CAN A BAD TRAILER RUIN YOUR INDIE FILMS PREMEIRE?

The honest answer to a question about the potential of having a solid Indie film trailer is “Yes, a projects success depends on what it takes to bring attention to your Indie film!” and it makes a HUGE difference to the success of your films potential for having a premiere – but don’t actually believe that people outside of your little circle really care. Indie films come and go all the time, and most of the time, the only people that truly care about your film project are the actors, the production team, their families, and friends that know about the Indie film and what it’s all about from the team. So, what should you do to get the best attention for your film?

First, get someone outside of your circle to promote your film to all of the news outlets and through all of the local Internet news circuits that they can; having someone that isn’t biased to your pride helps out a lot. Local Indie film directors try to produce fancy websites and Facebook pages to help quick-start the promotion process, but directors have BIGGER things to worry about than try to promote their own Indie film. Sure, every actor in the film claims to have ‘this contact’ and/or ‘that agent’ that can help to get the word out about your film, but a true promotions director knows the real contacts to get the word out about your film. Let them do the hard work and give them the best material to advertise your project without remorse or recourse for under promoting it.

A solid promotional director will cost you money, but to trust an accomplished advertiser to push your work to the right people outside of your circle is the best investment you’ll have when the premier date comes dancing around in the local community. A proven promo-director has to out-smart the previous ‘big Indie hit’ that came before you, so it’s always a contest to get the best person at the helm of pushing your new Indie film. 

With that, you’re going to need a solid trailer. So, where do you begin with your first trailer? What source material do you need? Should you use real material from your film?

Well, trailers are a tricky thing. Some production teams use ‘trailer ideas’ to bring investors and producers in to help their projects with money or locations; the proper term is ‘pitch film’ or ‘sizzle reel’, so if you decide to work with a team who say, “It’s called a trailer”, I highly recommend you bail out from that team right away. These types of people find out the hard way about movie making, so as a growing actor, it’s always a good thing to know when it’s time to bail when you’re working with stubborn people.

If your team has an Independent film idea you’d like to ‘pitch’ to an investor or potential producer, you want to produce a ‘pitch film’ [or sizzle reel] which is usually a seven or eight minute look into your project idea. But, we’re talking about a ‘trailer’ for your Indie film, right? So, let’s go over what you need to present to people outside of your project to get them excited to see your potentially exciting film.

I will begin by telling you that having a ‘clique of friends’ to help support your film is a good thing, but you need sheer honesty to see if your film is worth bragging about. Remember if you’re an Indie filmmaker/director, people outside of your friends circle [or clique] always expect local Indie films to be crappy and lack material worth watching, so your trailer has to prove those people wrong. Always show them that you have class within the production, and that yeah, it’s actually going to be a fun film to watch. I know what you’re dying to ask; “How do I do all of that?”

As I stated earlier, it’s all about honesty. First time local Indie directors are always looking for someone to hand out accolades for every small scene they complete; but how good are those scenes really? How did everything tie in together? Was the mood you wanted to present in retrospect all there? These questions cannot be answered and evaluated by the production team. I hate to say it, but if you clearly have a scene between two people sitting on a couch, passing out what you think is a key point or important information within the films storyline, you should truly consider not showing that in your trailer. “Couch scenes” are considered amateurish, strong signs of a low budget production, and will give the audience an ill fated glimpse into the quality of your film.

I recommend for first time directors to set up a private screening for different genres of people after your films first run at post editing who are not part of any clique or production circle. They should be split up in several groups to best evaluate a rating system, evaluate flow, and gage interest for maturity purposes if your film declares a film rating of PG or higher. These groups can be split up in age groups, like this:

- First group 8-16 years of age.
- Second group 16-24 year of age.
- Third group 25 or older.

Keep the numbers of each group small to less than three per age group. These groups should be allowed to take notes and openly review your film. If you feel that the younger audiences[8 to 16 y/o] won’t understand your film or be too afraid of the projects content, remove them from the first group and add another age group who will help you get the right type of review that’s good for your project. Ask this audience of reviewers to be brutally honest as their review will help you establish a movie rating for your film; whether the film will be PG, PG13, or R. Don’t ever just assume the rating of your film because you ‘feel’ it should be a certain rating for future audiences.

So from here, let’s pretend you have your review and now you’re considering on producing a ‘trailer’ because the initial reviews from your unbiased group gave you good marks. Keep in mind that most professional trailers to a finished film should run under two minutes in length. If you’ve produced a comedy, make sure the trailer is funny; if you’ve produced a dramatic film, make the trailer dramatic; if you made a horror film, make damn sure it’s scary; if it’s a sexy film, make the trailer sexy. The best advice I can give is, don’t tell the viewer the whole story and plot about your film. A trailer is preview of things inside the project that best represents the whole meaning of your film. Push the envelope where you need to and if you have a film format that separates you from other Indie films, toss that in for good measure.

Some of the best trailers we’ve ever previewed have been those trailers that have presented the unexpected without giving away too much. Most of those trailers were produced by persons not related to the production team; meaning that the director put the production of his films trailer into the hands of an experienced editor who has actually seen the film and knows what will make the trailer tick to audiences. A good sound track is also key to delivering a punch [or dramatic peak] that fits the mood of the trailer. The prowess of your actors will be evaluated by the audiences when they watch your film, so don’t worry so much about trying to present the total acting quality in your trailer.

People love to see flowing scenes from one scene to another, so be sure to make your trailer flow constantly with scenes you now will set the mood for the trailer. If your trailer can bring in only one person outside of your friends circle to see your project, then the trailer has done its job. The list for bad film trailers is long and distinguished, but if your current trailer design has the following bad practices in trailers, you should consider cutting a new trailer.

- Trying to show the entire cast of your Indie film in the trailer; because you feel like you owe it to the entire team.

- Making up scenes in the trailer that are not in your film.

- Showing a plot twist in the film that gives away your film’s best avenue for stunning your future audience.

- Presenting the names of all of the actors and production team in a trailer “credit scroll” just to satisfy your crew’s vanity.

- Presenting a release date or venue location on your trailer; as you will wind up making updates to every change of venue; always present only one trailer for your film to use in all promotional venues.

If you’re an Indie filmmaker who has several successful films in your resume, the lists and the information shared may not mean much to you. But if you have yet to successfully break away from your local Indie clique and get impressive ‘outside’ numbers for your films premiere, it might be due to not bringing in the newer crowds through your previous trailer. Try a change in your post production habits, put your faith in an experienced Marketing or Promotions Manager, and try some of things we’ve presented to help you on your way to improve the attendance in your new films premieres.

D. R. Quintana

CEO and Editor of the QSE

Submitted as Liner Notes - His opinion is not the opinion of all of the QSE Staff or the actors who work with him on film projects.