When we humbly submitted our list of the 50 Greatest Movie Trailers the other week, we knew it would be controversial. There was internal debate about old versus new, blockbusters versus low-budget films, comedies versus dramas, teasers versus full-length trailers... and at the end of the day, we agree with Dan Asma, who defined a great trailer as one that leaves an audience saying to themselves, "whoa, I've got to see this movie."

Asma is a partner at Buddha Jones, a leading movie trailer production house in Los Angeles, and one of the many professionals we polled about what makes a trailer more than a mere advertisement and their own personal favorites. Besides having produced many of the modern trailers that appeared on our list, this group of trailer makers have won numerous Golden Trailer Awards, the trailer cutting world's equivalent of an Oscar (which is why we've linked to their memorable credits). Along with their picks, we also consulted with our own experts -- our readers, who have suggested many overlooked gems in the past few days. So while we still may not be able to wholly understand that elusive magic that goes into making a great two-minute spot, we are better able to appreciate it. First, here are the experts we spoke to:

Mark Woollen
Mark Woollen and Associates
Credits include: The trailers for "Schindler's List," "The Royal Tenenbaums," "Garden State," "Milk"

Across the board, I'm just a huge Kubrick fan, so I think his work has been incredibly influential in trailers, beyond movies and everything. I was glad to see on your list that a number of his pieces were there. [At the behest of the many readers who asked for it, we'll present the trailer for "Clockwork Orange" here.]

[As for my own trailers], I started in the early '90s and they've gotten a little more complex, but what I'm trying to do is bring out those elements that just give you an impression of the movie, hopefully not going into too much story, not revealing too much, but just kind of picking out what's special about a movie and trying to convey that. I still go back to the trailer I did for "Schindler's List," which is still one of my favorites, in terms of the emotional quality. It was simple with just a piece of music and really conveyed the feeling I was talking about in terms of giving you a sense of what it's going to be like to watch the movie.

John Long, Lee Harry, and Dan Asma
Partners at Buddha Jones
Credits include: The trailers for "No Country for Old Men," "The Hangover," "Tropic Thunder," "The Strangers," "Jackass II," "Inglourious Basterds," "Superman Returns"

Dan Asma: The most effective trailers or the most successful trailers are ones that had their own kind of artistry to them, meaning that the first job in a good trailer is obviously to sell a movie, but trailers to me that are really successful have their own kind of mission itself, which is to yes, build this heat, but also to have a certain process or way of telling a story that in and of itself is very evocative. And I think "Little Children" is a perfect example of that, where there's a real artistry in the trailer as well as creating an anticipation like wow, not only is that cool in and of itself, but I'd be curious to see what the movie's like based on how cool this trailer is.

John Long: There's something about the shorthand of trailers that allows you to create a message in a unique way very quickly. I'm going back now, all the way back to the teaser for "Jaws" -- it was basically this POV of the shark in the water, but it created anticipation, it created dread, it created this unbelievable sense of unease in a very short order because it was so masterfully put together.

Name (Required)

Email Address (Required, not displayed)

URL

Type your comments here...

james

i think the pineapple express trailer was the best!

Dean Imperial

The trailer for "The Big Lebowski" is up there...

jordan

What about The Dark Knight? That trailer actually gave me goosebumps.

Chuck Moran

As bad as the finished movie turned out to be (not special effects wise, I mean in shear dumbness), "Twister" had the best teaser trailer I think I've ever seen. Too bad the finished movie wasn't as intense as that teaser trailer was, THEN it more than likely could have been a classic thrill ride instead of the stupid-ass movie everyone remembers it to be........

steven

come on!!! Mortal Kombat has the best trailer ever!! ever ever!!

Max

Why do all of these pages have features scattered over millions of html, that user needs to load. Ok. MOAR advertising money, yeah, but user gets fucked in the ass.

Matt

I disagree with the majority of the selection, I honestly think that were a lot better trailers out the deserved recogition. Trailers like Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Dark Knight, American Beauty, The Usual Suspects, The Exorcist, Fight Club, Men In Black, Saving Private Ryan, and L.A. Confidential just to name a few.

Clayton

I like that the Kill Bill trailer was for the original version of the film, before it was split into vol 1 and vol 2.

Jan T.

I remember being completely blown away by the trailer of Léon, the Luc Besson film... Still, to me the apex of film trailers in its pure simplicity, sensuality and wickedness is the teaser for Eyes Wide Shut: just "Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing" and CRUISE KIDMAN KUBRICK...

David

Juno was maybe the best trailer I've ever seen.

• <prev
• 1
• 2
• 3
• next>