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The Archives => The 2010 Xixax Awards => Topic started by: MacGuffin on March 06, 2010, 01:31:22 AM

Title: Best Trailer
Post by: MacGuffin on March 06, 2010, 01:31:22 AM
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Best Trailer: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

THE NOMINEES

Inception (teaser)
A Serious Man
A Single Man
Up In The Air (teaser)
Where the Wild Things Are
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: picolas on March 06, 2010, 02:57:54 PM
i understand this win, and it was one of the toughest categories ever, but Serious Man worked as a self-contained short. rather than a collection of beautiful shots in a more or less random order. so it got my vote.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: children with angels on March 06, 2010, 10:25:57 PM
Agreed. The Serious Man trailer was a work of art.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: Gold Trumpet on March 06, 2010, 10:54:07 PM
Third agreement on Serious Man, but I think Where the Wild Things trailer is a great memory for people on what the film could have been. I expected it to win.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: Stefen on March 07, 2010, 02:14:17 AM
When we all saw the WTWTA trailer, we flipped. That's the reason I voted for it. I flipped.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: ©brad on March 07, 2010, 12:55:14 PM
Quote from: picolas on March 06, 2010, 02:57:54 PM
i understand this win, and it was one of the toughest categories ever, but Serious Man worked as a self-contained short. rather than a collection of beautiful shots in a more or less random order. so it got my vote.

By far the toughest category in my book. I went back and forth on these for longer than I'd like to admit. I never thought of A Serious Man as a short, but you're right! It so works that way. I agree that it's more expertly constructed, but WTWTA gave me that warm and fuzzy chills down the spine feeling even on repeat viewings, and ultimately got me more excited to see the movie than the A Serious Man trailer did. Hence my vote.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: socketlevel on March 15, 2010, 02:49:01 PM
the fact that this is not a serious man makes me lose hope in humanity
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ on March 16, 2010, 12:08:21 AM
Don't read any of the other award results, then.

It may be too much.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: socketlevel on March 16, 2010, 11:41:25 AM
true very little of my choices won, but this topic more than any other went to the hipster choice over sheer reasoning. This trailer reeks of today... scratch that it's already dated. cut in some exclusive acoustic arcade fire track into any trailer will turn me off to be frank. A serious man (a movie i didn't really love to be honest) is great pacing, wicked cuts, and the sound design and beat comes from the dialog. It's just so much more of everything.  Joel Coen even joked on charlie rose "i think this is one of those rare cases where the trailer is better than the film". it was a joke, but I think there is some truth behind his words and it's without a doubt the case in my mind.

shame on you xixaxers!
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: RegularKarate on March 16, 2010, 12:57:06 PM
Quote from: socketlevel on March 16, 2010, 11:41:25 AM
shame on you xixaxers!

No, Shame on you for using the "hipster" argument for why you didn't think WtWTA was a good trailer.  The presence of that song works just as much as an argument for as it does against... not at all... it negates itself so it's not a factor.  It also kinda negates your opinion in support of A Serious Man (which was a great trailer, no question... all but one of these trailers deserved to win).

You're removing yourself from the ability to really judge that trailer for its merit.  You're doing it by two levels...  you're injecting your issues with the fans of the film that the trailer is for.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: socketlevel on March 16, 2010, 01:35:11 PM
first off, way to go on isolating one word from my post and imply that it was my entire point of view. in my praise of a serious man i mentioned 3 different qualities it had that WTWTA didn't. sure ya I'm attacking hipsterdom, but it wasn't the backbone of my argument. hipster or not, clearly the culture surrounding the movie/trailer/music has influenced the voting. it's not unlike blind bidding on Paul Thomas Anderson and not looking at the piece itself, something you can't deny exists on this site. it's a political choice, not a choice based on the merit of the trailer IMO. what I'm doing is separating overt gushing from what seems like deductive reasoning (i admit my own). it's a typical trailer that offers nothing interesting beyond the contemporary flourishes it tacks on, as picolas stated astutely. taste is subjective, but i wouldn't be surprised if in 5 to 10 years time 1/2 of the voters regret their choice.

when i wrote shame on you i did it lightheartedly, sorry if it cut deep.


Actually an interesting experiment would be to take the awards from 2004 or earlier and redo it, see how the voting would go. see if in one or two categories the winner didn't stand the test of time, that emotion and hype influenced decisions rather than the merits of the material/performance. i would totally be part of said trail if XIXAX supported it.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: RegularKarate on March 16, 2010, 04:42:54 PM
What did you say about the WtWTA trailer OTHER than it was "hipster" and "cut in some exclusive acoustic arcade fire track into any trailer will turn me off"... oh, you said "it's dated"... sorry that I focused on 2/3rds of your shallow attack instead of "it's dated" (how is it dated?  because of that song?  That song had been sitting on the shelves long enough to use it without the "some current hit" label being appropriate)  I didn't realize that was the "backbone of your argument".

And yeah, I wasn't trying to defend the WtWTA win against Serious Man... they're both great.  I was specifically pointing out how lame and shallow it is to pull the trigger on the "hipster" gun.  

And in 5 to 10 years time, no one is going to "regret" anything.  It's a "best trailer" award on an annual contest.. that's ridiculous.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: Alexandro on March 17, 2010, 01:15:03 AM
I liked the WTWTA trailer because it sold me on seeing the film only with mood. Very much like the teaser of TWBB before, it used sparse dialogue that didn't revealed anything plotwise and was hard to put in context within a story yet compensated for this with atmosphere, communicating to me the general mood of the film, and right away giving me a hint that the film was aiming to much more than what other films of it's kind are right now pointing to. And this is a movie I was not that excited about before seeing the trailer. In fact it was such a good trailer that I was fully convinced there was no way the film could be as good.

I never knew (or if I knew I don't remember) the arcade fire song.

Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: socketlevel on March 17, 2010, 03:44:20 PM
Quote from: RegularKarate on March 16, 2010, 04:42:54 PM
What did you say about the WtWTA trailer OTHER than it was "hipster" and "cut in some exclusive acoustic arcade fire track into any trailer will turn me off"... oh, you said "it's dated"... sorry that I focused on 2/3rds of your shallow attack instead of "it's dated" (how is it dated?  because of that song?  That song had been sitting on the shelves long enough to use it without the "some current hit" label being appropriate)  I didn't realize that was the "backbone of your argument".

And yeah, I wasn't trying to defend the WtWTA win against Serious Man... they're both great.  I was specifically pointing out how lame and shallow it is to pull the trigger on the "hipster" gun.  

And in 5 to 10 years time, no one is going to "regret" anything.  It's a "best trailer" award on an annual contest.. that's ridiculous.

yes it will be dated because of the song. i don't think pointing out how the trailer's long term appeal is diminished by comtemporary youth culture is either shallow or lame. because i have history on my side. i think not having the ability to see this is shortsighted and lame. there are countless examples i could give you of this happening, and i don't see why labeling it hipster is in anyway inappropriate and invalid criticism. for example, it's why the movie "singles" is laughable when seen now or "the crow" both movies embraced by youth culture and music was integral to it's popularity. I'm laying the same claim to the WTWTA trailer now without having hindsight 20/20 to rely on. sure viewing it in the future might be cute and endearing because we remember the arcade fire and those silly monsters as potentially seminal or transitional, but in the end they're kinda shitty because they play to our current crushes. in my opinion that's all that's motivating the vote. beyond the music, WTWTA is a random montage of moments from the movie which never builds to any kind of emotional or intellectual climax. something not originally pointed out by me on this thread might i add. are you looking for more than that? that's not valid? the very fact there is nothing else i can say shows how limited the trailer is. if not, tell me why it's so amazing, what am i missing.

a serious man however, as I've already stated, offers so much more from the viewing. it crafts something unique from the elements of the trailer itself, all the while achieving the same criteria that WTWTA was able to fulfill (montage of moments).  the sound design and editing structure is way more authentic in all the techniques it used to create an experience beyond the simple splicing together cool moments to a cool song. i know you're not against a serious man trailer, but by offering what it has i guess i assumed the logical deduction that WTWTA doesn't possess the same qualities.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: polkablues on March 17, 2010, 06:13:46 PM
Not to get too Colbert about it, but the Serious Man trailer aimed for the head and the Wild Things trailer aimed for the gut.  In literary terms, Serious Man was a short story, while Wild Things was a poem.  For my part, if I'm voting for one trailer over another, I'm going to lean towards the one that hits me the hardest, and that was Where the Wild Things Are. 

And I really don't see how that song is going to make the trailer dated in a few years.  There's nothing era-specific about the song, it's not a well-known hit song or anything that people will automatically associate with a particular year.  It's just a song that fits the tone of the trailer.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: Pubrick on March 17, 2010, 08:50:44 PM
i don't give two shits about the arcade fire. they can rot on the street for all i care, and i had no knowledge of the song before it was used in the trailer. so doesn't that and Polky's statement completely and absolutely destroy your argument?

your argument is based on false arbitrary premises that you obviously just made up. firstly, that the trailer was popular cos everyone LOVES the arcade fire. what the fuck? ok old man.. maybe like 2-5 years ago SOME hipsters here did but that was hardly representative of everyone. it's not like it was a radiohead song or something. secondly that an objective analysis of the sound design and editing techniques of a trailer must be considered when assessing the worth of a trailer.. how bout does it get you hell excited to see the movie?

what does the longevity of the song hav to do with anything? i've already forgotten who the arcade fire is but the synthesis of the music and visuals, and bits of dialogue, in the trailer is what i remembered and will look back upon with nostalgia when i'm too old and crabby to care at all about movies. almost everything feels dated eventually. it's called, i dunno, the passage of time. but the emotional reaction many of us had to the trailer and the expectations that it could be the greatest film of all time (not quite met) is something we will look back on fondly. equipped with 20/20 hindisight we won't feel embarrassed about a "dated song", we will feel the bittersweet passage of a time in our lives when we could unabashedly believe in "silly monsters".

i'm glad i could still feel that.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: brockly on March 18, 2010, 04:35:27 AM
i voted for Serious Man on the merit that picolas addressed, but i did make the following statement after seeing the WTWTA trailer...

Quote from: brockly on March 29, 2009, 01:35:40 AM
most anticipated movie....ever?

and as i recall, there was very little exaggeration in that comment, so it was definately the most powerful trailer of the year for me. really though i could hav got behind any of these trailers winning (a single man notwithstanding). but anyone who's loosing hope in humanity as a result of this award needs to get laid asap. socket, i'm being serious, man.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: ©brad on March 18, 2010, 10:24:58 AM
This is giving me a headache. I'm deeming this debate over based on overwhelmingly convincing arguments from RK, Alexandro, Polka and P. Socketlevel get over it already.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: socketlevel on March 18, 2010, 04:31:53 PM
Quote from: ρ on March 17, 2010, 08:50:44 PM
secondly that an objective analysis of the sound design and editing techniques of a trailer must be considered when assessing the worth of a trailer.. how bout does it get you hell excited to see the movie?

It gets you excited because you feel it in your shorts... Or at least i do. And if I'm an old man, then you're a menopausal woman, so why don't we just keep it to the issues without going there.

Seriously, I was waiting for this to be brought up. since there are not two awards for trailers, one being the most affective in selling the movie and the other being artistic merit i was forced to make my own criteria for 'best'. heck maybe best is the combination of the two. in the end i came to value artistic merit over successful marketing tool as my guidelines. when i went to vote i did it on each trailer as a self contained piece, not on the bankable nature to successfully appeal toward a demographic.  I'm not hating on movies that make a trailer to make money, or ones that really excite you to see the final product, because that's the nature of the industry and the form. I'm fine with it, I just don't have to like them either.  Awards tend to exist under the premise (sadly you can substitute the word guise if you wish) of being artistic accolades not billboard lists. so i stayed true to that sentiment. unless you make two categories for trailers, I don't think how 'excited to see the movie' has anything to do with the word "best". I'm interpreting the award one way, and you the other.

side note, i actually liked the WTWTA completed film more than a serious man (which isn't saying much considering i didn't really care for either) so it's not like i got my fanboy on. not saying anyone is suggesting that, just clearing the air on it if anyone was curious.

polka i agree with your mind and heart observation. however i think that a vast majority of said heart comes from the song, which is an easy ploy IMO. the bottom line is the type of trailer WTWTA is kinda bores me. the best moment in the trailer is the beginning and the moment they cut to the music... it spirals into cliche after that. On the other hand A serious man had to actually work hard for it's effect, which you don't see nearly as often, so that's another reason i admire it more.

brockly my humanity statement was a joke, while being disappointed i was being overly dramatic. and not with the intent to spark debate, truthfully just because i thought people would see it as such an outlandish comment.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: Gold Trumpet on March 18, 2010, 04:35:09 PM
I want to follow along with this, but I can't read more than two sentences about a debate over fucking trailers...
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: Pubrick on March 18, 2010, 06:57:56 PM
i know, it's really bizarre that sock has taken this one to heart..
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: JG on March 18, 2010, 10:05:22 PM
i didn't like either.
Title: Re: Best Trailer
Post by: socketlevel on March 19, 2010, 10:47:51 AM
Quote from: ρ on March 18, 2010, 06:57:56 PM
i know, it's really bizarre that sock has taken this one to heart..

haha, exit stage left after monologue.

i'm debating a point, and taken nothing to heart. surprised you're marginalizing trailers GT, wasn't expecting that.