N.E. Brigand
Half-elven
Did they give away too much or too little? I'm inspired to ask by this review (by Chris Orr at The New Republic site) of the new film, 21, based solely on the preview for that film.
How accurate or misleading were the LotR trailers?
- Thread starter N.E. Brigand
- Start date
Isis
Bree
what happened to Aragorn's speech at the Black Gate between the version in the trailer and the one that made the TE (and EE? I don't recall any difference between those two, but I could be wrong)? The version in the trailer appeared to be more passionate and stirring etc, and the one in the film seemed flatter. But you know, I can't remember now - was it JUST that we were so excited when watching the trailers that it 'seemed' better in the trailer?
Except for tiny little bits that were in the trailers and not the films (which led people to obsess over that 'missing' scene), I do think that they were fairly representative. I'll leave it to someone else to go down the RFAD track...
And thanks to my LOTR obsession I learned that trailers don't have all that much to do with the director of the film.
Except for tiny little bits that were in the trailers and not the films (which led people to obsess over that 'missing' scene), I do think that they were fairly representative. I'll leave it to someone else to go down the RFAD track...
And thanks to my LOTR obsession I learned that trailers don't have all that much to do with the director of the film.
Arwen's daughter
Half-elven
Other than including the return of Gandalf the White, I can't think of anything that was overly revealing in the trailers. But, I had read the books and was reading some of the online spoilers so maybe I just wasn't as sensitive to the LOTR trailers.
I do think that trailers reveal too much these days. It annoys me to no end when I watch a trailer and realize they've just given away one of the big plot twists. I really wonder why filmmakers don't put up more of a fuss about it.
Thanks for the link to that review NEB. It's some great food for thought.
I do think that trailers reveal too much these days. It annoys me to no end when I watch a trailer and realize they've just given away one of the big plot twists. I really wonder why filmmakers don't put up more of a fuss about it.
Thanks for the link to that review NEB. It's some great food for thought.
Domanic Turamba
The Shire
The LOTR film clips were great, especially during the TT and ROTK, the imagery lived upto everything and it showed enough for both the fans and the new comers!
I understand how this topic is relevant! The movie 10,000 BC was trailered fantastically , and was far better than the actual full length movie, I know many close friends and family were so disapointed when they actually watched the movie!
That just goes to show how misleading advertising can be in our electronic world!!
I understand how this topic is relevant! The movie 10,000 BC was trailered fantastically , and was far better than the actual full length movie, I know many close friends and family were so disapointed when they actually watched the movie!
That just goes to show how misleading advertising can be in our electronic world!!
N.E. Brigand
Half-elven
Loresilme
Valinor
You can just go here instead: http://www.themoviespoiler.com/
Darkstone
Immortal
The first teaser let some of cats out of the bag: “Arwen is dying”, “Elves at Helm’s Deep”. But it all flashed by so quick the realization was only in retrospect after watching TTT and ROTK. One did gather that the cgi (at least for the trailer) was pretty good. There was debate over whether Blanchett’s Galadriel was beautiful enough (or even beautiful, period.). There was that closeup of Wood as a young pretty boy Frodo which reassured some and outraged others (such as myself.). But the two main things were The Money Shot of the Fellowship, and the confirmation that, yes, there would be three movies. Oddly enough, the inclusion, and thus rabid repeated watchings by fandom, of The Money Shot caused the scene to become ridiculed when it was seen in the actual movie.
The second teaser (actually the first for FOTR), set up the dark tone of Jackson’s LOTR. Also one could see Aragorn the Grunge, and XenArwen.
The last FOTR trailer was probably the best. It had wonderful pacing, like a little movie, starting out light, then dark, then suspenseful, then finishing with a flurry of images, including a very quick glimpse of the Balrog’s foot. (A nice in-joke. An assurance from PJ himself that his version won’t be wearing fluffy bedroom slippers!) I was awed by the Doors of Moria and the Argonath, but the purist in me was slightly disappointed that their appearance was given away. Finally, it’s interesting that McKellen’s reading of the line “They are coming” caused a lot of hysteria on the board as many asserted that it showed that McKellen was a terrible actor, that his Gandalf would be an utter disaster, and that Jackson was a total idiot for not casting Sean Connery.
The first TTT trailer started slowly, ominously, yet quickly swept into the mode of a glorious Hollywood epic. It ended by bringing everything to a stop with Gandalf the White.
The two other TTT trailers seemed pretty indistinguishable to me, but again obviously telegraphed that this was to be a grand crowd-pleasing Hollywood style war movie, with Elves at Helm’s Deep and more Arwen. Any purist going into it had ample warning that they were going to be vastly disappointed.
In all three TTT teasers the reappearance of Gandalf was given away, but really, one wonders if that development would be anywhere near a surprise to even the densest non-reader. Weirdly enough, all the complainers I knew were book firsters who thus aleady knew that Gandalf would return. Bizarre. Also, like with the Balrog in the last FOTR teaser, we were given tantalizing glimpses of two important cgi creatures, Treebeard and Gollum. We only saw the lower part of Treebeard, and never saw the face, and most importantly the eyes, of Gollum. So indeed the trailers teased nicely.
The two trailers of ROTK were pretty indistinguishable. Again, we got the quite correct impression that this was to be a full blown war movie, a massive representation of The War of the Ring. Again, purists should have considered themselves fully warned. And like the FOTR and ROTK trailers, we had a short quiet introduction that swung into full epic mode, ending with Sam’s “Nooooo!” One misrepresentation was Aragorn’s Morannon speech. It was played over the arrival of the Rohirrim at the Pelennor, and I got into a couple of very heated arguments with people who asserted that it was Bernard Hill saying those lines and not Mortensen. There were also some very angry posts on the board since it was apparent that there would be no totally covered helmet for Eowyn, and thus no Dernhelm. Oddly enough, though Dernhelm is my favorite character in the book, I knew how movies worked, and had long took it for granted that disguising Miranda Otto as a man for a good part of the movie just wouldn’t work. (I remember getting into a very hot argument with a couple of purists when I asserted that I, and indeed most viewers, would have been quickly able to identify Ms. Otto by her eyes alone. They hotly asserted that it was absolutely impossible to identify anyone by just the eyes. Purists!!)
All in all, I think the trailers teased just enough. And gave book firsters more than enough warning about certain changes. One does get the impression that the slow start, suspenseful buildup, and furious finish was a deliberate mirror of the films’ structure.
I do note the various scenes in the trailers that didn't appear in the movies, but that's by no means rare. Trailers are usually made before final editing, so a lot of trailers include scenes that ultimately don't make the final cut. It's just what other movies have had their trailers gone over and analysed with a fine tooth comb like Jackson's LOTR?
The last trailer was the Super Trailer, which gives just about everything away. Indeed, it’s almost a Clark Notes of the three films. There are some who say they view the Super Trailer whenever they need a quick LOTR fix. But really, the Super Showings were for the rabid fans anyway.
Good question.
The second teaser (actually the first for FOTR), set up the dark tone of Jackson’s LOTR. Also one could see Aragorn the Grunge, and XenArwen.
The last FOTR trailer was probably the best. It had wonderful pacing, like a little movie, starting out light, then dark, then suspenseful, then finishing with a flurry of images, including a very quick glimpse of the Balrog’s foot. (A nice in-joke. An assurance from PJ himself that his version won’t be wearing fluffy bedroom slippers!) I was awed by the Doors of Moria and the Argonath, but the purist in me was slightly disappointed that their appearance was given away. Finally, it’s interesting that McKellen’s reading of the line “They are coming” caused a lot of hysteria on the board as many asserted that it showed that McKellen was a terrible actor, that his Gandalf would be an utter disaster, and that Jackson was a total idiot for not casting Sean Connery.
The first TTT trailer started slowly, ominously, yet quickly swept into the mode of a glorious Hollywood epic. It ended by bringing everything to a stop with Gandalf the White.
The two other TTT trailers seemed pretty indistinguishable to me, but again obviously telegraphed that this was to be a grand crowd-pleasing Hollywood style war movie, with Elves at Helm’s Deep and more Arwen. Any purist going into it had ample warning that they were going to be vastly disappointed.
In all three TTT teasers the reappearance of Gandalf was given away, but really, one wonders if that development would be anywhere near a surprise to even the densest non-reader. Weirdly enough, all the complainers I knew were book firsters who thus aleady knew that Gandalf would return. Bizarre. Also, like with the Balrog in the last FOTR teaser, we were given tantalizing glimpses of two important cgi creatures, Treebeard and Gollum. We only saw the lower part of Treebeard, and never saw the face, and most importantly the eyes, of Gollum. So indeed the trailers teased nicely.
The two trailers of ROTK were pretty indistinguishable. Again, we got the quite correct impression that this was to be a full blown war movie, a massive representation of The War of the Ring. Again, purists should have considered themselves fully warned. And like the FOTR and ROTK trailers, we had a short quiet introduction that swung into full epic mode, ending with Sam’s “Nooooo!” One misrepresentation was Aragorn’s Morannon speech. It was played over the arrival of the Rohirrim at the Pelennor, and I got into a couple of very heated arguments with people who asserted that it was Bernard Hill saying those lines and not Mortensen. There were also some very angry posts on the board since it was apparent that there would be no totally covered helmet for Eowyn, and thus no Dernhelm. Oddly enough, though Dernhelm is my favorite character in the book, I knew how movies worked, and had long took it for granted that disguising Miranda Otto as a man for a good part of the movie just wouldn’t work. (I remember getting into a very hot argument with a couple of purists when I asserted that I, and indeed most viewers, would have been quickly able to identify Ms. Otto by her eyes alone. They hotly asserted that it was absolutely impossible to identify anyone by just the eyes. Purists!!)
All in all, I think the trailers teased just enough. And gave book firsters more than enough warning about certain changes. One does get the impression that the slow start, suspenseful buildup, and furious finish was a deliberate mirror of the films’ structure.
I do note the various scenes in the trailers that didn't appear in the movies, but that's by no means rare. Trailers are usually made before final editing, so a lot of trailers include scenes that ultimately don't make the final cut. It's just what other movies have had their trailers gone over and analysed with a fine tooth comb like Jackson's LOTR?
The last trailer was the Super Trailer, which gives just about everything away. Indeed, it’s almost a Clark Notes of the three films. There are some who say they view the Super Trailer whenever they need a quick LOTR fix. But really, the Super Showings were for the rabid fans anyway.
Good question.
N.E. Brigand
Half-elven
Darkstone
Immortal
...when do you start the Bresson discussion? Is "A Man Escaped" (1956) a homosexual philippic or a Catholic allegory? How does minimalist Bresson compare to minimalist Tolkien? How large an influence was the film technique on early television drama like "Playhouse 90," "Climax", "Studio One", and "The Twilight Zone"? Do Breeson's automaton "models" work better than actors? Is Fontaine a Christ figure like Frodo? Is Jost Sam? Blanchet Gandalf, Orsini Boromir? And what is it with the hands?
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
of the trailers, I have a problem admitting to any faults to them at all, except... I'm bummed at the teasers of scenes that never made it to the films (i.e. Eowyn in the Glittering Caves, Merry telling Pippin they'd see the Shire again, etc.)
And another thing... I like parts of the trailers that had different pieces used in the films (i.e. Sam's cry of NO when Frodo puts on the Ring... it has a bit of a curl at the end of it; and Aragorn's speech to the Army at the Gates of Mordor. I think it was more passionate in the trailer).
The music used in the trailers was perfect! Whenever I hear it now, I get of oooglie!
Now I'll have to go back and read the review so I can answer your questions properly. Maybe tomorrow. I'm really tired.
And another thing... I like parts of the trailers that had different pieces used in the films (i.e. Sam's cry of NO when Frodo puts on the Ring... it has a bit of a curl at the end of it; and Aragorn's speech to the Army at the Gates of Mordor. I think it was more passionate in the trailer).
The music used in the trailers was perfect! Whenever I hear it now, I get of oooglie!
Now I'll have to go back and read the review so I can answer your questions properly. Maybe tomorrow. I'm really tired.
N.E. Brigand
Half-elven
I've created a monster!
No, really I hold no such opinion of myself, and I'm delighted to see you applying your usual insight to A Man Escaped, but I'll need some time to, you know, actually see the film again myself; it's been nine years, one month and seventeen days since I saw it for the third and last time, and I don't own it (or many other films that I love dearly).
No, really I hold no such opinion of myself, and I'm delighted to see you applying your usual insight to A Man Escaped, but I'll need some time to, you know, actually see the film again myself; it's been nine years, one month and seventeen days since I saw it for the third and last time, and I don't own it (or many other films that I love dearly).
Lindora Maiden
The Shire
[angelic]The lord of the rings trailers were fantastic!!
Rivendweller
Lorien
the excited discussion that ensued following that peek we got of the elf plunging Anduil in the water to cool. He turned out to be....just an elf ! [sorry]
I know there is a company that actually makes the trailers. I do wonder if the producers or directors have final approval since they obviously send the footage to be used.
I always thought the ROTK trailer image of Gandalf riding Shadowfax up the stairs in Minas Tirith evoked more emotion than when I actually saw it in the film. But then, that could have been of the different music provided and the context in which it is presented.
I know there is a company that actually makes the trailers. I do wonder if the producers or directors have final approval since they obviously send the footage to be used.
I always thought the ROTK trailer image of Gandalf riding Shadowfax up the stairs in Minas Tirith evoked more emotion than when I actually saw it in the film. But then, that could have been of the different music provided and the context in which it is presented.