Arts & Culture

You Talkin’ To Me? - A film column by Jamie Hill

You might hove noticed from reading this column that I’m a bit of a film fan. I love cinema . i love the experience . I love the smells. I love the expensive sweets that cost you a small mortgage. And I especially love the trailers.

If I arrive late for a film and miss the trailers it’s genuinely a gutting experience. I know that a lot of the films’ trailers are over the top with a voiceover that is so melodramatic that it makes your auntie Mildred look perfectly rational.

I know that, even if the film is bobbins, they will cram every good bit into the trailer to make you watch it. I know that sometimes the trailers give too much away actually ruining the enjoyment of the final film. But I love them anyway.

I love the feeling of anticipation that a film’s trailer can give you. It’s like shaking a Christmas present and feeling its shape before opening it. It’s exciting. And, let’s be honest, that feeling of anticipation con sometimes be more enjoyable than the finished product.

I’m looking at you Immortals. What a great trailer for a purely dire film. Whoever thought getting Mickey Rourke to dress up as Mr Crabs from Spongebob Squarepants was a good idea should be taken out to the back studio lot and made to watch endless reruns of Saved By The Bell. A fate worse than death we assure you.

The studios are very aware of the power of the trailer and how it can turn the average film fan into a frothing at the mouth beast who would do anything to find out just one little morsel of what’s going to happen in the new Batman Vs Superman film.

In fact they have started producing trailers about a year before the film is due to come out. Sometimes even before they ‘ve finished filming the damn thing. Just look at Bond. At the time of writing this ‘Spectre’ is still being made. in fact, an injury to Daniel Craig has meant a delay in the production. But I’ve already seen a trailer. Isn’t that jumping the gun a tiny bit (which is a very apt expression when it comes to Bond as nearly every credits sequence involves naked young ladies jumping guns - which is a bit weird if you think about it)?

And then we come to the daddy of them all. One of the original blockbusters. Star Wars. When it comes to ‘trail’ blazing Disney comes second to none especially when it’s got JJ Abrams at the helm who is no stranger to marketing a movie.

So there’s a new Star Wars movie. And it’s called ‘The Force Awakens’ . It’s out in December. And there ‘s already two expertly crafted trailers for fans to get their teeth into. But, if you watch either trailer you will still be absolutely clueless about what the billy heck the film will be about- apart from the fact it has some space stuff, a cool new light saber, a bloke looking worried in a Stormtrooper outfit and of course in the last big reveal of the second trailer Harrison Ford’s Han Solo looking as charming as ever with Chewbacca by his side. My excitement levels are already at fever pitch. I might explode before the film’s out. I love trailers.