by Paul Costello
Fan-made trailers are something that you can spend a long time watching on YouTube. Often dismissed as annoying distractions and troll videos, many of them can display a great amount of imagination and talent. They can be anything from the ones that try to turn in a whole new vision of a particular movie (such as the “Mary Poppins as horror” or “The Shining as uplifting family drama”) to the ones that try to spell their own vision for upcoming movies (like this one making its case for a Nathan Fillion-centred Green Lantern) to the ones that simply mash two trailers together for laughs (Wall-E meets Watchmen).
Fan-made trailers are something that you can spend a long time watching on YouTube. Often dismissed as annoying distractions and troll videos, many of them can display a great amount of imagination and talent. They can be anything from the ones that try to turn in a whole new vision of a particular movie (such as the “Mary Poppins as horror” or “The Shining as uplifting family drama”) to the ones that try to spell their own vision for upcoming movies (like this one making its case for a Nathan Fillion-centred Green Lantern) to the ones that simply mash two trailers together for laughs (Wall-E meets Watchmen).
However, many of them can come from working professionals, who have an idea for a project and make trailer for it. Most times, these are done simply for the fun of it, to see the idea out in the world to see what people make of it. Sometimes, though, these trailers for non-existent films are made in the hopes of turning it into a real film, if enough people notice it.
Back in October 2010, a short film/commercial/music video director Jon Watts made and uploaded a fake trailer for a film called Clown. The idea is very simple: when the clown hired to appear at his son’s birthday party, a father tries to save the day by dressing up as a clown himself, using a costume he finds in his basement. The day is saved, but the father soon finds himself unable to take off the costume. It transpires that he become possessed by an evil clown demon and cannot stop his terrifying transformation. The trailer even had its own credit screen, naming Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth as executive producers, with Roth also as director. Watch the trailer below:
Back in October 2010, a short film/commercial/music video director Jon Watts made and uploaded a fake trailer for a film called Clown. The idea is very simple: when the clown hired to appear at his son’s birthday party, a father tries to save the day by dressing up as a clown himself, using a costume he finds in his basement. The day is saved, but the father soon finds himself unable to take off the costume. It transpires that he become possessed by an evil clown demon and cannot stop his terrifying transformation. The trailer even had its own credit screen, naming Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth as executive producers, with Roth also as director. Watch the trailer below:
Here’s the thing about Eli Roth, though. He seemingly loves this type of stuff. Indeed, he was the one who brought the 1989 shot-for-shot fan-made remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark, featuring a cast of young kids, to the attention of a flattered Steven Spielberg. So, when Roth caught wind of the trailer for Clown, he got in contact with Watts and gave him the opportunity to turn this fun project into a legitimate production.
Fast forward a few years and Clown is set for release later this year, distributed through Dimension Films, and with Watts making his feature film debut as director. Although no release date more specific than 2014 has been set, a new trailer for the real feature has been released. And it looks pretty good, even wonderfully holding onto some of the original trailer’s shots and elements of sound design. It may not land until closer to Halloween, but this is certainly one to keep an eye on. Watch the trailer for the real Clown below:
Fast forward a few years and Clown is set for release later this year, distributed through Dimension Films, and with Watts making his feature film debut as director. Although no release date more specific than 2014 has been set, a new trailer for the real feature has been released. And it looks pretty good, even wonderfully holding onto some of the original trailer’s shots and elements of sound design. It may not land until closer to Halloween, but this is certainly one to keep an eye on. Watch the trailer for the real Clown below:
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