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[SignerJ]

Marble Hornets Trailer V1.4

[paladin181]

Well, Where to begin? When you put quotes in something, you should credit the author. Otherwise there's absolutely zero weight behind it.

"An epic thrill ride! You'll never... sleep easily again!"

See? I just made that up. Need sources for quotes for authenticity. Also, the pacing of the trailer is bad. Hard to explain why. You have the "Alex tells a creepy story for no reason" bit. First, I would have put up the text from the very first video, interspersed with that bit, while he's telling the story. Then, I'd have spliced some interference and visual tearing (leave the audio untouched) into the remaining bits of the story with cuts of the operator, or the Mask attacks, rather than staying solely with the original footage (fading between the original footage and the action scenes). The music is- misleading to say the least. I'd have gone with something more low key and ominous rather than the high paced thrill ride music you chose. I'd also end with Jay's attack on the Operator.

Overall, it's not a horrible attempt at a trailer. But I'd not really use it if it were me.

[SignerJ]

I might as well reply now...

(In no way is this meant to be taken as me being annoyed, frustrated, etc.)

With the quotes, there is no credible author. Marble Hornets reviews are difficult to come by as is, let alone ones with authors other than something like "Steve." If you have a website I could use, a link would be appreciated.

The pacing isn't the best, but it will probably get better with some editing.

The story bit at the beginning probably descends into personal preference. Also, it would be a bit difficult to find a bunch of clips with tearing and the Operator (and Masky) that fit together and work with the story (in my opinion). I did not stick with the original footage, however; I did not like it, and instead drew upon several other videos from Jay in the forest.

The music may not fit the series perfectly, but it is some of the best I could get. For one thing, music like you described is much harder to find than one would think. In addition, I modeled this a bit off of other Marble Hornets trailers; the better ones all use this kind of music. Finally, based on several reference trailers (professional ones), and my own preference, I decided that action music fits better with the planned mood for the trailer. The visuals of the trailer were based upon the music and the quotes that I included.

The ending was like it was because I wanted it to be suspenseful, and a bit more enticing. I was thinking of using that ending early as I made the trailer (I actually had a few choices, but I chose the current one).

This is my first trailer/video, also. I'm not using professional software in the least -- all of the software was completely free, and so have their limitation. I think what you dislike mainly come down to personal preference, software and music limits, and basic editing for flow.


And thank you for commenting so quickly! It really is appreciated, even if it was mostly negative.

[paladin181]

Apologize for the negativity. I'm at work and that's not. bah well, here's some more comments.

It was better than I can currently do with the equipment I have available and the knowledge I have at hand. Maybe once upon a time I could cobble together something like this, but I lack the time and motivation to make the effort. If this is something you truly want to pursue, you're on the right track by posting a video and being receptive to criticism. Persistence is the key. Talented people end up in dead end jobs every day. Educated people find themselves struggling to pay back student loans. But persistent hard workers nearly always find ways to be successful. This is a good first attempt. If you work at it, I'm certain you will refine it into something really good.

[Starkley]

The cuts between scenes could be cleaner (like when Tim punches Jay, you had some stray noise at the end).

There's also not much flow between the scenes (like having the Masky-attack from #35 pop out right after a quote, because of how noisy it is, it seems kind of jagged, especially because of how short a clip it is). You also have many more still shots (where the camera isn't moving much) than active ones, so it's kind of a static trailer, and doesn't mesh well with the more epic theme (I personally believe that MH deserves something more ominous - try looking for some video game music maybe, because there's plenty of free stuff like at designated sites - but that is personal preference).

Also, that last clip at the end is kind of weak to leave your audience with, personal preference aside. Either use something way more haunting (the still image of The Operator with that odd lighting at the end of #26 would be perfect in my mind) or end the video after the "Marble Hornets" slide pops in.

There isn't a real flow of buildup to climax in this either. The only really gripping scenes/seat grabbers were the Masky-attacks, which were very short. You might want to make the trailer a bit longer to accomodate lasting effects.

And that's another thing. MH has a very dull lighting scheme in many of the outdoor shots, so it doesn't look as presentable for something like a trailer. Maybe add in some high-contrast video effects or lighting effects?

Also, you need credited quotes. I thought at first that you had just made them up until I read your post. I get if it's hard to find names, but maybe the websites you pulled them from?

Suggestions from personal preference:
-Totheark footage?/You could stylize the video to be more like a Totheark video, which I think would be awesome. A lot of cryptic footage and Operator stuff, which you wouldn't even have to do yourself; a combination of Operator sightings from MH and scenes of the more occult and dark areas in Marble Hornets would work fine.

-Use footage from Entries #23, #52, #26, #60, and the Introduction (this is off the top of my head, there are probably other climactic scenes).

-I personally think that "Extraction" is a brilliant Totheark vid to put in any kind of MH trailer.

-The music just cuts out suddenly, and it doesn't sound too good/too jerky to have the same effect that real MH distortions have. Let the song build up to its climax properly (place the climax at that point in the video and work backwards) or use a less harsh distortion noise.

Things I liked:
-Good font for the text.

-Opening it up with the story of the guys in the trees was good thematically, but as an intro it's misleading to the actual story of MH (that's my major gripe with it, really).

-Good premise actually. :O I would never have thought of a trailer at all. So have fun with it.

Also, f**k student loans.

[baseballfuries08]

Ok, I'll try not to make this a bit too long. I really hope you read this post with care and dedication, since I tried really hard to make it worth. There's a couple of advices which I would have loved to have when I was at the stage you are now into editing.

Please, pay no attention to the harsh or maybe hostile tone my writing has. It's not the idea, it's just the way it sounds.

1) Do not use damn quotes. They are cheesy and lame and don't cause the effect you're looking for. The only you should include is the one from Roger Ebert, and not in the middle of the trailer.
2) Do not use that damn music. Marble Hornets is about mistery, not some fast-paced-action-horror-with-vampires-and-mummies series.
3) Do not use effects on the font (which is great). Marble Hornets, once again, is about mistery, and using a minimalistic text reflexes the minimalistic nature of the series.
4) No directors. No cast. They are not known outside of Marble Hornets and adding their names only makes the series look more lame: the spectator would think "why is this name that big? Those guys are so unknown!"
5) The worse of the worse: that Memento thing. I wanted to punch through the screen to kick Youtube's butt. I understand why you put it, but if you compare two things which are so so different like that, you'll only create certain expectations on the viewer, which will obviously turn out to be utterly wrong, which will backfire on the series.



Be careful about the scenes you choose to put in, and specially the order. Some other folks have noticed the pacing, so I'll just skip over it.
But regarthless, be careful about the scenes you choose for your trailer. I would only put stuff from Season 1 and maybe something from the beggining of S2. Why? Because by then (middle of S2) the story has already evolved into something else, and the objective of the trailer is to make you watch the first entries, and the series will do the rest.
Therefore, the trailer can't and doesn't have to cover the whole series. That would make it just a stupid summary. And that, my friend, is fucking it big time. Wanna see an example? Right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3d6De_MdWU
Yes, that's actually the ending of the movie, and you have just seen it in a goddamn trailer! (don't worry, the whole thing it's not worth your time).

All trailers are nothing but sneake peeks. Keep that in mind because it's the golden rule of trailers. You get to see something, just a little, just enough for you to get interested, and they let the rest for your imagination. But your imagination is not good enough to satisfy you, so you get interested in the movie, to see the rest of the story, learn how it ends. That's how a good trailer works.

Here I leave the link to my favourite trailer ever. You'll find it respects that I've said about showing just a little bit of information, and it's also a great example of respecting the esthetic style of the movie (subject which I'll cover right away):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJkPLYmUyzg

* Why I said that about the music and the use of effects on the text? Because a trailer MUST keep the estetic style of the movie. Marble Hornets it's a mistery series (at least at the beggining, during Season 1, and again, that's were you have to place your trailer; the rest is the evolved version of this), so you have to play along with it. If you put some action-like music, people will expect some action packed series, which Marble Hornets obviously (and thankfully) is not. As I said before, a trailer with a minimalistic style serves as a double advantage in this case: it would not only reflect the minimalistic style of the series,but also would make it more misterious, making the people more interested.
In fact, if what you wanted with that music is to people get interested, you failed instantly.
If you want them sitting in the edge of their seats, don't give them the comodity of music. I'd use some distortion during the text scenes, which will not only unset the spectator (making them more interested), but also reflects the nature of the series: it's an implicit way of saying "this will unset you. watch under your discretion", and you know how people is allways interested in the "illegal", the prohibited things.
A great example of this is the credits Troy uploaded to his YT account:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzgsNB-LQ1M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHR7lnMWQlI&feature=relmfu
(in the second one, Troy even gave us stuff for us to analize, how great and faitful to the nature of the series is that!)
You'll note that he uses the iconic visual distortion, and also some interference in the audio to avoid using boring silence (which is only a bad thing in this case, because silence it's not a lack of sound but a constructed ambient). And even uses a little of highly distorted music, a resource you should use almost obligatorily.

* The only two good things which I can say about the trailer are:
1) The almost not use of Operator footage: I don't know if it was intentional or not, but you almost not show anything of him. (maybe because you tried to make it fast-paced and oppy's footage is dense and not very dramatic). It's a good thing because you're saving the best for the series, and not spoiling it for the trailer.
2) The beggining and the end: they feature no music, and serve great for their purposes. Altough you have to, once again, try to make a balance about showing something interesting and not showing a lot so you don't spoil it. I think it's greatly equilibred in the first and last clips you used. Great job there.

EDIT: I'll counter-argument (if I may call this it) some things you said to paladin181:

[SignerJ]

Version 1.4

[TheMoldyPudding]

I liked it, but have a few complaints.

1. The review things in the middle of the video. There is too many of them and "-imdb user" isn't exactly a nice source. I'd keep the Roger Ebert one though.

2. If you are good with visual and audio effects, try to add some distortion. There is so much in the series that it feels kind of misleading to cut it out.

That's it. Fix those things and you'll have a better trailer (in my humble opinion).

(I have a few questions though.
How did you get the clips?
What do you use to edit?)

[baseballfuries08]

Re: Version 1.4

[MistrPibb]

The music makes it seem dramatic; pairing it with some of the least spectacular moments in the series makes the series appear boring.

Marble Hornets is supposed to have a scary atmosphere, but nothing in this trailer is scary.

tl;dr: the music just turn it off please why are you doing this

[SignerJ]

First of all, I am NOT going to use the trailer, and I probably am not going to edit it any more. I did not know about the official trailer; that is what I am going to use.

Also, I used Windows Live Movie Maker, iLivid Download, and a conversion program.

[monstertugg]

I kinda liked it, however I'd reccomend you get rid of the music completly and instead use something like distortion, breathing or heart beats to set the audio mood. It simply doesn't do the show justice with music since it's in no way that type of production that would use music to set the mood.

When I watch marble hornets I'm not watching some epic showdown battle. I'm biting my nails staring, hugging a pillow, while trying to analyze every piece of information being given. The trailer should give me the same type of feeling, otherwise it is just missleading.

Keep up the good work, I'd like to see it updated!