Recut Trailers

The phenomenon of re-cutting movie trailers emerged during late 2005 after the widespread popularity of Robert Ryang’s take on the trailer for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Instead of a bleak and blood-filled horror flick, the resulting edit portrays the film as a light-hearted romantic comedy. The widespread popularity of this bootleg trailer resulted in numerous imitators, most notably Brokeback to The Future. These trailers are both a parody of the films they’re representing and the conventions of cinematic trailers.

Shining
Brokeback to the Future
Signs of Anti-Semetism
X-Men 3: The Last Standing Ovation
School of Rock
Schindler’s Pots
Scary Mary

 Video tutorials

This series of video tutorials on YouTube will show you how to use MPEG Streamclip, Handbrake and Final Cut to create a recut trailer You can also use the written directions below to help you out.

 The conventions of movie trailers

As media texts develop, media professionals develop common ways of doing things. These techniques become known as ‘conventions’. To familiarise yourself with the conventions of movie trailers, start by watching the trailers for new movies at Apple Movie Trailers. To create a successful recut trailer, you must use the recognised conventions of this form. Ensure your trailer has all of the following elements:

Classification Advice. Trailers usually feature classification advice relevant to the country they’re screening in. Most trailers on the internet feature the green Motion Picture Association of America splash.

Studio Logo. Trailers usually feature the animated logo of the studio that financed the film at the beginning.

Mini-Narrative. Most movie trailers feature clips from the film they’re advertising. These clips are chosen carefully to give the audience an understanding of the narrative and characters. How much they reveal about the plot varies from trailer to trailer. Some teaser trailers are made months before any footage has been shot for the film. Notable examples of this include The Davinci Code and Alien 3. In the case of Alien 3, the teaser trailer featured a picture of Earth from space, implying that the aliens were going to invade. As the production of the film progressed, this storyline was eventually abandoned in favour of Ellen Ripley crash landing on prison planet Fiorina 161.

Editing. Trailers are essentially a montage of clips from a film, edited together in such a way to give the audience an understanding of the narrative. Trailers for action films are notable for rapid editing to create a sense of excitement. Fade ins, fade outs and cross dissolves are also used frequently throughout movie trailers.

Voice Over. Many trailers feature a voice over which helps to convey the narrative to the audience. Don Lafontaine is a voice actor who does most of the voice overs for Hollywood movie trailers. “In a city where anything can happen,” growls Lafontaine. “One man will discover…his true destiny.” His voice has been used so frequently that it has become a cliche of the form. In most movie trailers, the voice over works to convey the narrative in conjunction with clips, sounds and dialogue from the film. For more information about Don Lafontaine, watch this video.

Music. Often used in trailers to engage the audience. Soundtrack.net features a list of the most frequently used musical cues in movie trailers. Because the score for films is generally written quite late in post-production, the actual music featured in the film is rarely used. When cutting trailers, studios use music from other successful films or from music libraries. For example, James Horner’s score for Aliens has featured in the trailer of twenty-four films, including: The Abyss, Blwon Away, Broken Arrow, Dante’s Peak, Lake Placid, Man on Fire and Minority Report.

Tagline. Trailers often feature short phrases which appear on screen, these may be the tagline for the film or serve to reinforce the voice over.

Stars. Movie trailers often prominently feature the names of the film’s stars.

Directors and producers. If the director or producer of a film is well-know, their name will also feature prominently in the trailer. Otherwise, they might be referred to as ‘the director of…’.

Title Card. The title of the film is usually revealed at the end of the trailer.

First Billed. Credits for the film often appear for a few seconds at the end of the trailer. The title card will often include the actors, writer, director, producers and composer.

 Recutting your own trailer

Using any editing software, it is possible to recut your own movie trailers. First, you will need to download the free programs MPEG Streamclip,Handbrake and VLC. The trailer can be edited in any number of editing programs, such as iMovie. In this tutorial, we’re going to be using Final Cut Express.

 Ripping scenes using MPEG Streamclip

1. Launch MPEG Streamclip.
2. Choose File > Open DVD…
3. Select the DVD and press the ‘Select’ button. At this point, MPEG Streamclip may ask you to idenitfy the numbered title of the video you want to open. There are a number of ways to determine the title of the video you want to rip. The easiest way is to open a player, like Apple’s DVD Player. Navigate to the video you want to rip and click the word ‘Title’ in the controller twice. This will show the numbered title of the clip you are currently watching.
4. Scrub through the film and find the beginning of a clip that you want to use in your trailer. Press ‘I’ on your keyboard to mark in. Find the end of the clip and press ‘O’ to mark out. Keep in mind that we’ll be exporting these files as digital video which means that the resulting file will be quite large.
5. Choose File > Export to DV…
6. How you export the file depends on the region that you’re living in. In Australia, the video standard is PAL so you would select Standard: PAL, 720 x 576, 25 fps. If you’re in North America or some other region that uses NTSC, you would choose Standard: NTSC, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps. If your film is in widescreen, make sure you set the aspect ratio to 16:9. Repeat this process for every clip you want to use in your recut trailer. If you have difficulty importing directly from the DVD, try ripping the film first using Handbrake.

 Ripping scenes using Handbrake

1. Launch Handbrake.
2. When the application launches, it will display a dialogue box. Select the DVD and press ‘Open’. The program will take a few seconds to read the titles and chapters on the disc. By default, it will select the longest title on the disc which is probably the feature film. If that’s not the footage that you want to rip, you can select another title using the drop down menu. If you want to check that you have selected the correct title, click on Picture Settings at the top of the window and then press Preview to see stills from the selected title.
3. Click Browse and select a location to save the file.
4. Set the Format to MP4.
5. Set the Video Codec to H.264.
6. Click on Average Bitrate and set it to 2000.
7. If you only want to rip a particular chapter, you can select it using the drop down menus.
8. Click Start to rip the DVD.

 Basic editing in Final Cut

There are four standard windows in the Final Cut environment: Browser, Viewer, Canvas and Timeline. If your screen does not look like this, you can restore the standard view by choosing Window > Arrange > Standard.

Browser. This is where all the files for your project are stored – including movie files, still images, sounds and music. This is also where the Effects tab is located. Effects include transitions, video effects and video generators. If you cannot see the Effects tab, select Window > Effects. The browser is one of the most important elements in the Final Cut workflow.

You can save a lot of time by having the elements in your movie – including video, audio and stills – organised correctly. Right-clicking on a blank spot within the Browser will bring up a contextual menu. This will allow you to change the way that you view files that have been imported into your project. There are five options:

• View as List. As shown in the diagram above, this allows you to see the files listed. If the files in your project have been sorted into bins, then you will be able to see them nested in the appropriate place. You will also be able to view other information including the duration of clips.
• View as Small Icons. This shows the files with small icons, including thumbnails from any footage.
• View as Medium Icons. This shows the files with medium icons, including thumbnails from any footage.
• View as Large Icons. This shows the files with large icons, including thumbnails from any footage.
• Arrange. If you have the Browser set to view the footage as icons, this will arrange them if things become slightly chaotic.

A bin is a way of organizing your video clips, audio and stills. Think of bins as folders. They’re just containers for storing your stuff. To create a new bin, choose File > New > Bin. Alternatively, you can right-click the Browser and select New Bin from the contextual menu. You can organize files in the Browser by dragging and dropping them into Bins.

Viewer. This is where you can view and manipulate media before putting it into your project. When a clip is loaded into the viewer, you can control how the clip is shaped and moves on the canvas and manipulate any effects that have been applied to the clip.

Canvas. The canvas is your film Here you’re able to manipulate the clips directly and view your film.

Timeline. The timeline shows your edited clips in sequence. You can also see transitions and any other element that you’ve added to the movie. You will notice that there is a divider between the video and audio.

Creating a new project

To create a new project choose File > New > Project. Select File > Save As… to save the project before you start. Before you start, it’s important to ensure that your sequence matches the source video. To change the sequence presets, click on the sequence in the timeline and choose Sequence > Settings. Click on Load Sequence Preset. Choose a sequence preset that matches the video you have ripped. Remember, if your video is widescreen then you will need to select anamorphic PAL or NTSC.

 Importing Files

To import files into your project, select File > Import > Files….Alternatively, you can simply drag the file into the Browser. The shortcut for switching applications is Command (⌘)-Tab.

 Basic editing

Now it’s time to start editing your footage. Double-click on the footage in the Browser window. The entire clip will be displayed in the Viewer. Using the VTR, Shuttle, Jog Controls and arrow keys, you can find the beginning of the clip that you want to place in your sequence. When you’ve located the beginning of the clip you wish to place in your sequence, mark in by pressing ‘I’ on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can press the Mark In button at the bottom of the Viewer. Find the end of the clip that you want to use and press ‘O’ on your keyboard to mark out. Now that you’ve defined the clip that you wish to put in your sequence, simply drag the image in the Viewer to the Timeline. Repeat this process for all the clips in your movie. When you add additional clips, you will notice that the cursor will become a right or down pointing arrow. When the cursor points DOWN, the clip will be dropped directly in the location that you specify. When the cursor points RIGHT, the clip will push any additional clips FORWARD.

If there is a red line above the footage in the timeline, you will need to render the footage before you can view it in Final Cut. Hold down Command (⌘)-Rto render the sequence.

You can always adjust the in and out points of a clip using the Selection Tool (A). Simply move your cursor to the beginning or end of the clip to adjust the in and out points. When you’re working in Final Cut, snapping can make things easier for you when you’re moving clips around. To toggle snapping press ‘N’ on your keyboard.

To zoom in and out, select the Zoom Tool (Z) from the toolbox. Hold down the Alt key while using the zoom tool to zoom out.

The Razor Blade Tool (B) is useful for splitting clips.

To unlink the audio from a clip, select the clip and choose Modify > Link. This will unlink the audio from a selected clip. Select the audio and press delete to remove it.

To close a gap between two clicks, right-click on the gap and choose ‘Close Gap’ from the contextual menu.

 Fading audio clips

It’s possible to keyframe basic fades in Final Cut using the Pen Tool (P). Click the ‘Toggle Clip Overlays’ button at the bottom of the timeline. The shortcut for toggling clip overlays is Option-W. Clicking on the black line at the top of video clips or the pink line in audio clips with the Pen Tool(P) allows you to create keyframes. Drag the line up and down to fade clips in and out.

Adding text

Although Final Cut has a companion program called LiveType which is specifically for creating titles and credits, Final Cut has a range of text generators, including: Crawl, Lower 3rd, Outline Text, Scrolling Text, Text and Typewriter. These are located in Effects > Video Generators.

To create a basic text object, double-click on the Text in Effects > Video Generators and it will be loaded into the Viewer. Click on the ‘Controls’ tab in the Viewer window. Here you can adjust a number of parameters such as the text, font, size, style, alignment, color, spacing and leading. When you have finished, switch back to the Video tab and drag the clip into the timeline. You can superimpose text over existing footage or simply leave them against a black screen.

 Using transitions

When you’ve got two clips sitting side-by-side in the Timeline, you can simply drag a transition between them. These are located in the ‘Effects’ tab in the Browser in a bin called ‘Video Transitions’. Using the Selection Tool, drag the beginning or end of the transition to alter its duration. Double-clicking the transition will open it in the viewer where you can manipulate it more precisely and control its settings.

 Using filters

Filters are effects that can be applied to your footage. They are located in the ‘Effects’ tab in the Browser in a bin called ‘Video Filters’. To apply a filter to footage, select its icon and drag it onto the desired clip. Double-clicking on the clip will load it into the viewer. Press the Filter tab at the top of the viewing window to show the parameters for each filter.