Articles for category: Commercial Promos

May 2, 2025

Jeremy Towsey-French

Trailers in Transition

In today’s class, we highlighted some of key differences in trailer design and intent, comparing methods from the 1980s with current methods. We first reviewed the trailer for Top Gun (1986), which showed a straightforward presentation of the film’s narrative, including a clear establishment of the characters (Maverick, Iceman, etc.), the setting (the elite fighter pilot school), and the central conflict (competition, achieving greatness). Music was featured throughout and was indicative of the soundtrack, but not the specific top-40 songs from the film. The editing was paced to build excitement but with a more gradual rhythm than today’s trailers. We then compared

April 23, 2025

Jeremy Towsey-French

How to Build a Movie Trailer

In today’s class, we outlined the core concepts behind effective film trailer construction. One of the best summaries available is from Derek Lieu, a professional movie trailer editor. Lieu essentially breaks down the film trailer into a four-act structure for effective story summaries, expanding on the traditional three-act narrative. This structure begins with a Cold Open, designed to immediately grab the viewer’s attention with an exciting, humorous, or dramatic scene requiring minimal initial context. Following this hook is the Introduction, where the film’s premise is established through exposition or intriguing questions. The trailer then moves into Escalation, introducing the central

March 10, 2025

Jeremy Towsey-French

Directing Art + Science

Today’s class kicked off with an excerpt from the 2019 film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, directed by Céline Sciamma, leading us into a discussion on the captivating world of film and television directing. Directing is a fascinating dance between artistic vision and meticulous execution. Imagine a conductor leading an orchestra, but instead of instruments, they’re shaping performances, camera movements, lighting, sound, and every other element that culminates in the stories we see on screen. At its heart, directing is about translating a written script into a living, breathing reality, imbuing it with emotion, rhythm, and a unique point

March 4, 2025

Jeremy Towsey-French

Framing & Composition Basics

In today’s class, we analyzed the below scene from Lars von Trier’s 2000 masterpiece, Dancer in the Dark, which leveraged more than 100 digital cameras on set to capture the resulting scene from 100 different angles. Instead of shooting the scene multiple times from multiple angles, the scene was composed in the editing room. The following video from Studio Binder explores the nuances of camera framing –a fundamental aspect of cinematography. While selecting a subject for each shot might appear straightforward, the art lies in how you choose to frame them. Do you opt for the isolation of a single, or introduce