The Great Escape Trailer - ID# 421

Glenbrook South
Movie Trailer
Entry Description

Trailer for the short film The Great Escape. Written permission to use "Dreamship" by De Wolfe Music

Recent Teacher Comments

  • 4/3 1:06 pm - The production value of your trailer is very good and well done. Your primary issue is lack of story. Movie trailers need to do 4 things to be effective: introduce characters in a way so the audience cares about them, define the primary conflict of the narrative, build rising action and end with a sting and a title. This trailer doesn't define the characters or the conflict of the film. It's very difficult to follow. It needed either voice over or text cards to define the primary story elements.
  • 3/25 11:14 am - The trailer has some very nice shots- they look very professional, especially the opening diner shot. But the small bit of dialogue at the start speaks of a great escape, and yet the rest of the trailer fails to show me anything about that escape. Perhaps more voice over dialogue from the character would have benefitted, as he spoke throughout the trailer and told us what was going on. Because honestly, I have no idea what the movie is going to be about, and I need to. The special effects added a nice touch, and showed your have some skills in editing for sure. But the special effects almost made the plot more confusing as they had no explanation.
  • 3/4 10:36 am - Looks amazing but I do not understand what is going on in the trailer. What is the story? The pacing, camera angles, lighting look professional but if there is no story it is not a good trailer. Almost looks like a cinematography reel.
  • 2/26 1:39 pm - CAMERA: nice camera. I mean, literally the hardware. Must be a nice one. Your focus is off on the shot from 13-18 seconds: his eyes are out of focus, and the Sweater Contest sign behind him is in focus. That's an awfully long time to sit on a shot that is out of focus. Shame. A lot of other great shots in here though. Overall camera exposure and framing were solid. LIGHTING: you did well here; everything you did, from mundane scene lighting, through the bonfire, was cleverly done. I enjoyed how you played with color; whether that was done in production using gels, or with some color correction, it worked. SOUND: audio was pretty simple; dialogue seemed to have been recorded clean, and the music you used fit the sort of psychedelic vibe. The audio levels on the song seemed a little bit hot; if a song is the primary audio source (and not just a music bed underneath a scene), then it should be around -12 db on the VU meter. Yours was a bit hotter. EDITING: you can clearly cut together using an effective pace. I'm assuming you also did a fair amount of color grading and color correction, as well as integrating the special effects during the cosmic meditation scenes. The video fractals at the ending title sequence were a nice touch. STORY: So here's the tough part; you didn't create a strong story. You had all the technical things in place, but the story and character development were thin. Who are these guys? Why is the main character supposed to be interesting? What does the juxtaposition of his mundane office job and his surreal escape world mean? What is the conflict in the story? Where is the rising tension? Is there an antagonist? Too many questions - and not in a good way, like "We meant for it to be ambiguous." That's a cop out. You didn't hook the audience, and THAT is the whole point of a movie trailer. Your trailer LOOKS cool, but it doesn't draw me in and make me want to watch the whole movie.
Judge 1

Positives:

Improvements:

Judge 2

Positives: Interesting visuals that created a unique, mysterious atmosphere.

Improvements: The basic premise of the trailer was unclear. Compelling visuals, but lacked storytelling.

Judge 3

Positives: I'm impressed that you took the time to light some of the shots. Had you used natural lighting in the shot at :09 the image would have looked very muddy. The highlight across the face of your actor draws attention to him and it preserves the mood you set. The backlit shot at :24 is very effective as well. There is just enough light to silhouette the actor which sets up an interesting and mysterious impression.

Improvements: Try to develop the end of your trailer a little more. I can reason that you are showing the images the character is seeing in his mind, but I'd like to see more setup. This could be achieved through editing. Try placing the silhouette shot just after the color inverted shot at about :35. That will connect the mental journey, The Great Escape, to the abstract world of the character.

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: