A lonely new trailer (The Grace Card) tonight, surrounded by no less than 8 posters from 3 three films (How Do You Know, True Grit and Yogi Bear)
THE GRACE CARD
Plot Summary: Two cop partners face different life struggles as one tries to understand why God put him on the earth and the other struggles with the mistakes he’s made with one dead child and another clinging to life. Release Date:February 25, 2011
Trailer
Poster
Rating:C Commentary: Fairly generic film with limited performances and ideals that even when espoused in the 1950s felt a bit hollow. It’s not a film I would be interested in, but it will certainly find its niche.
Rating:B- Commentary: Horribly generic layout and image selection, but the coloring is crisp and visually appealing.
Plot Summary: To avenge her father’s murder, a young orphan seeks out a legendary sheriff to help her track down his killer. Release Date:December 22, 2010
Rating:B- (All) Commentary: And here we have examples of character posters that work to a point. The overall design work is strong, though the carried-over font design doesn’t work well for me. Still, they are more impressive than the first two posters, which may be why I’m giving them such leeway.
Trailer Link: See Previous Preview Oscar Chances: See Previous Preview
YOGI BEAR, posters #3, #4 & #5
Plot Summary: A live-action/cgi hybrid adaptation of the classic cartoon about a talking bear and his young cub cohort who steal picnic baskets from unsuspecting campers. Release Date:December 17, 2010
Rating:C+ (All) Commentary: Such large images, even though themed. If I were right next to these huge posters, I’d be a bit ill. They are more interesting than a lot of posters done for kids’ films, but they are a bit too chaotic for their own good. And although the third poster isn’t as excessively gross as the first two, it’s not that much more interesting.
Trailer Link: See Previous Preview Oscar Chances: See Previous Preview
HOW DO YOU KNOW, poster
Plot Summary: Trying to figure out what she wants from life, a New Yorker finds herself torn between her current boyfriend and another man. Release Date:December 17, 2010
Rating:C Commentary: There are primary colors and then there’s jack. I don’t know if they actually lifted some of these images from the film, but it’s mostly a failure with no originality, expressiveness or inventiveness.
Trailer Link: See Previous Preview Oscar Chances: See Previous Preview
Trailer crafting isn’t an exact art, per se, when you have studio input and focus groups constantly testing the material, there isn’t much room left for any sort of creativity. As I sit in on creative in-house meetings where exciting ideas are thrown around. Soon after, however, the the studio will shoot it down because the average audience member simply wouldn’t get it. Our Version 1 of any TV spot or trailer is the most creative we’re ever allowed to be. Subsequent versions become something else. All part of the business, I suppose.
My company worked on the film trailer for The Grace Card and yeah, your right, generic to a point. Not my cup of tea, but we’ll hopefully work on something a little better down the line
I’ve always been curious about trailer crafting. How much of it is in-house decision and how much of it is studio decision? Some trailers leave things to the imagination and others just strip all inventiveness out in favor of predictability. How many studios actually even produce their own trailers. To my knowledge, it isn’t many.
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