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)