Movie Trailers and Commercials

The difference between a commercial and a trailer is -- 2 to 3 minutes. Well, there's a little more to it than that, but not much more.

A trailer is a presentation about the movie that is shown in theaters as a "preview" or "coming attraction." It is 2 to 4 minutes long, usually contains excerpts from the movie, and often has voice-over narration for at least part of it. A trailer usually ends with a single screen of credits and title, set up similar to how they are shown on the movie poster, and a screen announcing when the movie will appear: "Coming this Christmas" or "In theaters January 15."

Normally, although there may be many different commercials for a movie, there is only one trailer. Trailers are popular. Most people who go to the movies are disappointed when there are no previews. There is even a television program on the E! Channel (available on cable and satellite systems), called, not surprisingly, "Coming Attractions," which shows movie trailers.

Scene from The GHOST AND THE DARKNESS teaser

This scene for the first The Ghost and the Darkness trailer was shot on a sound stage before actual filming began.

One of the reasons there could be more than one trailer is if the studio wants to publicize the movie very far in advance, before they have time to do the work of making a complete trailer. Often this earlier version is shorter, no more than a minute and a half long, and referred to as a a "teaser." Sometimes the "teaser" is made so far in advance that the movie isn't even made yet! The Ghost and the Darkness, starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, which was originally promoted for release in the summer of 1996, had a trailer showing in theaters in December of 1995. This did not have any scenes from the movie, which had yet to start filming. It had an ominous voiceover and music, stock footage of Africa, and depicted Patterson and Remington with rifles to their shoulders in waving shoulder-high grass, whirling to face an unseen foe.

Some clips from actual filming of The Ghost and the Darkness were available by February, when they were shown as part of a tribute to Michael Douglas at The People's Choice Awards. Later on a new trailer was made with scenes from the movie.

Even the trailer version that contains scenes from the movie is usually made before the movie itself is complete. Thus you will see scenes, bits of dialogue, or shots in the trailer that aren't in the actual movie. In the second trailer for The Ghost and the Darkness, the dramatic scene where Remington first meets Patterson is shown. After enthusiastically greeting Samuel, Remington turns to Patterson and says "Colonel Patterson?" "Aye" Patterson replies. "Get out of my way," Remington growls, and walks away, leaving a stunned Patterson looking after him. The "Get out of my way" rebuff does not appear in the movie. It's an interesting clue to the evolution of the film and seems to indicate that at some point the relationship between Remington and Patterson was to have been more antagonistic.

"Have you ever considered, that for every minute we're studying them, that they're studying us?"

The Island of Dr. Moreau trailer also has scenes that aren't in the movie. These include a scene where the little Possum-man reverently lays a flower on the face of the dead Leopard-man. There's also a scene showing Montgomery saying "Have you ever considered, that for every minute we're studying them, that they're studying us?" This may be from the cut scene Val refers to in the 1996 Letterman interview, when Dave Letterman asks if he took the part to work with Marlon Brando, and he says "Yeah, and then they cut the scene we had together!" The score music is one of the last things added to a movie, and it usually comes too late to make it to the trailer. In fact, the trailer score is often score music from another movie whose soundtrack is not very well known. The soundtrack to The Saint trailer, for instance, is actually from the 1994 movie The Shadow, starring Alec Baldwin.

The choice of which trailer will be shown before which movie in the theater is hard to predict; however, as a general rule, previews play with movies of a similar type, adventures with adventures, kids's movies with kid's movies, etc. Some theaters showed trailers for The Ghost and the Darkness before showings of The Island of Dr. Moreau, perhaps because they were both movies featuring Val Kilmer and animal mayhem.

Commercials share a lot of characteristics with trailers, including voiceovers, scenes and shots that aren't in the movie, and a soundtrack from another movie altogether! But commercials are MUCH shorter and there usually is more than one version, sometimes as many as ten or twelve. Although there ARE 60-second commercials, almost all movie commercials are 30 seconds long. There may even be some 15 second commercials. Television commercials for movies are variously designed to attract the broadest audience, attract the interest of people who are most likely to go to the movies, and attract the attention of the group most likely to be interested in a particular movie. The expense of placing a commercial is one of the reasons there are so many versions. To get the best value for money, different versions of the commercial will be made to appeal to the audience of the show in which they are placed.

This clip from THE SAINT is part of the "alternate ending" (which is in the book) in which Simon returns to Russia to steal back the formula.

Usually commercials for a movie begin to appear about a month before its release; however, there may be an appearance months earlier, during a highly rated show, to spark interest. There was a commercial for The Saint during the Super Bowl, which is played at the end of January and is one of the highest rated television shows of the year. Though the movie was not released until early April, by placing the commercial in the Super Bowl, the studio not only got the advantage of a large audience, but extra publicity about the commercial because of its being shown during the Super Bowl. (The commercial rates for the Super Bowl are so high that in recent years the commercials shown during it have become the subject of news coverage.)

This shot of Montgomery appeared in the trailer but not in the movie.

The Island of Dr. Moreau also had an early commercial appearance to spark interest. A commercial for The Island of Dr. Moreau appeared during the showing of the television miniseries, "The Beast," based on a novel by Peter Benchley, who also wrote the book that "Jaws" was based on. "The Beast" was a heavily advertised special presentation designed to bring in large audience, and by placing the commercial during the show the studio could reach a large audience and also reach the kind of audience The Island of Dr. Moreau was likely to appeal to � people interested in suspense movies about monsters.

In fact, the strategy throughout for The Island of Dr. Moreau was to place the commercial mostly during horror and science fiction programs.

The Ghost and the Darkness was more likely to be advertised during general programs. Different commercials aimed for different audiences. One from Remington's point of view was designed to appeal to older viewers and to emphasize Michael Douglas' role in the movie, one from Patterson's point of view was designed to appeal to younger viewers. The Thursday night before its release, the studio shucked out the cash for a commercial during NBC's high-rated "must see TV" block, trying to attract the attention of the largest audience possible. After the movie is released, sometimes no more commercials are bought. The movie is on its own. For other movies, though, follow-up commercials that quote favorable reviews are made to attract and sustain interest in the movie. The life of movie advertisement doesn't end even there, however. Later on there will be commercials for the appearance of the movie on Pay-Per-View services, Premium Cable Channels, video release, and broadcast channels. Each commercial will be designed with its own slant.

This Batman Forever scene with a giant bat, glimpsed in the trailer, appeared in a lot of early publicity but didn't make it into the movie.

Trailers and commercials are interesting to fans because they show how the movie was presented to the public, and because they often contain shots and scenes that aren't in the movie. The trailers for The Ghost and the Darkness and The Island of Dr. Moreau are, I think, both good trailers in that they give a solid idea of what the movie is about without giving away all the best parts.

There's a way to see trailers and commercials, mostly for newer movies, without being in the theater or having the television on "at the right time." DVD releases of movies often have trailers or commercials as one of the "extras." Trailers or commercials of more recent Val Kilmer movies can be downloaded from or viewed on web sites. The widescreen laserdisc version of Tombstone has a teaser and a trailer.

----Mermoz

WHERE YOU CAN BUY TRAILERS

... on DVD

The Island of Dr. Moreau� American and International Trailer
The Ghost and the Darkness.. Trailer
The Doors .. Teaser and full length Trailer
The Saint.. Trailer
Thunderheart.. Trailer
Tombstone� teaser and full length Trailer
The Real McCoy� trailer
True Romance�trailer

... on Laserdisc

Tombstone widescreen version� teaser and full length Trailer

... on VHS

Heat, widescreen two-tape version�trailer

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