Movie Trailers

Movie trailers today have really changed the way in which people enjoy movies. Trailers, like most movies themselves have fallen into a formula. So called chick flicks are the worst offenders in this respect. Man meets woman under some odd circumstance, man and woman fall in love. Then some horrible secret is revealed causing the man and woman to fight and split. After some soul searching and learning the whole story of the lie and how it really had no effect on their love, they get back together. The End.

Movie trailers also are incredibly formulaic in this fashion. Some clips that sum up the story are shown sometimes in sequence and sometimes out. In the end, the plot is largely revealed, taking away the need to see the movie in some cases. However, this is where I'd like to reveal a trailer that falls outside of this boring repetitive structure.

The trailer for District 9, a new innovative science fiction film directed by Peter Jackson, takes a unique approach to a movie trailer. It seems to depict the movie in the usual way, however the movie is not usual. The first half is shot as a documentary and only that latter half plays out like a traditionally shot film. You wouldn't know this from the trailer. Also, the face of the aliens depicted in the trailer was blurred for a long time in the teaser trailers and even regular TV spots until the movie released. The plot isn't really revealed, just a sense of that there are aliens living on Earth and being held against their will somehow, despite advanced technologies.

From these trailers, I'm excited that I'll be seeing it this week. So far, the reviews have been incredibly positive. Happy viewing!