Sarah
I know this will mark me out as controversial, but I honestly think that trailers are now an absolute waste of space. Gone are the glory days where trailers gave you just a taste of what might happen once you go and see the full feature. Now they are a massive liability. You may as well just save yourself 2 hours and watch a 3 minute trailer to find out everything that is in the film. Why bother going to see the film and spending money? Making a mockery out of cinema, trailers are pointless.

Deirdre

I disagree wholeheartedly! Trailers are part of the cinema going ritual. You have your popcorn, the vaguely comfortable seats, the unexplainably sticky floors and the trailers; giving you time to settle down and get comfortable. Everything is perfect in the trailer world. Even the worst film ever made looks shiny when edited down to a 3 minute trailer; it’s the utopia of cinema. There are some trailers that give too much away, I will concede that point, but trailers as a whole exist to make the audience curious. Look at Cloverfield. When that trailer came on everybody in the cinema looked around in utter confusion; no idea what was going on. It got people talking. It got people excited. It was genius!

Sarah

I agree, the trailer is a perfect visual device, which a film can never live up to. Take a trailer for a brand new comedy film. You can guarantee that the trailer will contain all of the best lines from the film, so that when you actually sit down in your not-so-comfortable chair with your overpriced popcorn and watch these same lines, you no longer find them funny, because you’ve already heard them fifty million times before. Trailers do not enhance they spoil the experience. I will agree that Cloverfield had a brilliant trailer, but that is the exception that proves the rule. Look at this trailer for Castaway. Unless you want to see Tom Hanks get fat and thin over 3 hours, and know that everything works out in the end, why not just watch the trailer instead? Once you’ve seen enough films where the trailers had piqued your interest only to let you down, trailers start to dim your curiosity. I say let’s have a world with no trailers. Give the audience a poster of the stars. Hell, give em a 2 second TV spot, but that is it. The plot would be unravelling before your eyes. No preconceptions, no spoilers, no fake laughing or screaming, just a movie presentation as it was meant to be seen.

Deirdre

Ah now, if you were to do something that drastic you’d end up with every cinema in the UK closing down. The majority of movie goers decide what film they want to see based solely on the trailer and, maybe, giving a glance to the actors. They are a necessary part of the film industry. There are some trailers that include every good line they have to choose from but, being honest about it, these movies generally have nothing else to go on; they’re destined to be a disappointment with or without the trailer. I think that the problem here is not with the trailers it is with lack of original films that are coming out. Our curiosity about the comedy is dimmed because we’ve seen that same plot/joke/scenario a million times before. Don’t shoot the messenger; it can only present the material it is supplied with.

Sarah

Absolute nonsense! Would you stop going to the supermarket because you no longer had to sit through those dreadful Marks & Spencers TV adverts every day? No you wouldn’t! You would go in and have a nice look around, and you might find yourself picking up something that you hadn’t conceived of before entering the shop. Thus with that terrible analogy, I make my point about trailers! People would be oohing and ahhing over forthcoming attractions, plied only with tantalisingly small crumbs of information, putting excitement at fever pitch. As to your point that movies are getting worse, are you telling me you’d rather get rid of whole movies than say, stop trailers? Finally, I indeed riddle the messenger with bullets! This messenger can’t really keep its mouth shut, as if it has read the whole plot and just wants to spoil our enjoyment by vomiting up all the juicy details in a 2 minute hit. Get rid of all of those showy messengers and cinema will thank us for it.

Deirdre

I would continue to go to the supermarket because I have to eat to live… Yes, I will also pick up something I had not planned on based on its well marketed packaging; I am human. I do not, on the other hand, have to go to the cinema. That is why advertising for upcoming films is so important. Why would I pay £10 to go see something I have no idea about when I can sit at home and (dare I say it) download a classic movie that I know I will enjoy? The fever pitch that you speak of will only be reached by those that care and, in the mist of overwhelming apathy that surrounds us all, that is a small group; not large enough to keep the big business of film making going. I think you will find, that it is in getting rid of trailers you are really getting rid of the prospect of any more big budget movies.

Sarah

And I have to watch films to live happily. You’re making me sad Deirdre, what with this apathetic viewing population of which you speak. I believe that there will always be people who will want to go to the cinema, trailers or no trailers. I love a blockbuster as much as the next person, but although I don’t want to stop Hollywood churning out movies; I like the idea of studios having to fight for audiences, at the expense of some terrible actors who’ll be put out of work (yes you The Stath, who needs trailers for your films? They’re all the bloody SAME). However, I am willing to proffer an olive branch of compromise. I do enjoy trailers, and I am prepared to keep them in cinemas on the condition that they are made shorter, less detailed and without spoilers. What do you say?

Deirdre

Hmm.. you’re extending the olive branch to a stubborn girl. There will always be people that will want to go to the cinema in the same way that there will always be people who want to go to roller derbys; if the PR and advertising isn’t there the entire industry will crumble. But I do agree. Trailers should not give away important plot points or every funny scene; in an ideal world that trailer would be something quick and snappy that tells you just enough to make you want more.

Sarah

Does that mean I win?

Deirdre

No.

By Sarah Louise Dean and Deirdre Savage