New GrindHouse Trailer
Blood…yada, yada, yada…gore…yada, yada, yada…vindictive scorned hot women…yada, yada, yada. Apply once with Tarantino, rinse, and repeat with Rodriguez. Those pretty much sum up my thoughts about the new trailer for GrindHouse that’s being greeted with much soiling of Watchmen underroos by fanboys across the internet. Don’t get me wrong, the trailer is a lot of fun and I’m definitely going to see it. But my mind was made up long before now on that. The marketing campaign at this point can only lose me as a ticket sale, it can’t convince me further.
And that’s the thing about this movie’s entire campaign. It is meant to be gushed over by the audience most likely to already be inclined to see it. That’s not a negative, but it’s also not necessarily a positive. There is nothing – and I mean nothing – about this or the previous trailer that is going to attract anyone from the wider audience to the flick. While it’s good that the Weinstein Co. has identified their niche and are gearing the campaign toward it, the hype surrounding the campaign is out of proportion to that niche. Let’s tone down the rhetoric about new trailers and such and just concentrate on making sure that you’re doing everything you can to retain that core audience.
Actually, the one clunky part of the trailer I thought was the opening narration that explains what a grindhouse was. This is indicative of the confusion surrounding this campaign. The core audience already knows since they’ve had explained to them since this movie went into production or through their own experience. The explanation makes it seem like the studio is trying to educate a larger audience on the conceit behind the 2-in-1 movie. If you’re going niche, then assume a minimum level of knowledge about the subject matter. It helps in not honking people off.
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Comments
I’m split. I responded to the posters from a design purist POV who loves retro, especially when it’s done right. But then to your point about doing all you can to reatin your core, there’s that other part of me that responded as a Quentin fan.
And I suspect there’s still a big part of the film-going audience out there like me–the people who will see anything with Quentin in the title. Doesn’t mean he’s bulletproof certainly, but he’s been pretty consistent in terms of the Tarantino product he puts out, (unlike an M. Night who I think takes far too many liberties with his loyal following).
Even the word niche suggests small somehow, like independent film used to be before it took over Sundance, and I think Quentin is still a draw as the bad boy of independenoir. Yeah, I’m coining it.
;-p
I don’t know if I agree with you in saying that this trailer is nailing in what everyone who wants to see it already knows… Sure I thought it was a little too similar to the other trailer that just came out… only major difference is it goes into the individual movies just a bit more.
I am, however, in agreement that I think Grindhouse has a very niche audience and although they’ll try and expand, it just won’t get too big. You’ve got to realize the limitations. You start with Tarantino / Rodriguez as the high point, but then it’s a horror movie, you lose lots of crowds, then it’s two movies, you lose more (who don’t want to sit for 3 hours), then it’s grainy grind house, you lose even more… as much as I am looking forward to it myself, I think it’s very niche there.
So in the end I’ll say the point is they don’t need to do much more than just keep the excitement going. They don’t want to lose it… so that’s what these trailers are for, not exactly gaining more audiences.