Old-school movie trailers were accompanied by voiceover narration. These voiceovers typically began with the phrase, “In a world…” before explaining the dramatic circumstances that make that particular movie unique to entice viewers to buy a ticket. This narration was a great way to set the mood for the coming attraction and leave the audience with a crystal-clear concept of the kind of movie they were in for. Nowadays, these voiceovers are considered old-hat, and trailers instead use lines of dialogue to try to tell the audience what to expect from an upcoming movie. But that doesn’t work nearly as well as the voiceovers did.
Don LaFontaine, nicknamed “The King of Movie Trailers,” lent his booming voice to over 5,000 movie trailers; Hal Douglas had a similar reputation. The “Epic Voice Guy” still has a job narratingScreen Junkies’Honest Trailers, but voiceover artists like LaFontaine and Douglas are out of work in the current trailer landscape. Modern trailers play more like supercuts, mashing together random clips from the movie like a moving collage. It gives audiences a feel for the set-pieces and supporting characters that will be featured in a given movie, but the overall tone and the stakes of the story aren’t outlined as clearly as they would with straightforward narration.
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The trailer forThe Road Warriorbegan with the voiceover, “Ina world without gas… this is a land that prays for a hero.” The trailer forGoodfellastold audiences, “In a world that’s powered by violence… on the streets where the violent have power… a new generation carries on an old tradition.” The trailer forSouth Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncuthad a great parody of these voiceovers: “In a world fraught with corruption… four young boys united by fate… torn apart by destiny… Somewhere between love and honor… between courage and not courage… between Kansas and Utah…there lies South Park.” Everything a trailer should do – set the tone, introduce the plot, stoke excitement – is covered by these voiceovers.
Using dialogue from the film in lieu of voiceovers hurts both the trailers and the dialogue. Snippets of dialogue never explain the plot as clearly as a straightforward voiceover, and the needs of modern trailers mean that screenwriters have to fill their scripts with on-the-nose soundbites explaining the threat of the villain and the stakes of the conflict. Screenwriters are writing movies with the trailer in mind. Instead of telling their story naturally, they have to include scenes that act as little microcosms of the whole movie so they can be chopped into the marketing.
The context that used to be provided by voiceovers is now delivered by words flying at the screen. It was much more digestible when a rich, booming voice announced these taglines instead of having to read them, one high-velocity word at a time. Therecently releasedFast Xtrailerhad the words, “RIDE… OR… DIE,” flung at the audience. A narrator could’ve brought more gravitas to that familiar phrase, and would’ve done a much better job of explaining who Jason Momoa’s villain is and how he retroactively ties intoFast Five.
There are some ways that trailers have gotten better. A few decades ago, the average trailer would give away every single twist and turn in the movie it was advertising. These older trailers play more like a recap of the entirety of the movie than a teaser for what lies ahead. Some of them would include the twist ending or even the final shot. These days, studios are much more careful to preserve spoilers in their trailers. Marvel Studios will edit key shots to keep their story’s secrets, like including the Hulk inAvengers: Infinity War’s Battle of Wakanda sequence or editingTobey Maguire and Andrew Garfieldout ofSpider-Man: No Way Home. Hiding spoilers is one of the things that newer trailers do better than older ones. But modern trailers are still missing something that made those older trailers so effective.
If voiceover narration was still used in trailers today,Fast Xcould be advertised with the phrase, “In a world where family means everything…”The Flashcould be advertised with the phrase, “In a world full of other worlds… and multiple Batmen…”Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniacould be advertised with the phrase, “In a world that exists between the atoms…” But instead of simply setting up the premise in a cut-and-dried one-sentence voiceover narration, Michelle Pfeiffer is burdened with delivering dialogue soundbites for theQuantumaniatrailer: “Wait a minute, you’re sending a signaldown to the Quantum Realm? Turn it off now!”
As Marvel movies are getting harder and harder for casual moviegoers to wrap their heads around and a saturated marketplace is necessitating every other movie to go the extra mile to stand out more, it’s the perfect time to bring back trailer voiceovers. They’re a great way to explain a complicated plot and they tell the audience, in no uncertain terms, why they need to see this movie.
