Did You See the Trailer for...?

“They make games like war and war like a game. They make GAMES like WAR and WAR like a GAME! THEY MAKE GAMES LIKE WAR AND WAR LIKE A GAME!!!”

These 30 words have been echoing in my head for days. Not because I’m going crazy, (I mean, let’s not strike that from possibility) but because I recently came across the trailer for Non Euclidean’s War Fantasy. 90 seconds long, one descriptor from a review: “Imagine The Stanley Parable met Spec Ops: The Line.” A commenter on the War Fantasy trailer had one thing to say regarding that descriptor: 

“Sold.”

A still from the War Fantasy trailer

I’ve never played any of these games. Yet. But the War Fantasy trailer made me spiral into trying to learn everything I could about this upcoming game, from a tiny studio no one has ever heard of before.

Let me clarify this: I’m not a gamer. As previously mentioned on this page, I am a complete and total nerd for cinema and television. Hell, I’ve been playing Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, an actual kids game, more than I’ve ever played a game before. Cinema nerd sure, but what I am as well, is an advertiser. So, when I see a trailer for a movie or show, I usually know whether it’ll be worth the watch, or something you can skip. What’s worth the watch based on the trailer? Na Hong-Jin’s Hope. What do I think I’ll skip in the theater? David Robert Mitchell’s The End of Oak Street. 

Thus, we find ourselves on today’s topic: The Art of Trailers. 

A good trailer does exactly what the War Fantasy trailer did to me. Like a parasite, it sticks in your mind for days, if not weeks at a time. The trailer for Backrooms is a prime example of what a film's marketing campaign should be based around. It got the point across, without telling the audience more than they needed to know. 

Side note: I thought Backrooms was good. I’ve seen a lot of hate on the internet since its release. People are complaining that it’s bad, or flat out the worst movie of the year. Anyone who says that has absolutely no taste and shouldn’t be relied upon for their opinions on film. Was it the best movie I’ve ever seen? Of course not, but it’s in no way, shape, or form, a bad movie. Backrooms did exactly what it was supposed to do, and that is creep the viewer all the way out. At multiple times throughout the film I was utterly frozen, chills running down my spine. Was it as scary as Obsession? Not by a long shot. But it was a lot creepier. Which is exactly what content surrounding The Backrooms and the original premise is supposed to be: creepy as all hell. So anyone who tells you the movie is plain bad, doesn’t know a thing about the premise. 

Have you ever seen a trailer and thought to yourself, “Do I need to see this movie? I feel like I just watched the whole film.” A very distinct example of this in my opinion was for the movie Challengers, starring Zendaya. (Disclaimer: I didn’t see this. Why? I got the gist from the trailer. Nothing against the studio or actors, I just felt like I knew the plot before the movie even released.) I felt like I watched a two hour movie in two minutes. And that’s perfectly fine, but it’s not what a trailer should do to an audience. 

A good trailer makes you almost desperate to watch or play something. You want to be able to leap through time and sit in front of the screen that instant, yet you can’t. It builds anticipation, and in a way makes you anxious for something. You feel as though you know what will happen, but you can’t be sure until you’ve seen it yourself. 

Remember when the trailer for Avengers: Endgame released? The world stood still. I was on a school bus in my high school’s parking lot, and my class was headed somewhere for a field trip. Suddenly, my phone blew up. All of my friends were texting non-stop.

“Holy shit!”

“Who’s seen it?”

“This movie is going to be legendary!”

That’s what a good trailer does. Everyone talks about it, everyone has ideas and theories. What’s more important though? Everyone is allowed an opinion. A good trailer will have a workplace abuzz, everyone gets to say their piece, because no one knows anything yet. We’re all working with the same information. 

A good trailer is all inclusive in discussion. If you’ve ever had a discussion about sports, you know there’s always that one guy that seems to know everything there is to know about the NFL, someone else who knows more about the MLB than you, and some asshole who has a monopoly on ball knowledge for the PGA. If you get a stat wrong, you forget who won MVP in 1942, or you mistake where someone plays, simply because you got tired of foul baiting in the NBA and turned the TV off, the “non-ball knower” label is immediately dumped on you. This isn’t the case in other parts of pop-culture. You don’t need to know that the guy who directed Dunkirk also directed The Dark Knight. As long as you appreciate the art, then you’re solid. 

So what is the trailer? It’s the amuse bouche. The taste of what is to come. It’s like the cheese in the mouse trap. You get a whiff. You’re unsure whether you want to see it or not. Then, you get closer, the second trailer releases. You get a glimpse of the cheese, you see what is to come in more detail, and finally…*SNAP*!!! You’ve made your decision, you’ve been lured into the media. Some trailers, such as War Fantasy, are so good you make your decision once the screen goes black. Others need you to let them marinate. 

Take the first season of Andor. The teaser trailer made it look interesting, sure, but I don’t think anyone was truly sold. My first thoughts…

“Another Star Wars show? Disney, let it go. You jumped the shark with the sequel trilogy, and The Mandalorian was just kind of cool. Don’t you think you’re moving a little fast?”

Then, the official trailer dropped. They upped the ante on us. They gave us a taste of some of the dialogue, we got to see some of the bigger names attached to the show, and for the most part they demonstrated just how high quality the show would be compared to what we had been given thus far. And it would turn out to be the best show Disney+ ever made. 

What makes a trailer so important is its tact. It has to dance the fine line of withholding from the viewer, while also giving them just enough to keep them glued to the screen. It’s a form of diplomacy between the editor and the viewer. No one would have watched Apple TV’s Severance had the trailer been mediocre. Word of mouth would not have made the show so popular, and season 2, which took the show up 6 notches would likely have been cancelled. The Severance trailer attracted those brave few who watched first, who then told their coworkers at the desk next to them to watch. A coworker then told his daughter, who told her boyfriend, who told his buddies. Like the previously mentioned parasite, the show’s popularity spread. Simply because a trailer was edited to perfection. So don’t let anyone tell you a trailer doesn’t matter. If a movie, show, or game’s trailer looks mediocre, there’s a good chance the accompanying media will be as well. If the trailer looks great, it’s a safe bet that the movie will be too. 

That’s about all I have to say on this matter. I’m looking forward to War Fantasy, despite having never heard of it, or its studio a week ago. Like I said, those three sentences won’t leave my brain, so I’m probably going to have to play the game. Thanks for reading.