Friday, September 24, 2010

PREview REview: Harry Potter vs. Harry Potter

This isn't a review for the movie itself. It's a review on how clear and enticing the trailer is on provoking interest in the film, or how deceptive it is on luring you into watching crap.


I'll preference this with the fact that I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books so I honestly don't know what to expect from the Deathly Hallows films.With that said, a second Harry Potter trailer was released this week for Deathly Hallows Part 1, but let's begin with the first trailer that was released.



First off, I loved this preview. This trailer did lack one thing that most trailers require, plot points, which is usually done with snippets of dialog. The dialog in this trailer does not outline the plot of the film, it just moves the dramatics and action of the trailer forward. Now let me tell you why this was completely acceptable. Usually, a teaser gives you a glimpse of the film's imagery with no plot points, just to give you a taste, and a trailer gives you a bigger picture of what to expect from all aspects of the film. Teasers are mainly used for action or suspense based films. You'll never see a teaser for a Jane Austin adaption because dramas' only selling points are plot related. This was not a teaser, regardless of the lack of verbal plot hints. This was a full on trailer for two reasons...

1) The film's main audience already knows what to expect since they read the books, so more time for action.
2) (My favorite aspect) The plot points are laid out visually, even recognizable to someone who has no interest in the HP books (me). The land scape shots display the journey that Harry must take. Harry also seems torn from his usual trio, conveying that he's alone during his journey. Ron and Hermione are paired away from Harry to reveal their separate struggle (subplot?) And of course the beautiful conveyance of conflict and connection between good and evil. The first character scene with Voldemort and Harry is bone chilling, along with the closing scene of clashing beams, a stimulating display of the ying and yang of good vs evil. This trailer had me on the edge of my seat wanting more, despite my lacking allegiance to Harry Potter.

Now on to trailer #2



This trailer is just as enticing, if not more. You get the whole package with this one. Plot elements are shown with Snape in conference with Voldemort, plans for disguising Harry, and the amazing display of conflict between Ron and Harry. You get everything from the previous trailer plus so much more. But there in lies my only quarrel with the trailer. I have found that if a trailer is too enticing and too revealing, it ruins the elements of catharsis for me when I end up sitting in front of the actual film. This is a dying cliche in the movie marketing biz, but if you want your audience to be more entertained from the film itself than the actual trailer, 'less is more'. Given that this is an amazing trailer, I feel that way too much has been revealed at this point. I've seen about five solid minutes of action flashes and sequences now, and I have a feeling that I've caught a glimpse of every climactic action scene, just like when a comedy trailer shows all their funniest parts, so now I'll be sitting there thinking "Oh Hermione is being chased. This is the part where she does that thing and black smoke appears", and so on.

I loved both of these trailers, they are mastered beautifully to intrigue both it's loyal and un-loyal fans. But I think it would have done just as good a job with just one rather than two. I feel like I've already scene the whole movie while it was on fast forward, so now my only motivation to buy a ticket is to watch it at normal speed so I can see what I missed. The only problem here is that the two previews are too good for their own good.

Check out last week's PREview REview: Preview Review - The Fighter/Hereafer

For more good info, art, and tomfoolery check out RustyCage

19 comments:

  1. Yeah I feel the same about them. There needs to be more secrets in movie trailers. Cloverfield wasn't the greatest movie but the advertising with the whole shroud of secrecy is what made me go buy a ticket and watch it.

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  2. cool post bro!
    check both my blogs are interesting! ;)
    suppin can u rtrn pls?

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  3. i like your blog design:) cool post bro!

    "because i have something worth living for"

    Oh man i cant wait, i hope theres scene where theyre playing quidditch and like one of the players comes towards the screen. that would be so cool to see in 3D

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  4. great post, I love that film. But I hope, that will be good like the book.
    I will follow u :D

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  5. Google has no beef with CashGopher.
    They arent even the same things and they never interact.
    Also the follow link for me should be on the top left of my page.

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  6. i hate how they trick you with trailers

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  7. Thanks for not spoiling it! :)

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