The Curious Case of the Money Making Trailer

Movie companies have several means of making money. They put up posters in magazines and newspapers, and on the sides of movie theaters. They send actors and production staff out to do interviews about the film and generate word of mouth. Yet the classic is the movie trailer. On always before the start of a main feature, or on television a few weeks before the film opens, they allow audiences to get a taste of what’s to come. They’re made specific enough to allow the basis of the plot to be told, yet general enough to keep curiosity peaked. They’ll have voiceovers saying “THIS SUMMER…” or “IF THERE IS ONE MOVIE TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE….” Yet some take themselves seriously. Some try to generate a sense of serious emotion, not just “hey, that looks interesting.” The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is such a film trailer. Choosing to compile emotionally or visually interesting pieces of the main character’s life, without using any sound besides the music and his voice to tell the story, draw the audience member in, and create interest to see the film.
Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers collaborated to make this movie for two reasons: one, to make money. The second, to win awards so they can have credibility to make more movies and, therefore, make more money. Their message, therefore, is to go see this movie. Yet, in order to avoid this greedy image, they disguise their message. Instead of, “go to the theater and spend money to see this film in germ-infested seats,” it’s “go to the theater and have a cathartic experience that will leave you weeping in your germ-infested seats.” This message works because many people did do this, and still do over other films.
These film companies hire trailer editors to compile pieces of the film and add music and narrations in order to pique the interest in the public once released. The editors chose, relying on the heavy themes of Benjamin Button, to create an emotional movie trailer. It starts off with the massive clock ticking one minute backward, and maintains this sense of reversed time throughout the trailer. Smash cut to the soldier running backwards from the blast that kills him, hugging his parents as he leaves the train that takes him to his doom. And then Benjamin appears, along with the rest of the cast of characters that, throughout the trailer, age into death, but not Button, who becomes younger as the trailer progresses. He continues on this path until the very end, when he is an infant with an old woman walking him. This montage of images reveal the ethos moment and core of the film: life is fantastic, and it’s the events that make it so, even at the end. Yet, as the audience finds, it causes sadness, laughter, and overall nostalgia that relates to all people, and not just Benjamin.
There are only two pieces of dialogue spoken in the film. “My name is Benjamin Button,” a voice speaks with a trace of an accent, “and I was born under unusual circumstances. While everybody else was aging, I was getting younger. All alone.” The second piece is at the end, when a woman says to Benjamin: “you’re so young.” Benjamin, his voice full of ancient yet innocent wisdom, replies: “only on the outside.” The rest is magical and sad music. This was done as a way of amplifying the emotions of the imagery, while simultaneously telling the audience that this film is a story of life, its mystical and happy moments, and its sad and lesson-giving moments.
The logos of the trailer is that going to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will make one appreciate life, while simultaneously seeing a great film. It has great actors, an interesting story, and, most of all, will make the audience tell others to see the film because of the impact it had on them. Well, that last one is at least the production company’s goal. If the audience has a great experience, the companies get more money. Maybe the audience will see it again, or get others to see it. Even better, people will go in droves to buy it on DVD. A great trailer, then, makes the chances of their logos succeeding increase.
What are movie trailers but commercials for many people to see in one room at once? Some, like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, just happen to make people emotional when they see it, which means a better chance for monetary success for the movie company. After all, that is the main goal of a movie trailer. Generate interest for the movie, and make more money. Yet who says one can’t enjoy the trailer for what is presented, not the motives? The Benjamin Button trailer causes a great stir and surge of emotions like sadness and joy, and that’s what makes it a success. For if the trailer is this good, then imagine what the movie will be like.