To make a good trailer, you should really do the same as you would for anything else: study the greats, figure out what makes them great, then apply the same to your own work. Essentially, you have to convey enough to get the audience excited, without revealing too much. Also, a trailer should have a proper structure, and in a way be like a mini-movie. A lot of film-makers apparently tend to treat a trailer as a quick montage of all the best shots in their film plus a title sequence, which is a pretty counter-productive attitude.
This topic as been something I've been interested in myself lately; as you might be aware, recently I made a trailer for my upcoming Brickfilm. A particular influence for this was the trailer for Inherent Vice. (This trailer also motivated me to actually go see the movie in the cinema, so as far as I'm concerned it did what it was supposed to do, make me go watch the movie). I really liked how it was edited and almost seemed to tell its own story. Another issue is having enough material to build convincing trailer. I had animated only a few scenes when I made my own trailer (in fact, I ended up having to animate a little bit extra to properly complete it), so the final result ended up being slightly awkward and stilted, instead of being as smooth and flowing as I'd have liked.
It's also important to capture the feel of the movie in the trailer. Do you want to make your audience feel happy? Sad? Frightened? If you can do this effectively people will be interested in seeing your film. Bottom line, you have to tease the movie enough and get the audience excited to see the actual film.
Last edited by Mr Vertigo (April 15, 2015 (03:27am))
Retribution (3rd place in BRAWL 2015)&Smeagol make the most of being surrounded by single, educated women your own age on a regular basis in college
AquaMorph I dunno women are expensive
