Annoying Things That Are In Every Movie Trailer

Usually, when a studio nabs a big-name actor, they promote that person as much as possible. It's a smart strategy...as long as the star in question is actually a major part of the movie in question. If they aren't, that hype can backfire.

For instance, Gareth Edwards' Godzilla heavily promoted Bryan Cranston's role, so much so that people assumed he was one of the main characters. That wasn't necessarily true. Sure, he had a prominent role in the beginning, but then he was suddenly killed off. It left a number of filmgoers feeling cheated—and Cranston seems to agree with them.

"[My] character dying at that time was a mistake. I knew it when I read it. When I read it, I said, 'Oh, page 50 this character who was the emotional core at the center, that was guiding the audience in the story up to that point he dies?' What a waste," Cranston told Nerdist. "They kind of dealt with it poorly, that's my only criticism of it because I think it was a fun movie, it was a very successful movie. I told them that even if I wasn't doing this role, that character shouldn't die at that point. It's just bad narrative, but they were too far down the road."

With the advent of social media, it's only getting easier to be spoiled when it comes to new shows and movies. If you don't immediately watch the latest episode of The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones, or catch a movie the weekend it arrives, chances are you'll find out about big plot twists before you have a chance to see them for yourself. What's worse than being spoiled through social media, though, is seeing the movie's biggest twist, or perhaps a key plot point, revealed in one of the trailers. We've gotten so used to seeing trailers reveal every plot point that it's actually a relief when a trailer retains a bit of mystery.

One recent example is the second trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in which the final villain of the story, Doomsday, suddenly appears. Despite the movie being titled Batman v Superman, we see both superheroes put aside their differences and fight together—alongside Wonder Woman, no less. The year prior, Terminator Genisys revealed its biggest twist—that John Connor was, in fact, a terminator—in the movie's second trailer. One way to combat such spoilers, while also building interest for the movie, is doing what David Fincher did with Gone Girl: reveal specific bits and pieces of the plot, which may seem like a lot, while also preserving the big twist. It keeps the audience guessing.

We all know the foghorn-like sound effect ("BRAAAM") that echoes through trailers for films such as Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Transformers: The Last Knight, and so on. While studios have altered the sound over the years, the trend started to take off with the colloquially-named "Inception horn" in 2010. It was a sound Nolan and Hans Zimmer, who composed the Inception soundtrack, came up with by experimenting with various equipment. Interestingly, the year after Inception's release, Vulture put together a list of movie trailers that used the Inception horn in 2011, which included Super 8, Battle: Los Angeles, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

At first, it may be flattering to have a sound you created by used extensively throughout the industry. But Zimmer has expressed disgust with the out-of-control fad he unintentionally started, telling Vulture: "Oh, it's horrible! This is a perfect example of where it all goes wrong. That music became the blueprint for all action movies, really. And if you get too many imitations, even I get confused!"

Just as much of the action occurs in the final act of a movie, the bulk of the action in a trailer tends to also come in the last few moments. It's common to feature a montage of action, comedy, or drama toward the end of the trailer, sometimes even building up to deafening silence which leads into other trailer tropes. In and of itself, this isn't that bad, since it does provide audiences with the most pertinent information. It's what goes with it can be annoying: voiceovers that try really hard to sound profound.

This dialogue, usually delivered by a character close to the protagonist, are no longer as poignant as studios would like to believe. It's been done far too many times, and it's run its course. Don't know what we're talking about? Take a look at the trailer for Iron Man 3, in which the Mandarin asks Tony Stark if he wants "an empty life or a meaningful death," set to a montage of Tony's life-threatening superhero antics.

Another example is the trailer for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, when Spock's father tells him, "You are capable of deciding your own destiny. The question is, which path will you choose?" Of course, the line could be taken in many ways, one of which references Spock's decision to join Starfleet. Whether it's the villain antagonizing the hero, or the protagonist doubting his or herself, there's always some form of narration playing over a montage.

We've already established that music plays a significant role in not only a film, but the film's marketing. And while choosing the proper song to use in a trailer is a big deal, it's not the only way a studio can go wrong. Another modern cliché is slowing down music, either an original song or cover of an older hit, for dramatic effect. It does work: slow music can set the stage for tragedy, tension, and spectacle. That being said, it's a tactic that's often overused.

One of the more recent examples is the trailer for Brad Peyton's San Andreas, in which Sia's cover of the Mamas & the Papas' "California Dreamin'" played in the background. In the first trailer for Joss Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron, instead of using a traditional, exciting score, Marvel altered the classic song "I've Got No Strings" from Disney's Pinocchio. Many trailers over the past few years have fallen victim to this trope; sometimes it works, but it can also be a major annoyance.