes being one (though I really don't recall the trailer because Elfman--now this is just my opinion here--royally botched the music when it came to the actual film).

While I am on the subject of of appropriate trailer music, the same case could be said for the Matrix, where Enigma's "Cross of Changes" got so much publicity for it. And we all know that the king of trailer music still has to be Carl Orff's Carmina Burana - O Fortuna....

I think this whole must-have-music-in-the-background idea is really rubbing off me, changing the way I view trailers. Basically if the music is used right, the trailer is guaranteed to be good (unfortunately not so with the actual movies).

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Originally posted by Norman McCay:
And we all know that the king of trailer music still has to be Carl Orff's Carmina Burana - O Fortuna....

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Actually, I would venture to suggest that COME SEE THE PARADISE has overtaken the CARMINA BURANA...

Dan

Other recent trailers that failed to tickle my fancy were:
Dragonfly
The Mothman Prophecies
Signs

Episode II (This looks sooooooo cool )
The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring (What a cool movie)
Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone (This is another great film)
Planet of The Apes (And then there was the acctual film )
Monsters, Inc. (Great film too!)
Titan A.E. (What a film!!)
A Beautiful Mind (Looks pretty good too!)

That's all that comes to mind.

Vanilla Sky is most definitely not a romantic comedy. I've heard many people complain about the trailer misrepresenting the film, but in all honesty I can't see any possible way to portray the film accurately in the trailer without giving away something crucial to the element of surprise.

My favorite trailer of 2001 was most definitely the stunningly subtle one and one-half minutes that advertised The Man Who Wasn't There. With most trailers you get the impression of a salesman five inches from your face, proclaiming in a loud, booming voice all the shocking and exciting reasons their film should be seen. But with The Man, it seems more like a mysterious stranger on the street has just whispered all life's secret's into your ear, but it was so fleeting that both he and his secrets are gone in an instant. Thus, you're forced to seek out the answers (the film) just to learn once again what the stranger was talking about. Most importantly, the film paid off completely.

If you haven't seen it:
http://www.movie-list.com/m/manwhowasntthere.shtml

It's true how some trailers can't really give credit to the film they protray and end up being somewhat of a turnoff.....

Vanilla Sky is one example, and I felt very much the same way after watching Shrek - ok, maybe not a turn-off, but definetely not worthy of the film.

Incidentally, the fan-made trailer commemorating the 20th anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark was superbly done.... but I'm not sure it's still available since the site is off (indy20.com)

Other good ones:
Hannibal
X-Men
The New Scooby Doo teaser

Superb movie, horrible trailer.

I'm not sure if they're the same, but the one showing on Viewer's Choice is just pitiful. They basically put 3 or 4 scenes from the movie together, back to back, and they don't make ANY sense whatsoever unless you've seen the film. There's no progression, and I'm sure tons of people were turned off by the trailer.

Here's a trailer music question for those who know what I am talking, was this awesome trailer music from the movie? I ask because I never did get around to seeing this movie thanks to all those around me telling me how it was one of the worst movies they have ever seen, and I didn't attend the theaters for a good chunk of 2001 so I missed seeing the trailers in theater. I own the score but have heard that a huge chunk of the music was missing (3 hours of the movie vs. 40 minutes of the music; a big discrepancy there), and as far as my memory goes, I don't recall hearing this theme in the 8 tracks available on CD. I tried Soundtrack.net but I wasn't sure if their listings of the various trailers match the DirecTV version. I can't D/L any of the trailers because I'm one of the few technological primates still using 56K, though running even lower than that. Any help?

Great use of music. Any trailer with Shawshank wins me over.