There are many components that contribute to the success of a movie. Of course, there are the obvious things: strong plot, relatable/believable characters, great actors, sharp editing, stimulating music, and stunning visuals (be they special effects or just great cinematography). However, there are things you need to do before people even see the movie, which includes all forms of marketing, and movie trailers are the most important of all the marketing techniques.

I love movie trailers. In fact, I’m a self-professed Movie Trailer Whore. If they hadn’t been eating up so much of my computer’s memory, I would have upwards of 1000 trailers right now, though I’ve sadly had to delete the majority of them. Thankfully, they will live on throughout the internet for all time.

What makes a good trailer? Much the same things that make a good movie, in fact. Yet, it’s much harder to do. In a movie, you get hundreds of minutes to go through your plot and such, but with trailers you only get a couple. In those few minutes, a lot of things need to be accomplished: explain the story, create an emotional connection with the viewer, plant the seed for wanting to see the movie when it comes out, and hold on tight!

Below, I have collected twelve of my favorite movie trailers from the past five years. Why are there twelve and not ten? Because I can’t choose between them! They span a broad range of movie genres, but they all have one thing in common: they made me want to see the movie REAL effing bad! And, they worked. I’ve seen all of these movies. Most of them were great, but some of them didn’t live up to the trailer, which can completely set the tone for the movie (rightly, or wrongly, it would seem!).

They’re in alphabetical order, since I couldn’t possibly choose a favorite!

What about you? You seen any trailers in the past few years that sent shivers of excitement up your spine? List them below with a link (not code) so everyone else can see them, too!

Enjoy!

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There are a number of things I like about this trailer. It starts out with very simple music and slow moving scenes, and progresses nicely into electronic guitar riffs and hardcore action sequences. It also showcases the stunning special effects job done on the film. One of the best parts are all of the great one-liners that are spattered throughout, giving lots of quotables for around the office water-cooler.

Music: Just Like You Imagined - Nine Inch Nails (iTunes : Amazon)…
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Hello again, and welcome to the second edition of There Will Be Blog. Last week’s column certainly produced its fair share of discussion, and controversy. For those who got angry about your favourite director not being included, remember that these lists are just my personal preference, and I only had 10 slots. I enjoy the work of many of the directors I “overlooked”. But I did say I intended the last column to spark conversation and debate, and it did just that, so overall I am happy with how it turned out.

Which brings us to my second column. Apologies for the delay in getting it up, I’ve been quite ill over the past week or so. This week’s top ten is focused on actors. Actors are of course an integral part of most films. The director may be the film’s creator, but it is the actors who are the film’s identifiable face for the audience. They are who we see on-screen, they become the characters we are supposed to relate to or despise. Many movies are sold on the face of the leading man in the poster. But who are the best actors working today? Who are putting on the most consistently compelling performances? What actors will make me want to see a film if their face is on the poster?

First, a few notes. As well as my illness, another reason for the delay of this column is just how hard it was to narrow the list down to ten. It was bad enough doing it for directors, but with actors, it was far tougher, considering how many there are out there. Kevin Bacon, William Hurt, Jeff Bridges, Michael Caine, Bill Murray, Jake Gyllenhaal, Don Cheadle, Brad Pitt and many others came close to making the list, or even were briefly included on it, only to not quite make the cut. Shed a tear, in particular, for poor Matt Damon, who bounced in and out of the list like a yo-yo, and only got cut out with finality minutes before I started writing. So, if the complaints about unforgivable exclusions were bad last week, I expect it to be much worse this week. So let’s address some of the grievances I anticipate right out of the block.

There are no women in the list. This is not because I’m sexist, or because I don’t think women can act. Actresses will be the subject of a future top ten. There are no non-English-speaking actors on the list. This is not because I feel there is no international actor who can match up with the best of the English-speaking world. Rather, much like with the directors list, it is because my viewing of world cinema is more sporadic. I may have seen one or two films by a foreign actor (or director, in the case of last week), but not enough of their back catalogue to give a more comprehensive verdict on their merits. Take, for example, Javier Bardem. He was on the list for a long time when I was developing it, but I ultimately removed him because I’ve only seen three of his films – “No Country for Old Men”, “The Sea Inside” and “Before Night Falls”. While he made quite an impact on me in those films, I think I’m missing too much of his other work to fairly include him in the list over actors I have a deeper knowledge of. As with last week, this is not an “all-time greats” list. This is a list of the actors I feel are giving us the best performances NOW. Some didn’t seem to get this last week, and chewed me out for not including the likes of Stanley Kubrick or James Cameron. I hope I don’t get any “GAH NO MARLON BRANDO DIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!” posts this week!

Finally, I’d like to note that, while I just listed 10 directors in no particular order last week, this week I’m ranking the actors 10-1. Again, you are welcome to post your own top 10s in response, as well as your feedback on my list.…
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Hello, and welcome to the first edition of There Will Be Blog, the first – I hope – of many to come, depending on the response this one gets. I should perhaps introduce myself. Hello, I’m John Lees, Scottish film buff, and I happen to love talking about films so much that I write overlong columns ranting and raving about them! The idea is that each week (or whenever I can be bothered to write) I’ll post a new film-related column. Right now, the format is going to be based around a variety of cinematic top tens, but that may change in future, if I have an issue I wish to discuss, or a film I wish to review in-depth. I by no means claim to be any kind of definitive authority on cinema, and so my thoughts are not intended as the final word, or even representative of Filmonic as a whole, but rather as a conversation starter. If anyone else wants to give me feedback on my choices, or post up their own top ten lists, then they are very much welcome to do so.

So, for this first week, I’ve decided to talk about one of the key creative figures in film, the director. A world-class director can make an average film good, a good film great, and a great film into a classic. Of course, a good story is crucial to get a truly great film (and you’ll find many of the directors on my list are in fact writer/directors), but film is also a visual medium. The best directors can generate meaning through image, through the framing of scenes, through the very rhythm of a film, to create a film that both serves the story, and stands a unique expression of that director’s creativity.

There have been many best director lists over the years, and the usual suspects tend to fill up the top spots. Kubrick, Altman, Hitchcock, Welles. And deservedly so! They are all legends in their own right. But to make things a bit different for my list, and to perhaps give some credit to deserving directors who don’t always get recognition, I am not doing a “Best Directors of All-Time” list. Instead, I’m going to look at who I believe are the ten best directors working now. Who is consistently delivering the most consistent, compelling cinema, right now? For this week, my top ten is in no particular order, as I don’t think it would be fair to rank a group of directors who are different, but all great in their own way. For each entrant on the list, I have looked up a clip from what I feel are their stand-out films, and I’ll say now that in many cases it’s been difficult to choose just one! I hope you enjoy reading, and watching, and replying.…
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