4-8 minute trailer help

[Roger Gunkel]

Clive, I really don't think any of the posts are trying to say that one style is better than another, that has been well debated on other threads. The OP wanted advice on how he should put a trailer together and I think that there is nothing wrong in producing a trailer to give to the bride and to use it as a promotion tool. My advice and I think that of others, is to make sure that if your trailer is being used for promotion, that it is representative of what you do to avoid later problems.

Roger

[Steve Bleasdale]

Ok Terry if you want to do a boss trailer and you are getting well paid for the trailer and feature film, then think Impact/Emotion/. You have to hit the trailer running get the viewers attention, look at feature film trailers like flixter...Good start/impact, move to emotion, move to relevance the story, move towards the ending dance party ect...Here is a trailer that got quite a lot of hits in a couple days on vimeo and my site and decent remarks. And of course picking decent music is key also and to work with the rhythm of the song. I used to first cut in the time line highs and lows of the music to cut the footage to.
Wedding Video Liverpool Photography Liverpool Capture Your Moments Wedding - Videography Gallery
Kate and Tom

I used to do my trailer after the film was complete so I did not miss anything, now I just pick decent clips and throw small teasers together now as like I say time is money and effort and for what im paid the client is getting more than her share from me...

[Danny O'Neill]

Hi Terry,

Bringing this thread back on topic ;)

I know what you mean. I would look at those trailers which jump around and tried it myself but ended up being confused with the time shifting, god knows how our clients felt.

It would be great to see what you've done, we could then probably pin point exactly why it feels off.

At a guess though I would say you've time shifted but without knowing why. Have you used j-cuts and l-cuts in your audio to ease the transition? Also look into using similar shots to go from one point in time to the next. Take a look at our blog and the latest film on there. Notice how we go from the speeches, back to the ceremony by using a similar shot (and if you look carefully you will notice we flipped the ceremony shot so it matches).

Have you attended any form of education? Workshops, seminars, that sort of thing. Once you understand the mechanics and the psychology behind short edits you will be able to throw them together quicker, easier and with it making more sense.