How to create a Hollywood-style trailer

The return of our short film festival, Short Cuts, is shaping up to be something very special indeed. To celebrate the launch and to announce the ‘call for entries’ to filmmakers, we decided to create a video trailer to whet a few appetites.

Feedback on the video has been extremely positive, so we asked Ben Allan, our in-house editor, to tell you a bit about his method for creating such a big bang – out of very little (he was given just 8 hours to do it although he had full access of our digital edit suite).

“I wanted the trailer to be one of those tantalizing tasters that comes out of nowhere. It had to grab the audience’s attention and excite them. At the same time, I wanted it to remind people of some familiar Hollywood-style effects and fuse a number of different genres to spark interest. As with all new projects, we started with a brainstorming session to explore the objectives, the audience profile, look and feel. At my disposal I had some existing Photoshop artwork from last year’s festival and of course, the Cliff Productions ident video. To build the sequence, I decided to use After Effects due to its array of powerful effects. I discovered that by customising ‘Bad TV’ and ‘Twitch’, I was able to obtain the fast movements that gave me the punchy yet eerie look I was aiming for.”If you haven’t seen it yet – what are you waiting for?

If you know any filmmakers, forward the application link here.

Further information on Short Cuts is here.