BWW TV Special Feature: HAIRSPRAY Teaser Trailer — Page 2

I was surprised too! He must've seen the B'Way show!

Updated On: 12/27/06 at 09:04 PM

Anyway, I like the trailer. I can't wait for other trailers including posters!

I am TRE EXICTED.

even the name listing gave me chills.

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This was the trailer for DREAMGIRLS when I saw it again last night. I thought it looked really cheap (especially when you think about that gorgeous teaser for DREAMGIRLS last December).

Sorry to be so "hard" on this upcoming film. I want it to be great, truly - but that teaser was...lame. They could have at least shown some of the energy and fun which make HAIRSPRAY such a joy on stage.

The DREAMGIRLS teaser was gorgeous...it had a lot more style than this HAIRSPRAY teaser which looks like it was made in powerpoint...

I'm thinking of the teaser that had the blue shots of instruments, microphones and women in silouhette - with Jennifer Holiday's recording of the end of AIATY over the flashing cast names. It was really well done - even if it was only 30 seconds, it looked expensive.

The voices MAY just be placeholders. I have seen plenty of tracks laid down where they get session singers in as placeholders and then the actual performers from the film come in and redo the vocals. It gives the producers and musical staff a chance to hear the show on its feet and tinker before the high-paid names come in. If that is the actual cast, I'm a little worried about the blandness of the vocals compared to ANY bootleg of the BC on the web (and my incredibly fond memories of seeing the show right after it opened).

And I have to point out this is what I have thought of all the "samples" from the movie I've heard so far, ESPECIALLY Queen (otherwise wonderful) Latiffa. In a year when we've heard Jennifer Hudson's pipes and after seeing Mary Bond Davis tear up the joint, the Queen does not rock my barge.

The orchestrations are a pretty faithful recreation of the sound at the Neil Simon but the cast sounds like The Living Voices or the Swingle Singers. Bland.

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Updated On: 12/27/06 at 10:40 PM

Wow! That teaser trailer really got me excited for the film!!

/sarcasm

That was so boring. I know it's a teaser and they're not supposed to show much but usually teaser trailers show a little bit. This one showed nothing. Really I'm just ranting b/c it's late and there is nothing to do.

I'm still going to see the film.

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Updated On: 12/28/06 at 12:33 AM

My thought was "You can - you HAVE - done better". This was just plain boring, which is a shame because with this cast, I suspect the finished result will be anything BUT boring. I realize that many films do advance trailers, but the films that score big at the box office do them so much better. Take "Dreamgirls" as an example. They may have only shown a few feet of footage, but it was THE footage, the arrival of the Dreams. It got a very good reception.

I have always believed that a trailer is like a contract between the filmmaker and the audience. If you get screams of approval at first showing, it's sort of like an audience agreeing to go see the finished film. I can think of dozens of instances where that was true. If you have a dull teaser (and it is called a teaser, you need to tease) you often have a film that is either afraid to show the goods or is in the middle of an identity crisis.

I would shelve this teaser and show instead a teaser made up ENTIRELY of an incredibly tight, extreme close-up of Travolta's hairdo, bouffant and two feet high. I would have the camera sneak down a few times to show an eyebrow and hear Travolta say "uh, uh, uh...not yeeeeeetttttt...." (or "who wants to know?") as the music roared and the credits rolled. THAT would get the juices flowing, show a sly sense of humor and "offer the contract" to the audience.

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Updated On: 12/28/06 at 03:48 AM

Only here. The general public will go "huh?" instead of "hah!"

Seriously, it was a lame effort. They can do so much better.

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Updated On: 12/28/06 at 10:26 AM

"As discussed earlier in this thread - the dreamgirls trailer you're thinking of wasn't the first presented. The VERY first one was very similar to this one. Just the names and the logo with a song clip."

But Craig, what you fail to mention is that when the Dreamgirls trailer came out they hadn't even begun filming it (they hadn't even recorded it yet!). Hairspray wrapped filming what, two months ago? There is no reason there shouldn't be any footage in the trailer.

Warhol hit the nail on the head. That trailer tells you nothing about the film - or more particularly the spirit of the film. Its as if they expect the audience to react simply because of the names and the title. When I saw that trailer before DREAMGIRLS (in a very suburban area) the audience largely stared at it in confusion. HAIRPSRAY, despite its popularity on this board, is not a musical the average middle American film goer has heard of. The trailer could have been much better utlized. That one is just a waste of time.

Frankly, our Mateo could have desgined something a hundred times more creative and fun and that doesn't look like an ad for a highschool production of THE WEDDING SINGER...

Updated On: 12/28/06 at 10:50 AM

It's just so puzzling. They get what appears to be a dream cast. They involve the original authors and composers. They faithfully recreate the score so it sounds like the original show...

and then this dreck.

Hell, they even had the brains to hire mateo, who was doing a wonderful blog (and if you created this trailer, I'm soooo sorry to be so critical, m).

These guys have not made one false step. Until now. I hope they take a look at forums like this because there are many people here eager to talk up the film and buzz is a good thing. The studio needs to very carefully consider their next move and get back to the on-the-mark professionalism they have exhibited so far.

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