Saturday, December 3, 2011

JOHN CARTER (Trailer and Director Speaks)

  • JOHN CARTER


Writer-Director Andrew Stanton, decided to speak about his new trailer that he released for his upcoming film John Carter, he believes that, when it comes to marketing, more movies should "own their sh*t."

"To me, if a trailer is looking or sounding like any other trailer out there, then what you're saying to the audience is, 'My movie is just like any other movie,'" noted Stanton on the eve of the trailer premiere for his new film, the ambitious sci-fi epic John Carter. "I tend to worry that marketers are underestimating their audience, which is not what I was trained to do at PIXAR. Own what you really have. Own your sh*t."


And judging by John Carter's new trailer (watch it below), the filmmaker is taking great pride in owning the identity of his live-action directorial debut. In fact, Stanton is very passionate about the way films are made and seen. He knows how to deliver big ideas; he's crazy at taking those ideas and wrapping them around characters worth caring about (see WALL.E and Finding Nemo). The biggest compliment you can give the guy is something along the lines of: "I wish I came up with that first!"


IGN then got a chance to speak with the guy, and they were interested on how do you get a film to be so successful and whats that process like, but anyway check the interview.

IGN: The last time we spoke with you, you were getting ready to release the teaser trailer for John Carter. And getting that from concept to final product was a long process for you and your team. Ultimately, the piece was met with various reactions, but it definitely had people talking.

Andrew Stanton: Well, I think we called attention by being quieter than everybody else. And with this new trailer... we're proud of the film we have. So every [discussion] we have about it -- whether it be about making the poster or the trailer -- is: "Let's encapsulate it." And if that's not easy to do, then that's OK. But let's not give up until we encapsulate what it feels like to watch the movie.

What I care about is: "Do you feel after you've watched the trailer like I know you'll feel after you've watched the movie?" It just so rarely happens with trailers.


IGN: Let's back up a bit and talk about the process of making this trailer -- of fine tuning it while knee-deep in post-production, to get it to that place you just described.

Stanton: Sure. This happens on every movie, at least on every movie I've worked on. Because of the CGI nature of it, there's so much to be done to an image to make it look "finished" on film these days -- especially on the digital ones -- that we never fit the calendar with when those shots are going to be done and when the trailers have to come out.

Trailers and teasers have to be planned at least anywhere from six months to year out from release, and most movies -- the film, the images -- they aren't starting to look finished until at least three to six months out from release. So there's always this huge [scheduling] conflict. A lot of the time, you're seeing less in a trailer or you're not seeing "the best stuff." It isn't because they didn't plan it that way, it's because that's all they had that they could show you.

Fortunately, when you're on a big movie with a studio like Disney, they've been through it enough times that you can try to plan for it.

IGN: So at what point does the marketing component of the movie intersect with what you're doing as a filmmaker?


Stanton:
You're trying to find the identity of your campaign while you're making the teaser -- at the same time -- so that's tricky. For example, on the teaser, you let [the marketers] play with all the rough footage of your film, and they'll cut whatever they need to cut to try and find something. Your first big hope is that they'll just find something worth watching. And if you're lucky enough to find the trailer that everybody likes then the next big battle comes. Because you go: "Well, I love that trailer. But I gotta tell you, 70 percent of the shots you've chosen? They will not be done by the time you need them."


John Carter hits theaters in March 2012. Definitely will be something worth the wait.

Check out the Trailer Below....




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