The Voice of the Mainstream Generation

The Voice! God bless you Don!

Ok, let's talk film. Don LaFontaine has passed. He has left this world at 68 due to complications of Pneumonia, or something. Now this death surprises me. When I hear of the passing of Don, you all know who he is whether you consciously know it or not. He's the voice of all the movie trailers. "In a world where Jeff writes a blog and no one reads it, one man can," yeah that guy. This is a guy who truly made an impact on the world. He can go to God and say, hey I touched just about every human being on this planet. Totally. How many people can actually say that. Well the thing that strikes me as odd in Don's death is how not sad I am. I am actually happy that he will be remembered with such high regard.

It makes me smile to think of his memory and impact on this world. To touch someone like that in death is an amazing feat. Well prayers to his family and friends. God bless him. But wow, what an amazing life. I mean you could not hear a trailer without hearing his booming voice to really sell the picture. Well let's talk about trailers for a little bit in honor of Don and his legacy and just to talk about trailers because I never get to talk about them

Well, first off, if the trailer is better than the film, then why not make the film like the trailer? An obvious thought and one that Hollywood has not figured out yet. It is easier to make a story look good in two minutes than two hours. Especially when narrative can be boring and trite, Titanic spitting scene anyone? Trailers have one quality that films lack. it is an obvious quality. It is pacing of course. Trailers have interesting fast pacing. Life filet minon, all meat no fat. Well if films were like trailers, then there would be no real substance, no real moments. But then in films, most of the time a Mickey Bay film, there are no real moments or substance. So there is that.

Trailers are done by separate trailer companies. If you saw the Holiday, you know that Cameron Diaz's job was to make trailers. In fact she had one film that was not good looking good because of her. That's essentially what trailer making is, it is picking the best parts whether the film is good or bad, in essence making lemonade out of it. Anything can look good if the trailer is done well. Anything!

Which of course brings me to my last point. Don't trust the trailers! They lie! Look at them and see if they seem original or interesting. But as we all know the director and the director's approach to the material is the make or break. But I know you are a savvy Hollywood player who doesn't listen or become mesmerized by trailers with the bell and whistles on them. Even if Don LaFontaine sold it like snow in Alaska. Don't trust the voice completely even though the voice made us anticipate some of the greatest mainstream film ever made. We do popular mainstream film here in this blog. Have a good night. Until Tomorrow, let's talk film!