How to Make a Movie Trailer - Editing 3-Act Trailer Structure
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- Опубліковано 3 чер 2024
- A key to making movie and game trailers is using a 3 act structure which takes the audience on journey which helps them understand the new story, understand the stakes, and get excited about it!
Read more about trailer story structure here: www.derek-lieu.com/blog/2017/...
And this post about the trailer line of rising action
www.derek-lieu.com/blog/2018/...
0:00 - Introduction
0:19 - The Line of Rising Action
0:44 - The Cold Open
1:29 - Act 1
2:17 - Act 2
3:18 - Act 3
4:31 - The Button
5:13 - Recap
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Subscribe to my weekly trailer tips at: makebettertrailers.com
Twitter: / derek_lieu
Portfolio: www.derek-lieu.com
Fan Trailers: bit.ly/derektrailers
Cats' Instagram: / uniandebi
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ABOUT ME
Hi, I'm Derek Lieu and I'm a trailer editor who makes video game trailers! I got my start in the movie trailer industry as an assistant editor at a house which produced trailers for: The Matrix Trilogy, Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean and many more.
Over many years I worked as an editor, and started making fan trailers for games until eventually I got jobs at game trailer houses in Los Angeles where I worked on games like Mortal Kombat X, Shadow of Mordor and lots of LEGO games. Independently I've made trailers for games like: Firewatch, Dead Cells, Subnautica, Ooblets and BattleBlock Theater.
I'm using this channel to teach people about the art of making trailers via video essays, tutorials, reviews, and behind-the-scenes looks at my own work. I think about trailers a lot both for work and fun, so I have A LOT to say about them.
I hope to shed light on this mostly unknown industry, and gather together a nice community of people who love to watch and make trailers! - Фільми й анімація
Even after watching this its still so hard to edit a trailer. But this has helped a lot. I guess it takes practice and I have never even made one before.
EternalDrummer1990 Yup, just keep making! Also watch a lot of trailers analytically, and copy their structure if necessary. Even copying will teach you a lot!
@@DerekLieu copying will teach you a lot. hell yeah, i guess not many people have said this before
just need to watch the movie first then you need to thinks which scene is the best to be on trailer
i usually start with short trailers so that i get used to it.
Thank you so much. I'm currently making a mock-up movie trailer for school and this is gonna be really helpful to me.
Glad to hear it was helpful! I have a lot more posts on my website if you’re interested 😃 Derek-lieu.com
The fact that this doesn't have the view count it should hurts me. I really liked this video and think that it should be more popular among the film maker community. Thank you for this knowledge and when I post my project I'll send you the link!
Thank you so much, please do!
It's better that way. This isn't for everyone. This video is a hidden treasure.
Watching this for my film class, recommended by the professor. So good and helpful!
This was so well structured, thank-you!!
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it ^_^
YES! I HAVE WAITED A LONG TIME FOR ANOTHER VIDEO FROM YOU!
Thank you for your patience!!! I’m planning on making a lot more videos like this in the coming year 😅
Derek, thank you so much. This helped a lot, I'm trying to make my own fan made trailer and things are becoming so much
clear now.
Have been struggling so much with this, thanks so much for such a precise and easy to grasp description with examples.
You're very welcome; I'm glad it helped!
So good! Your newsletters have always been great but this is a whole new level.
Thanks so much for reading; I'm excited to make more videos!
the examples you gave while talking were a really good addition. great video
That is an extremely informative and helpful video. As a guy who edits fan trailers I found this a gift I never knew exists but I'm so happy I found it
So happy you found it too! :D
This is a great roadmap of the trailer structure and really helps us composers understand how the music should function.
Hey Derek! Just wanna thank you for the amazing overview! Everything is simple and easy to understand!
You're welcome! I'm so happy you enjoyed the video :D
This video is incredibly well-made. Tysm!
You're very welcome!
This video is perfect! It had just what I needed and more! Love the breakdown!
Glad to hear it helped!
Omg i love your channel i have waited for someone to talk entirely of trailers for so damn long. Trailers are legit my life i can rewatch anyone like 300 times in a week but nobody gets it.Tho you are so good at it!, continue the great work can't wait for more!!
Thank you! My videos are pretty few and far between though, so if you haven’t already check out Film Editing Pro. And also on TikTok @trailereditorpov
Really enjoyed this one man, straight to the point and great examples. Appreciate you!
Glad you liked it!
this was fantastically explained. Thank you, sir. 🙏
Glad you liked it! 😃
Been trying to make trailers in Shorts format for my vids and this was very helpful! THANKS!!!
You're very welcome!
This was great! Very thorough, yet brief! I’m supposed to make one for my podcast and had know idea where to start. Thank you!
You’re very welcome! Good luck making your trailer 😃
That's exactly what I was looking for, and it helped A LOT. Thank you so much!
You're welcome!
thankful that I found you Derek!
I just working on my Trailer Cut, after watched this video more helpful for me.
Such an amazing video, thanks!!!
Glad you liked it! 😃
thanks for bringing all this informations together. your video needs much more attention.
You’re welcome!
A concise and informative video. Covers the bulletpoints nicely. Thank you!
You’re welcome!
Extremely underated video
Thank u, very useful and informative
Wow! Such a great content. Simple and seems easy to follow. More power!
Thanks for watching!
this is a really great video, thanks
You're welcome!
This s brilliant - thanks for you analysis!
You’re welcome!
Good process of thought. Thanks
Recently i have started making fan trailers. And I couldn't agree more to the points you mentioned. I am sure this video will be helping me to make the progress. Thank you so much 😊🙏🏻
You’re welcome, and have fun 😃
@@DerekLieu 😁👍🏻👍🏻
This helped me a lot! Thanks!
You’re welcome!
Thank you so much for the Derek!
Ight, imma create a trailer for my newest upcoming stop-motion animation based on this knowledge.
Thank you for explanation. This seems like a good structure to follow.
Hey Derek, thanks man for this simple and great explanation... This is very helpful
ItsOkSumeet you’re very welcome!
Love the way you explained
Thank you!
Very helpful - thank you for taking the time to share this with us.🔵😁
You’re welcome! Thanks for watching 😄
This was very useful
So informative for a beginner like me! Thank you 🙏🏾❤
You're welcome!
Soooo good, using these elements for a a role playing sims series I'm doing!
Awesome! Good luck :D
Thank you so much for this!
You're welcome! Thanks so much :D
I watched this video and at the end there was an ad of a trailer.
I thought it was pretty funny lol.
Then again, this video helped me see the structure of the trailer and I thought that was pretty cool.
Thanks man for the video 👉😎👉
Hahaha, nice XD
very helpful for my portfolio
Glad to hear it!
This is a really good tutorial! It’s help me a lot for my new upcoming movie for my channel!
That’s great to hear! 😃
:D
This was great. Thanks!
You’re welcome!
Hi, i tried to make some analysis from some movie trailer. Here it is:
Kingsman: The Secret Service | Official Trailer 2 Analysis
Cold Open: 00:00 - 00:11 -> Funny Scene followed by Century Fox logo
Act 1: 00:12 - 01:38 -> Introducing Galahad characters. Galahad life was saved by Eggsy's father. Showing what kind of kingsman organization is. Eggsy training to be a kingsman / spy.
Act 2: 01:39 - 01:59 -> Introducing the antagonist. Some action to build up excitement. Uncertainty about the antagonist. Some protagonist resolve to handle the situation.
Act 3: 02:00 - 02:24 -> Dialogue about how dire the situation is "Sounds like many people are going to die". More action and dramatic music kicks in.
The Button: 02:25 - 02:33 -> Some explicit dialogue from the antagonist, you can think it as a jokes then Final tease cuts to the credits.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle | Official Trailer 2 Analysis
Cold Open: 00:00 - 00:10 -> Exciting action sequences. Showing the main protagonist epic entrance.
Act 1: 00:11 - 00:19 -> Some action to make audience thinking what's going on. Who is that guy in that black car.
Act 2: 00:20 - 01:05 -> Introducing the antagonist. Showing that the antagonist destroyed kingsman facility. How the main protagonist going to handle the situation.
Act 3: 01:06 - 01:38 -> More action and dramatic music kicks in. Showing most dramatic scene in the story then the trailer ends.
The Button: 01:39 - 01:48 -> Some catchphrase from the previous movie, then cuts into the credit scene
What do you think? Is there anything i miss or maybe i put it in the wrong section.
Looks good! 👍🏼
Watching this video with my class, MYP2 can relate :)
Good job, Derek! Thanks a lot 👌
You’re welcome! 😙
Great video and to the point! Great voice as well by the way.
Thank you!
UA-cam algorithm is not kind to everyone I see, what a shame, this video was quite well put together.
Much appreciated! Every comment, like, and share helps ;)
This is exactly what I'm looking for!
Glad you found it! :D
OMG I FOUND EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR! YOUR ENTIRE CHANNEL IS DEDICATED TO MAKING TRAILERS. I HIT THE SBSCRIBE BUTTON AT LIGHTNING SPEED!!!
So glad you found me! I have a LOT more on my website via blog posts from my mailing list. You can see those posts at www.derek-lieu.com :D
First! Great job as always Derek :) I'm glad that you've decided to create a new content for YT.
I've wanted to for so long, I just dragged my heels like crazy. Hopefully I can keep up the momentum ^_^
Awesome thanks for this!
You’re welcome!
Thank you very helpful
Great video, I'll be making a video on my channel using these tips very soon!!!
Awesome!
you made a great work keep going
I will, thanks!!!
great, thank you!
Great video
quite useful，thank you for sharing. thank u sooo much
thank you derek
You’re welcome!
thank you very much
Thank you
Good bro even I'm so late but it still good
Very helpful video
Glad to hear it!
Very helpful!
Glad you liked it!
Thanks man.
You’re welcome 🥰
Thanks
I learned a lot from your video. thx !!
You’re welcome! Thanks for watching ^_^
THANKS SO MUCH 🙏🏼😍
quite helpful thanks. can you recommend a 'how to' for documentary/docuseries trailers?
Documentary is very tough, but these posts might help a bit www.derek-lieu.com/blog/2019/2/9/editing-a-trailer-in-story-chunks www.derek-lieu.com/blog/2018/10/27/the-vague-yet-satisfying-trailer
Thanks!
Thank you👍
Sir to be true i am literally a great Fan of your art
love from India !!!!!!!!!!
Thank you! ❤️
Your video is so good, but there's just so much information to take in that I'm having a difficult time following. I'm not going to give up on it though :) Keep up the good work.
Thank you! If you go to the link in the description to my blog you can take it at your own pace (and also read many other articles I’ve written!)
Thank you Derek! I'm working on comedic/parody trailers, and this structure helps so much. Curious if you have a video or resources on how the narration fits into the trailer structure. E.g. "In a world..." Thanks again!
You're welcome! I have a few blog posts which might have some tips which will help. My main tip is to read through a transcript which includes both the narration and dialogue (assuming there is dialogue) and make sure the narration and dialogue have a nice back and forth rather than each doing their own thing.
www.derek-lieu.com/blog/2020/6/18/weaving-narrative-threads-of-a-story-trailer
www.derek-lieu.com/blog/2020/6/28/trailer-review-huntdown
Hi Derek ,Happy holiday.Thank you very much for your articles and tutorials.I've always been a big fan of you.I want to ask you a question: How do you identify the music genre you need and reflect it to music studios?Please forgive me if I make any errors, my English is a little weak.
Thanks for reading! You're working with someone to help find you music? I'd start by describing the project to them first rather than trying to give words to what you're thinking. Their job is to match music to the project, so let them do what they're good at!
Another thing you can do is to describe the mood or feeling you're looking for, or what the music needs to do. For example: "The music needs to get more exciting here, it needs to feel sad here..." etc.
I hope this helps!
@@DerekLieu Thank you very much.
Are you gonna do a video on how to make a trailer with no dialogue at all or just a little bit of dialogue but visually tell the story? Awesome video btw I really loved it and it will help my fan made trailers so much, cats at the end.
That’s a good topic idea! You’re thinking about a movie or story trailer specifically?
@@DerekLieu It's more like teaser type of trailer but story trailer could be too also forgot to say sound design should be involved too because it helps a lot.
@@TheMarvelStarkOFFICIAL Gotcha, I can certainly make a video about teasers with minimal dialogue ^_^
@@DerekLieu Thank you very much, can't wait to see it.
Hope this covers game trailers.
This works for game trailers too! But what you show in each act is more according to how the game is played (unless it’s a narrative game)
thanks for the breakdown it's super helpful. how can I apply these principles to a film that's not as climactic? it's kind of a feel-good type of film
These principles can absolutely apply to a feel-good film. You just have to adjust what the film's version of things like: action, climax, high points and low points are.
For example, this Spiritfarer trailer follows the structure, but it's not exactly action-y like The Matrix ua-cam.com/video/-6XmELdabY0/v-deo.html&ab_channel=Xbox
Look for trailers for films similar to yours and try to analyze their structure. I think you'll find they often do still share this 3-act structure.
I like it
Excelent!!
Thank you!
Thank you for this video helped me wth my school
You’re welcome! Did you have to make a trailer for an assignment?
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:00 🎬 Trailers follow a three-act structure, but with some key differences like starting high with a cold open, ending before resolution, and sometimes adding a final joke or action scene.
01:06 🎞️ Act 1 of a trailer introduces the premise and characters, while Act 2 mixes things up with conflict or the antagonist, and Act 3 is the climax with the most dramatic scenes and dialogue.
04:17 🤩 The climax of the trailer should overwhelm the audience with excitement and suspense, often featuring grandiose dialogue.
04:56 🤯 Some trailers include a final tease after the climax, like a joke, action scene, or a burning question, before cutting to credits and leaving the audience wanting more.
Made with HARPA AI
I edited a trailer for _Iron Man 3_ in the style of the trailer for _Mission: Impossible: Fallout._ And while I think I nailed the visual editing to this structure, I still have yet to include the actual movie audio because I don't have the software (nor know which software) that can cleanly extract the dialogue without the additional sound effects or music.
This technique is your best bet, but it’ll likely still not be super clean ua-cam.com/video/36QaC1tXZeE/v-deo.html
Hey! New Sub Here... Thank you for these. I'm currently trying to make documentaries here in the Philippines.
Thank you for subbing!
I just need to know how I can get the footage. Can anyone help pls
I had to make notes on this for homework lol
Hope this helped!
Whats the impact of using the same music scored for the movie, to make the trailer ..can we establish a connection prior to the full movie
The potential impact is the music will naturally match better to the feel of the film since it’s made for it. But the risk is if it doesn’t have the right structure to make a dramatic trailer. Not all film scores work wel as trailer music (most likely don’t)
Woww this is cool. But anyway, Do you make a book about this? Or do you know books that turns out to be explaining the structure of teaser trailer or anything about the role of editing in teaser trailer? I'm currently working on my Bachelor Thesis that talks about trailer and teaser structure and I kind of find it hard and struggling to find books that talks about trailer. if you know anything, please do share. Thank youuu
I don't have a book, but I have a ton of blog posts on my site! www.derek-lieu.com/start-here
@@DerekLieu wow thanks man!
hey man this technique can we apply on youtube channel trailer video?
No reason you can't! The information you're presenting to the audience is just going to be different because you're not telling a scripted narrative story.
It's more like:
Cold open: [a bunch of footage indicative of your channel's videos]
Intro: Hey everyone, this is my channel where I make [these kinds of videos] for [these personal reasons]
Escalation: [That's interesting to you because...]
Climax: [Here's more of what to expect, subscribe!]
@@DerekLieu Thanks man really appreciate ❤️
Just seeing this now. But this video should be how to make an action Hollywood blockbuster trailer.
Though I do use a blockbuster movie as an example, these same principles can be applied to dramas, comedies, etc. The difference being that a climax in a drama will be different than a comedy, but functionally for the trailer they will be very similar!
pov: u have to make a book-trailer for school and u feel like a pro after watching the video
That's great to hear! Just don't be too surprised if that feeling goes away as soon as you're looking at your timeline :P
loki trailer is my favourite
I am doing a short film about a girl who sees her ghost sister who was murdered. The girl doesn't know her sister is dead and goes oblivious for a year that she wasn't dead. Their is a detective investigating the murder who ended up being the killer in the end and killing the main character and getting away with it. I need trailer ideas that wouldn't spoil the whole plot.
Watch a lot of A24 trailers. So many of their trailers do a great job of teasing the audience without revealing many plot details at all.
I feel as though following the traditional editing style is a bit taboo for me since I don’t like the idea of spoiling the story. Many times trailer reveal the whole story and leave out minor spoils.
There are many ways to use this structure without spoiling, it’s just a very delicate balance we all strive to hit 😃
Watched netflix's Bee trailer after watching this , it followed the same structure, i think it didn't have the button
Yeah, not all trailers will have a button.
Noice