There are different ways to edit a film trailer, depending on the film and the material you have available. Doing something distinctive and interesting is always to be encouraged, but here’s how I approach putting together a “conventional” trailer.
Who Cuts Trailers?
Trailers are generally not edited by those who are working directly on the film, except at the lower budget end of the scale. They instead tend to be put together by the marketing departments of distributors, or by dedicated trailer editing companies. Many studio trailers are cut by full-time trailer editors.
If there’s no budget for this, then you may end up cutting a trailer for a project you’ve edited. I’ve cut both trailers I’ve been hired specifically to edit, and those where I ended up doing a trailer for a project where I was the main Editor.
The first thing to remember is that you’re not trying to tell the story of the film. This is the first challenge if you’ve been the Editor of the film. I also find that Directors really struggle to forget about the film and re-imagine it for a trailer. A director’s “trailer” often seems to come in at 6-9 minutes.
The job of the trailer is not to explain what happens in the film, but to SELL it. What you want is for a viewer to think “I’d like to watch that”. So how do we achieve this?
Watching the Film
Usually, before I watch a frame of the film there will be a discussion with whoever has hired me to edit the trailer. Distributors and Sales Agents in particular will often have something of a brief, even if it’s just a short note on how they intend to sell the film, which genres they see the film fitting into, or asking for a particular actor to be featured (especially if they’re somebody who has a small part but is now a hot property).
If you’re cutting a trailer for a film you’ve already cut or you’re in the middle of cutting, then your challenge is to forget as much as possible about the film you know inside out. You need to think like a new viewer.
One way to do this is to watch the film with a friend or partner who doesn’t know the film, or has perhaps only seen it once. Then question them about how they would describe the story, about what they would want to know from a trailer, and use their freshness to help you distance yourself from the film.
However I decide to organise my first viewing, I will open up the film and hit play, watching it all the way through, making notes on useful moments or ideas for the trailer as I go.
Collecting Material
Once I’ve completed a full watch of the film, I’ll ideally let it percolate in my mind for a while. I’ll start jotting down ideas for structure, and perhaps write myself a premise for the film so that I can be clear on what the film is about. I’ll then go back through the film pulling selects of moments that I think I might be able to use.
These selects will include lines of dialogue that are interesting or helpful in explaining what the film is about, or that create drama. Any attractive shots, or production value moments that illustrate the genre (ie action moments if there’s action in the film, funniest moments if it’s a comedy). Or moments that show the key cast clearly. Anything really that jumps out at me.
As I do this I’ll try to be as open to ideas as possible, making sure that even my planned structure is up for revision. I might also make a note of ideas I have on how to use particular shots, transitions I can create in the trailer, or where certain shots may sit (some moments feel intrinsically “early” or “late” moments).
Delivering Information
As is the case with almost any film, a key task for the Editor is finding a balance between too little and too much information.
Information is the backbone of many films, down to the basic level of understanding who is who and where we are. As the Editor you will need to select only the information the viewer absolutely has to know in order to understand what the film is going to be about. Of course, in the same way that a film isn’t just an information delivery system, the intention of a trailer is to make the audience feel things.
One of the things many trailers aim for, regardless of the film’s genre, is to intrigue the audience. After all, if you watch the trailer and then don’t feel the need or the interest in watching the film, the trailer has failed to do its job.
The most basic way in which a trailer can intrigue a viewer is to ask questions, or to set up situations that will lead to the viewer asking questions.
The classic Hollywood premise of “Man with a Problem” (it’s usually a man), inevitably leads to the question “can he solve his problem?”. Whether he’s trying to find the Ark of the Covenant, get the girl, or save the world (and perhaps all three), this narrative problem is what drives many mainstream films, and is usually the starting point for many trailers.
Structure
The first 30-45 seconds of the trailer will often be focused on setting up the film’s premise. I want to show the world the film is set in, who the main character or characters are, what the genre is, and what the premise of the story is. Sometimes this premise is complicated and needs to be simplified, sometimes it’s simple enough that just one line of dialogue does the job.
In a genre film, there are often three key questions you want to answer for the audience. Namely, who’s the Protagonist, or Hero, or Heroine? What do they want/what are they trying to achieve? And who’s the Villain or Antagonist?
Some trailers use a little mini prologue, but I’m not sure, even in the world of short attention spans and social media, that this is a particularly effective technique. Generally, I think shorter is better. Rarely do I see a trailer that feels too short, but plenty are too long, so as with most edits, look to make it as tight as possible.
A genre trailer will often build to an explosive climax, but for a drama there’s usually more variety in how it concludes. Whatever the film is doing, you will generally want to end the trailer on a note that you think will interest the viewer as much as possible. Perhaps it’s shots from an action scene, or perhaps it’s a funny line of dialogue, but think about the vibe that the film is selling, and how you can capture that succunctly in the trailer’s final moments.
Voiceover and Text
Very few trailers nowadays use voiceover, it’s been parodied so much (“In a world…”), that I think we’ve collectively decided that no one will take a trailer using it seriously anymore.
An alternative way to fix the problem of not having the necessary information in the dialogue to explain the film’s premise, is to use text cards. This can feel a little cheap, and also requires the text to be well-written: short, succinct, and effective.
Another technique that can look rather cheap is excessive dips to black, especially at the beginning of a trailer. Usually on studio trailers these are built using heavy sound design (BWAAAH!!), but I see a lot of low-budget trailers that simply feel like they’re trying to disguise a lack of production value with cheap tricks. Obviously I understand where that impetus comes from, but I think having a little more trust in the best of your material is a more effective way to do this.
Music and Sound Design
While not easy, selecting the right music track or tracks is crucial.
Music from a trailer can come from a variety of sources. Some use score written for the film. Some use score written specifically for the trailer (sometimes by the film’s composer but often not). Others will licence existing score, often and increasingly from a music library.
While many trailers only use one track, some will use two or three, artfully transitioning from one to another, a key skill that you as an Editor will need to develop.
Sound design is, as always, incredibly important too. In some ways, there are more creative opportunities to play with sound design in a trailer, adding whooshes and beds even in trailers for films that would never use these elements in their own soundtrack.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with sound design in your trailers, especially if it’s for a genre film.
For more information and advice to inform your editing, check out the site’s Concepts category.