Been doing some work lately on copywriting for video and scripting videos for clients.
That’s given me plenty of excuses (not that I need them!) to take a look at movie trailers…
…to get ideas and inspiration.
Movie trailers are a very specific form of advertising and copy, when you think about it.
The call to action is simple…the desired action is for you to pay and see the whole movie (by buying a ticket, renting the movie or buying the recorded version).
Often, the call to action isn’t even explicitly stated. The context is so clear, it doesn’t need to be.
The “product”, however, is intangible. When you pay to watch a movie, you’re paying to be “entertained”. That can mean many things, but generally it’s an emotional experience.
And how does the movie trailer get people to take action?
In most cases, the elements of the trailer are to…
1. Get attention
2. Give a hint of the story (and provide some entertainment)
3. Use curiosity to get people to want to know what happens
One of my favourite movies of the last year is the action flick “Taken”. It was released here in Australia towards the end of 2008 and did pretty well without getting a lot of coverage.
It’s a straight forward, no nonsense action movie where the hero (Liam Neeson) doesn’t suffer from any moral angst or ambiguity.
Now, from a writing point of view, what I love about the movie is its economy and tightness. There is hardly a single shot that doesn’t move the story along very crisply.
The movie is only 89 minutes long but it covers a lot of ground and is a real roller coaster ride.
Not a movie for sophistication, plot subtlety or nuance. But to me it’s a wonderful example of tight, economical writing to grab the viewer’s attention and keep them engaged.
If you like action movies, well worth a look both for the entertainment value and to observe the writing.
The trailer does a pretty good job, in my opinion. Enjoy!