Thanks for posting this, Scott. The question came to me originally when viewing the Japanese trailer for Brave vs. the American version. Quite a huge difference. (Here's the Japanese version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8cLhckSAAw and the American: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEHWDA_6e3M&feature=related). This had me thinking of how often I see American trailers as selling an experience vs. selling a story. Case in point, take any comedy and oftentimes, the trailer looks like a gag reel. That's what they appear to be selling: "Hey, we're fun! Come watch us and this is what you'll see!". And then how often do we find ourselves saying "all the funny parts were in the trailer?". We often read (and believe) that, through stories, we're looking for universal truths or meanings. Yet, it's remarkable how different the marketing approach can be despite this.

Hollywood is ultimately doing themselves a disservice by taking this in-your-face approach day in and day out. 1000 explosions do not carry nearly as much weight as a single well placed one. I hear it all the time... everyone is disappointed and disillusioned by Hollywood's product. The "bombast" they're selling ain't cutting it anymore. Even their target demographic, those precious 18-24 year old males, are getting their "bombast" on via PS3 and XBOX. Since you can't compete with that, why not offer them the thing that made movies such a distinctive artform in the first place... STORY. And ADVERTISE it! Oops. My old fartiness is showing, ain't it... as Teddy said a few days ago... "GET OFF MY LAWN!"

Jeff, keep in mind that many video games today do have strong narrative stories. Not all, but many do, in the same way that some movies have strong narratives and some don't. Story doesn't make movies a distinct art form. Theater and novels existed long before film. However, film was able to capture visual story telling in a different way than theater. That said, I'm one of the 18-24 year old viewers who would like more story in trailers than action (except spoilers. I hate major spoilers in trailers).

I do agree that the UK trailer has a more “international” feel to it: slower paced, more focus on characters and perhaps more emphasis on theme: “How far would you go...” etc., but I don't think they are that different. There are more similarities than differences, just a slightly different approach. One big difference is the music. In the UK version, the music is more emotional, as opposed to colder and harder in the US version. And yes, the US and the UK audiences are different. Apparently the UK audience have to be told that Ridley Scott directed Blade Runner and Gladiator. The US audience just gets his name and that is supposedly enough. With that said, in my opinion the US trailer is vastly superior in just about every aspect. Better editing and pacing, better music and sound design, better focus in general. Plus it leaves just the right amount of questions in there and it has more of a WTF aspect than the UK version. It is of course impossible to know before hand which of these trailers are more representative of the actual film, but my guess is the UK trailer. But that is as we all know besides the point when selling a movie. If you look at an entire marketing campaign, there will be several trailers that have many different approaches. The teaser trailer is just that, a tease that will not reveal much of a story. The first trailer might not either, but there will eventually be a story trailer, unless there is no story there and the studio is trying to hide that fact from the audience. In those cases we mostly get the bombardment of images and explosions and robots fighting each other and Megan Fox's cleavage, or the “gag reel” if it's a comedy, like TBBB said. My guess is that the next domestic trailer for Brave will be a story trailer very similar to the Japanese trailer. The biggest surprise was that it was released first in Japan. But then again, in the age of the internet, that's how it works. We feel we're missing out on something that someone else has first. Even if we only have to wait a couple weeks or so. In any case, if we look at the entire span of a campaign, many times it evens out in the end with the different approaches to the marketing. For instance, last year's huge campaign for X-Men: First Class http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=50645 reveals a multitude of TV spots, character trailers and the like. There are five international trailers listed on Coming Soon. I'm sure there were more. I don't think the domestic vs. international approach was that different. Compare the US and the UK trailers for another Pixar film, Up: http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=20939 They're almost identical. Story is king with Pixar, of course, so there's not much you can do in terms of marketing this film differently in the various markets. You could play up the humor in one trailer and the adventure aspect in another, or a bit of both, which seems to be the route they took. Back to Prometheus, it is my opinion that marketing a sci-fi/action/thriller like this one benefits from less character-driven trailers and spots and the emphasis should be on the mystery and plot. The US trailer does just that and I believe that will ultimately sell the movie better than the UK trailer, no matter what geographical market is targeted.

I actually posted a commentabout this, in the thread with Nate's origial scene-by-scene breakdown of the American version of the trailer. You can read it here: http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/2012/03/prometheus-trailer-shot-by-shot-breakdown.html#comment-113975 Basically what I said was that I am really shocked at the differences - the UK version seems to be focussed on characters and story, whereas the American version focusses on special effects and violence (especially the last minute or so, where the urgent/violent shots change at a rate of less than one shot per second while that grating metallic sound crescendos...) To me, it is kind of a sad statement of what these different cultures expect - that the American culture is willing to sacrifice the story as long as the film fast-paced with lots of effects. I'm not saying a right or wrong here... but there is definitely a big difference in what the populace expects, and (sadly for me) my personal tastes are way more aligned along the European market...

Just to respnd to Teddy Pasternak's comment: "Back to Prometheus, it is my opinion that marketing a sci-fi/action/thriller like this one benefits from less character-driven trailers and spots and the emphasis should be on the mystery and plot. The US trailer does just that and I believe that will ultimately sell the movie better than the UK trailer, no matter what geographical market is targeted." Teddy, I agree with you that marketing the mystery and plot are most important. But plot is hard to have without character... and I got much more a sense of both mystery and plot from the UK trailer. To me, the North American trailer seemed to just emphasize violence/threats/fear and effects. So, to me, the UK trailer was far more enticing. In fact, as I said in my original comment a few days ago, after seeng the US trailer I actually did NOT want to see the movie. (Whereas I had been quite intrigued about it after seeing the UK trailer). Again, not trying to say anything about right or wrong - just talking about my own personal reaction to them. Cheers!

Hi Jacqueline, I just read your comment over at Nate's breakdown (which I haven't read since I didn't want any spoilers, in case there are any!) I can totally see how the UK trailer would appeal more to you and to many others. The US trailer is made in a very "traditional" way. A very aggressive action flick kinda way that appeals to a certain demographic. The demographic that will bring in the big bucks at the box office. There's no way that they will stray too much from that in the US. They need the fan boys and the sci-fi geeks to invade the multiplexes. They need to sell the "cool" factor. They won't do that with shots of holding hands. And like I said in my earlier comment, the UK trailer is probably more representative of the actual film. And I'm with you when it comes to character: I'm a fan. And it looks like there will be plenty of focus on that in the film, not just action scenes and explosions. However, I still say the trailers are, in my opinion, not that much different from each other. They both pretty much tell the same story, albeit with a different approach. They definitely have a different feel and I believe the music choice plays a big role in that as it is guiding our emotions in an effective way. In any case, I want to see the film after seeing both trailers :)

It seems that US trailers cater to the dimwitted teen crowd that is too busy playing on their phones to realize there's a story going on behind all the loud noises and pretty pictures. That is the demographic with expendable income, so that's the demographic advertised to. Americans don't *want* dumb trailers. We're just given them because some moron assumes that's what we want. Not true, moron. I, personally, tend to stay home if a movie trailer fails to tell me who the story is about, what they are struggling to do and what is standing in their way. That is a story. If a trailer doesn't promise me that the movie actually HAS a story, I will be forced to assume that there is none. Why else would it not be advertised? I honestly don't think film marketing could get any more fucked up than it already is. Movies need to be treated like something important, not just the coolest place to text. Get rid of the copious hyperbole in every single ad for every single movie (that, sadly, is not hyperbole) and start advertising the story.