American Honey: the tale of two trailers

On June 21 the first trailer for the upcoming film American Honey was released, and the trailer left me speechless. Everything about the trailer from the first shot through the last caught my attention. The 4:3 aspect ratio, the authentic look and feel, the natural lighting, the popping colors, the tight handheld close-ups spewing with energy, and the pulsating "I Like Tuh" by Carnage tying it all together. Add on top of that an interesting looking mix of veteran and new actors, a proven director, the positive reviews sprinkled through the trailer, the fact that Rihanna's on the soundtrack, and I'm hooked. It was, in many ways, the elusive trailer. It stands alone as a piece of entertainment, it makes me desperate to see the film, and best of all, it doesn't ruin what looks to be a great story with spoilers. This is my favorite trailer of 2016 so far!

Watch the trailer below and see for yourself.

Isn't it Awesome!

After watching this trailer I thought that nothing could diminish my interest in seeing this movie, but then the second trailer was released. If the first trailer was a Picasso, then the second trailer was me in kindergarten with my set of watercolors. It doesn't lack for originality, but boy does it miss the mark and come out an unfettered mess.

Watch below and then we'll discuss.

Ooof. The awkwardness of that trailer is barely containable.

Whose decision was it to make a review of the film the center of the trailer? And who executed that bizarre but possibly workable idea so poorly? Who thought, "ooh, you know who would be a good voice for this, the lady who reads off the side effects in birth control medication commercials?" Why didn't anybody say that was a bad choice?

And if the voice wasn't bad enough we also have the text to hate. It was like the creators tried to be creative with the text, but then gave up and just made it big and see-through. Perhaps worst of all, it isn't clear that the text is a review of the film until the last use of text, and even then it is easy to miss the attribution. The first time I saw this trailer I thought I was listening to the filmmakers describe how awesome they thought their own movie was. Not great marketing.

After watching both trailers, I still want to see the film, but it's bizarre that the same movie can put out my favorite and least favorite trailer of the summer.

American Honey hits theaters September 30th

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