Analysis and Reflection
1. Shining
This is a trailer for the 1980 film starring Jack Nicholson, editing done in such a way as to portray it as a family film rather than a psychological horror film. It is similar to my trailer as they both use music not found in the actual movie, included in order to subvert the original plot line of the film itself. They both also use imagery from the film that conflicts with the intent of the director, cinematographer, and of course the original editor. Some of the shots used in both were also not in the authorized trailers shown in theaters. Shining uses a voiceover to further convince the viewers that if they watch the movie it will be one of those “good family fun” films (that could not possibly be rated R), while my trailer for Avatar does not use a voiceover. For mine I simply explained the plot of the film through the Colonel’s speech in the beginning cut together with his speech to the assault force in the last 30 minutes of the movie. Shining was created by Robert Ryang for a competition held by the Association of Independent Creative Editors, and won first place at said competition. Made in 2005, the video went “viral” and helped to start the popularity of re-cut trailers on the internet.
2. Scary Mary
Like Shining, this is a movie trailer that portrays the 1964 film Mary Poppins in a vastly different light than what was originally intended. It creates a feeling a dread and fear with the ominous music, Poppins’ singing made to seem much less motherly and much more monstrous. Instead of coming to coming to care for the children she is made to seemingly have more sinister intentions. Many of the children’s surprised and confused reactions to her are easily re-interpreted as looks of pure terror. Both my trailer and this one use a ominous song to start with and then around halfway change to a louder, more intense song (although the one in Scary Mary might be the same song, though it changes drastically). The song I use to start with was the first few minutes of The Great Eatlon, from the film Lady in the Water, included to make the humans’ position more perilous and heroic than originally intended. Scary Mary was made by Chris Rule and Nick Eckert, although I do not know for what purpose, if it was made for a class, if they are professional editors, or otherwise.
3. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
This is the actual trailer for the film, shown in theaters prior to the release. It is interesting to note because even though it was created with the intent of making people come to see the movie, the way in which it was put together does not hold to the theme intended by the director and writers. The trailer almost makes it seem like a “buddy film”, more specifically a “road trip movie”, rather than an exploration of the underbelly of America and the failure of the “hippie” movement of the 1960s (the mass “loss of innocence” of the early 1970s). The trailer is also used as an example of why the film did poorly at the box office (I can’t find the link to where I read this *sorry), as audiences thought that they were going to see a “happy-go-lucky” summer film and became disappointed with the final product. The use of Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf in the last 20 seconds or so is very similar to my use of Guardian at the Gates by Audiomachine, both combined with very short clips of the more interesting moments of the film’s action. The former puts the clips in a light hearted, humorous vein while the latter makes Avatar seem like a straight forward war film. I could not find who made the trailer, or even if it was done by a professional company (which is likely) or an individual.
4. Best Scenes From “The Wicker Man”
I want to include this video as well as it is not a trailer, but is good as a comparison to my video as it uses very specific scenes to create a very different atmosphere. The Wicker Man was a 2006 horror/thriller film starring Nicholas Cage. However, some viewers found much unintentional humor in the film, more specifically some of Cage’s performance. It is similar to my trailer in how it alters the roles of some of the characters, Cage becoming a manic, woman-punching antagonist rather than the doomed protagonist. In my trailer the Corporal is changed from the antagonist to the protagonist, as well as the human and Na’vi races switching roles as good guys and bad guys. This video does not change any of the scenes, however, and does not utilize any music or try in any way to explain the plot of the movie (even adding a scene to the end which pokes fun at the lack of a coherent plot). I could not find who authored this text, though it is a very popular video on YouTube and I would not doubt that this has inspired more than a few people to rent or buy the actual film for the purpose of watching it as a very campy movie rather than as a serious one.
My video provides to new look at Avatar, creating a point-of-view that most of the audience would never have thought of. Careful exclusion of Jake Sully’s role of protagonist and the entire Avatar system (the science of operating Na’vi bodies) and any scenes in which the Na’vi are portrayed as heroic or noble force the audience to accept the Corporal and the humans as the “good guys”. The most important (at least in intent) scene of which occurs around 2:30 into the video, in which Tsu’tey is killed. In the original scene the music was somber and melodramatic, a shot of the prince’s body falling from the ship in slow motion. In my trailer the music stops for a moment, exploding back to full force when the marine finally shoots the Na’vi attacker. Because of this I was able to effectively change the mood and the characters’ roles using only unaltered footage from the film and without added narration. Like the videos mentioned above, my trailer could be interpreted in two different ways, however. One could either see it as a comical parody of the source material or as a statement of disagreement with the text’s theme or substance. Scary Mary could have simply been created for fun, or could have been made to emphasize and add to the scariness of the original film. (For instance, the creators could have found Julie Andrew’s performance frightening when they were kids and wanted to share this with others) I created my trailer because I rooted for the humans the entire time, finding the Corporal’s character easier to relate to and more interesting than Neytiri’s or any of the Na’vi. I hope that by watching my trailer others might see this perspective as well, or if they do not then at least I hope they find it funny like I do all these other recut videos.
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