Filmmaking | Interviews

Trailer Trash

1 Jul , 2002  

Written by Phaedra Barlas | Posted by:

Filmmaker Douglas Horn talks about his clever short film 'Trailer, The Movie!' at this year’s Nantucket Film Festival.

Douglas Horn’s film the "Trailer, The Movie!" was one of the most sought after films at this year’s Nantucket Film Festival. Since every showing sold out, the theater owner himself decided to create extra screenings for the film. A true spoof of Hollywood hype, the film portrays two filmmakers who discover their blockbuster is a bust. In an effort to save their careers, they decide to cut together any half-decent shots into a misleading movie preview or trailer to dupe audiences.

At this year’s festival, NewEnglandFilm.com caught up with filmmaker, screenwriter and former C++ computer programmer Douglas Horn to talk about the making of his short film.

PB: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Horn: I’m just a guy who loves movies so much, I made one. I’ve been writing for years, while supporting myself as a computer programmer. I was frustrated with how hard it was to get a script sold — or even read. I was under the impression that sending scripts to producers was the only avenue open to me.

Then I wrote a short script called "Trailer: The Movie!" My wife loved it and convinced me that I had to make it. I was dissatisfied with programming, so it didn’t take much encouragement. I’d always wanted to be a filmmaker but never felt I could just do it.

PB: What do you want your audience to experience from watching your film?

Horn: More than anything, I want them to have a great time. Film is an art form meant to be enjoyed by large groups of people. You need to entertain first before you can try to reach them on any other level. Shakespeare wrote 10 jokes and two swordfights for every soliloquy.

If I can entertain them first, then I want to get to that next level where they really think about the movie’s satire. Satire reveals what is ridiculous in our lives, and I think that movie trailers and marketing are pretty ridiculous. Movies are the dominant art form of our culture. Why don’t we expect more from them?

So when people watch the film, I hope they laugh at themselves — at the fact that Hollywood’s marketing machine has their number and they keep falling for it again and again. And when they watch movie trailers after having seen "Trailer: The Movie!" I want them to know exactly where the magician is hiding his rabbit.

PB: On Saturday the film sold out and you gave up your seat, so one more person would have the opportunity to see your film. Why did you do that?

Horn: I’ve seen the film. From writing the script, drawing the storyboards, standing next to the camera on set and sitting in the editing bay throughout cutting, the film is tattooed on my brain. There were some other wonderful shorts in that program — "The Wormhole" and "The Perfect Gooseys" to name two — and I would have liked to see them again. But I couldn’t face that long line of people who’d waited 40 minutes just to be turned away. Besides, it was a gorgeous day.

The good news is that the theater owner spoke to me afterward and is going to show the film before their features for a few days so more people can see it. That made my day.

PB: During screenings do you watch the audience members to see their reactions?

Horn: The first few times it played, I did. Now, I mostly listen for the laughter. Every audience responds a little differently. It’s quite a learning experience for me to try to understand why something that’s a small laugh for one audience absolutely kills for another. I still enjoy every screening.

PB: I have heard that many filmmakers love trailers. For example Quentin Tarantino collects them and shows them at his film festival in Austin TX. Are you also a trailer buff?

Horn: Well, there’s something of a love-hate dynamic. I think trailers today have grown pretty boring. The trailer for "Attack of the Clones" looked like a Visa commercial. Sure, trailers are ads, but we’re living in an era when people will pay for a movie ticket just to see the trailer that’s playing before it. So something I wink at in "Trailer: The Movie!" is that trailers could be a distinct storytelling form that makes some movies irrelevant. I mean, if the explosions are the best part and you’re going to give away the ending, why not just throw them all in a trailer and not bother shooting the rest.

PB: I understand the film was cast with a specific purpose. Can you tell me about that?

Horn: I wanted to have a convincing "movie-within-a-trailer" and since I couldn’t get stars or look-alikes, I decided to cast people who I felt had the looks and charisma to be convincing stars. I’m convinced that in some alternate universe, Dan, Jon, and Emily each pull in 20 million per picture.

When I started "Trailer: The Movie!" I had no idea how to cast actors. I put a listing in Backstage West. We got over 1,000 headshots. Going through them was a terrible process because I had to set aside the person and just eliminate solely on looks — who seemed right for the part. It’s brutal and a reason that I feel so much sympathy for actors.

We only ended up casting two of the parts directly from the listing. Others were people who maybe the DP or producer had worked with on other productions. But the casting process was still useful because many of the people who made it to the callbacks were strong, convincing actors who I hope to work with someday.

PB: How many films have you made so far? Do you intend to keep making short films?

Horn: This is my first film. I never went to film school, so I didn’t get to make my rookie mistakes on 16mm reels that only get shown to my class. They’re up there on the screen for the world to see.

I absolutely plan to continue making short films. They’re a distinct form. There are certain stories and statements that wouldn’t work or be as powerful in feature length, and yet are no less valuable or entertaining. I hope to be directing features soon, but I will always make shorts. I think I need that to keep the long-form stories fresh for me. Plus, I see a growing resurgence of short films. The big distributors don’t seem to know how to take advantage of the trend yet but some people are working away at the edges. You better believe that the first one to make some money will open up the floodgates. There are just so many talented filmmakers out there making shorts.

At the moment, I’m in pre-production on a short called "Back Up, Please," which we’ll shoot in early August. It’s a very powerful drama and about as far as you can get from "Trailer: The Movie!" but I think the story and characters will deeply move the audience. I’ve also been working for a year on a computer animated short called "The Crosswalk." It should break some new ground for computer animated films, but since we’re making a Pixar-quality film utterly without resources, it’s taking longer than I’d like. Hopefully it’ll be done by the end of the year.

PB: I’m sure in making this film, you’ve learned a lot that you’ll be carrying into your next project. What is your goal for your next film?

Horn: My goal with every film is to reach the audience and make them feel something. I want to show them something that at least in some respect they’ve never seen before. And I want to leave them with something to talk about with their friends on the drive home. That’s my ideal when I go to a movie, and that’s what I want to create when I make a movie.

My next short, "Back Up, Please," is pure drama, which gives me a chance to really develop performances. I intentionally wrote it in a minimalist style with an iceberg-tip approach to exposition, that I think the actors will enjoy working within. The shots will be quite technical — all car mounts, cranes, and choreographed Steadicam crammed into three tight days. But I feel comfortable with the risk because I’m lucky enough to be bringing back my team from "Trailer: The Movie!" We trust each other. And that’s really the most important lesson I’ve learned yet: Find the most talented people you can to work with and build trust with them. As the director, I get to sit back and receive the credit for all their hard work, talent, and creativity. What a job!