On the trail of 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'

Creating a good trailer is an art upon itself. It’s the best way to position your film in the endless barrage of releases. Therefore a trailer should distinguish itself from all others; it has to entice people. In ‘the good old days’ trailers could only be seen before a feature film. You couldn’t catch it on YouTube as soon as it was released.

This meant the previews had to be so memorable that audiences would remember them even after they had seen about two hours worth of entertainment. In some cases the trailer became more popular then the film attached. In 1998 the preview for ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’ was met by a huge amount of anticipation. People bought tickets to a film they wouldn’t even go and see. Instead they left as soon as they had their first peek at the new ‘Star Wars’ film.

As a film buff I love nothing more than checking out the newest trailers. In this returning segment I’m going to discuss previews that caught my attention, be it in a good or a bad way. 

To start off I’m going to discuss David Fincher’s latest. 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' is the American adaptation of 'Män Som Hatar Kvinnor', a novel by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. A while ago they released a short but perfectly edited teaser. It told you absolutely nothing about the film itself or the story, but it did manage to suck you in.

To make up for the lack of context the filmmakers released another stunning trailer that ran about 8 minutes! A length unheard of in film advertising. This one spilled a few key bits of information regarding the film's story. But still enough is held back to leave you wanting. The effect is breathtaking. This is how you advertise a film: