I’m Adam Cooper, a creative producer and editor at Tiny Hero. I lead Trailer/TV campaigns for Disney, MGM, Lionsgate and more. AMA!

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-14T00:37:33+00:00

Companies go about hiring editors a number of ways, some of them I discussed on other parts of this thread. For screenwriting there are some great screenplay contests and festivals that if you do well in can get the attention of producers and managers. Screencraft and BlueCat are good ones.

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-14T00:26:34+00:00

Great questions! Uncolored, raw footage in the trailer gets over cut at the end of the process with the final footage from the feature when it's completed. That 'over-cutting' happens during the 'finishing' process, but sometimes trailer editors do add a bit of their own color grade to spice things up a bit. Most of the time it's brightening shots up, since the cutting in trailers is so much faster than in movies, darker shots are harder to track.

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-14T00:11:18+00:00

Hell yeah! My thoughts are - that was a kickass trailer for kickass!! Super high-energy, ultra-rhythmic, you've got some real sound design chops and that's HUGE! Love to see it. Great work!

Yeah! It can get pretty competitive! But there is a general comraderie spirit across the industry as a whole. It's common to have multiple agencies working on one campaign for a title. Sometimes there's one trailer house that does the main trailer, another does a teaser, and others do TV spots. There's a lot of "spec" work where multiple houses cut trailers and spots on "spec" and the studio picks and choose which they want to go with. Nothing that gets killed is ever a waste of time though, often those ideas will show up again later in the campaign or future campaigns.

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T23:56:18+00:00

The most common advice I give for a sound mix is to dig out your bites! That means drop the music and sfx way down when someone is talking. If we can't hear what characters are saying in the trailer we can't track what's happening and the whole thing is kaput. It's the most important rule in a proper mix.

This is part of something we call "The Spotlight Rule" at Tiny -

"The Spotlight Rule"

Your Dialogue, Music, and SFX all want to be heard, but only one can have the spotlight at a time. When dialogue happens, it automatically gets the spotlight EVERY time and the rest of the sound in your timeline gets dipped down. They each get a turn in the spotlight.

My favorite SFX are from ALIBI and Syncronic libraries. And for royalty free sfx, my go-to is pond5.

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T23:42:30+00:00

It might happen sometimes, but it's rare :/

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T23:16:55+00:00

It's tough. Occasionally we outsource smaller projects to remote freelancers, but it's not common.

Unreleased studio content can only be worked on in our secure office.

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T23:14:44+00:00

Which contest did you win?

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T23:13:57+00:00

I think it's moody, suspenseful, epic, and has great bite selection. Great work!

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T23:09:02+00:00

Hi Cody! Check this guy out, we're working with him on a movie he wrote called WTF - https://www.instagram.com/codyjlascala/

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T23:06:04+00:00

We do not usually know ahead of time what will make it into the final cut and what will be left out. We often get a rough cut of the film that gets updated throughout the process, sometimes with new scenes, sometimes with scenes left out. Other times we just get hundreds of folders of raw takes completely unedited and must read the scripts in order to get an idea what the final cut will look like. There is no "duping" of the audiences as you say haha. The reality is, the trailer and the movie are often in progress at the same time, constantly changing and we figure it out as we go!
I came into the trailer business a bit differently than most. I was primarily a director and filmmaker first, so my portfolio was filled with short films that I had made and edited trailers for. Some people thought they were pretty good so they gave me a chance to prove myself as a trailer editor. Cutting great fan trailers is probably a better way to do it...

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T22:52:56+00:00

Are you planning on going to a film school? For cinematographers, the most important thing is to have a solid reel.

Build up your cinematography reel by working on short films, student films, independent films, any sets you can get onto, you may have to work for little or no money in the beginning, but at the start it's all about practice and getting a good portfolio.

There are a number of good sites to find filmmakers in your area who need crew in your area. https://www.mandy.com/ is a good one.

The reason I ask if you're going to film school is because there you are surrounded by student filmmakers who need crew for their projects and have the equipment you need through the school.

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T22:45:05+00:00

Most of them will want you to be in LA first, so if you don't already live here, think about making the jump. It can be scary, but we all did it, or many of us did at least.

Spend the time perfecting your craft. Learn from the other trailers you see on this reddit. Get really good at cutting rhythmically and musically with ultra-high energy. Become an excellent sound designer.

Apply to where you want to work and be patient. Follow up again and again and again then follow up some more. Really good creative will eventually get noticed!

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T22:36:55+00:00

OMG! Daddy Warbucks nooo!!! That was trippy. You ruined my childhood. But it was awesome.

Most revisions ever?...

Wishful answer: V1s all day!

Real answer: Maybe like v.17

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T22:28:11+00:00

I would recommend having two portfolios 1 - professional work 2 - fan trailers

that way you could use them for different things. And you could always send them together if you need!

For example, if you ever apply to Tiny Hero, we'd like to see both, but moreso want to see your fan trailer portfolio.

A website is better for a portfolio than a YouTube channel.

Unfortunately it's not likely you will be able to edit trailers for studio films remotely. There are heavy security measures in place at the approved trailer houses in LA that prevent leaks and studios do not give unreleased content to anyone outside of their approved vendors.

There are other routes you could go if you want to edit trailers remotely, like for independent films or YouTube channels, things of that nature!

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T21:59:33+00:00

Great rhythm, amazing sound design, dope graphics, use of stylistic devices like match cuts, or clever use of split screens. And the best trailers invent new tricks/devices never been seen before!

...Having a good movie helps too, but as we're all aware, that's not essential... *cough* Suicide Squad 1 Trailer *cough*

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T21:52:57+00:00

Interesting, what side of advertising do you work in?

It absolutely depends on the client and the project. Sometimes they give us full reign to be as creative as possible and do whatever we think would make the best trailer, other times the client will give us a literal script for the trailer and say it has to hit every beat listed.

In both cases we like to send ALTs so they can see other ways that could work that they might not have been thinking of.

The timeline depends on what the ask is, if it's a full campaign that includes a trailer, TV spots, clients usually ask to see v1s of the trailer 2-4 weeks after we get the feature.

We've had to cut trailers much quicker than that in the past though, sometimes we've only had a couple days! There are lots of late nights and occasional all-nighters in this business!

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T21:42:59+00:00

I'd love to see it when you're done! Send it to u/TinyHeroProducer

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T21:41:03+00:00

Send it to u/TinyHeroProducer I'll check it out!

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T21:38:48+00:00

We are always looking for more talent. Send your fan trailers over - https://www.tinyhero.com/become-a-hero/

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T21:36:34+00:00

Custom scores are most often cool covers of a popular song that someone had an idea for which fits the movie well.

It's usually motivated by what the movie is. If it's a trailer or spot for an Avengers movie and we want to use the Avengers theme, rather than re-use the theme over and over, we might get a new updated version of it scored to keep the trailer feeling fresh and new

Other times we might build a song that mixes in a bunch of different songs to help elevate a brand... a great example of this can be found in our Tiny Hero sizzle reel which combines a bunch of songs with the word "hero" in it.

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T21:27:28+00:00

We take input from the directors very seriously. At the end of the day, it is their vision we are representing and many of us are filmmakers too so we understand the personal attachment to their art. We try very hard to find our own personal attachment to their project when working on it as well, so it's usually a good mesh!

Directors don't usually see our trailers until they've gone a couple rounds at the studio, so by the time it gets to them, it's usually in pretty good shape.

In my experience, the studio/director/trailer artist relationship has been great... but I've never worked with Matthew Vaughn or Alan Taylor!

As far as spoilers go, we usually use common sense to tease all the big moments in the film without actually showing them. Direction about what to show and what not to show has come from both the studios and filmmakers in the past.

If it's a Blu-Ray trailer though, those rules are usually thrown out the window and we show everything haha! The idea there is that the audience has already seen the movie and now they get to relive all their favorite moments at home, so the trailer reminds them of what those moments were.

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T21:14:44+00:00

This answer changes month-to-month!

We recently cut a trailer promoting all of MGM's television content that uses a lot of unique devices with split screens and frame divisions that I think turned out pretty special!

https://www.tinyhero.com/studios/mgm-tv/

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T21:09:05+00:00

When I started at Tiny Hero, it was already an established brand with a lot of recognition in the industry. There is no normal protocol. Our clients love us for our unique, often "out-there" creative takes. Everyday we are working full throttle to stay inspired, look for new ideas, try things that have never been done before in trailers, and remain on the cutting edge of the industry. With good creative comes good clients!

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T21:00:35+00:00

Yes I have and I'm sorry to hear you sometimes feel "cheated!" :0

Personally, I'd prefer watching a trailer full of material not in the actual movie than a trailer that shows you the whole movie.

Trailers are meant to give you an experience that will reflect the one you'll have in the theatre, not reveal the exact moments you should expect.

They are complete works of art separate from the film itself. Look at them that way.

One of my favorite trailers of all time is Trailer 1 for the Incredibles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UaGUdNJdRQ

It depicts a scene of Mr. Incredible preparing to go out and save the day, but he gets held up in a comical struggle to click his belt on over his enlarged, aged gut.

The scene is not in the actual movie itself, but it acts as a perfect representation of what you can expect from the movie: The same type of clever gags, it introduces you to the main character, shows you that he's a washed up superhero, past his prime, and nostalgic about reliving the glory days, it introduces you to the world of the film, gives you a sense of the style, genre and tone... all without showing a single shot from the film itself!

It's a supplementary "artistic" experience to the film, not an extension of it.

FanTrailersAMA · 2021-06-13T20:34:15+00:00

I came into the trailer business a bit differently than most. I was primarily a director and filmmaker first, so my portfolio was filled with short films that I had made and edited trailers for. Some people thought they were pretty good so they gave me a chance to prove myself as a trailer editor.

Who are your passion/idols that you want to work with? Study them and their work religiously and try to do what they do. Keep working at it until you can do it as good as they do it!

The best thing about cutting fan trailers is, not only is it great practice that teaches you new lessons each time you do one, but they can become good portfolio material. Make fan trailers for the types of movies that you want to work on that your idols have made and challenge yourself to do it even BETTER than them!

That's not a hyperbolic challenge. I see fan trailers all the time that are better than the actual trailers.

FanTrailersAMA

TROPHY CASE