In 2018 on the Trailer Made Podcast, AJ Gutierrez and Jim Schwartz discussed which trailers turned them into students of the game. After hearing AJ's mention of 1996's Independence Day (a very memorable teaser), I reflected on my own early trailer-watching experiences.
Before I could pinpoint a specific movie trailer from my childhood, I quickly realised that those "I have to see that movie" feelings of excitement after watching a great trailer are still very vivid. Despite significant technological advancements over the last couple of decades, that very same feeling remains the ultimate goal of every film studio on the planet.
It's all about the hype.
Whether it's Don LaFontaine saying "In a world…" during the 1990s or a more contemporary indie or blockbuster from today, a good movie trailer always delivers intrigue, interest, and excitement without giving too much away.
Trailers, teasers, and T.V. spots are created by different teams in different companies and are designed to be looked at on a much more surface level. They contain a simplified narrative structure and aim to tell the most succinct story as stylishly as possible. If these techniques and strategies are employed well, they excite audiences and encourage them to pay to watch the entire movie.
SIZE DOES MATTER - GODZILLA 1998
Achieving the "must-see" blockbuster effect tenfold, one trailer that holds a strong nostalgic presence for me is 1998's Godzilla. Fresh off the heels of last week's Godzilla vs. Kong trailer by Warner Bros., I will look back at Godzilla's 'Size Does Matter' campaign for its theatrical release.
With arguably one of the most memorable marketing campaigns of all-time, Godzilla took 1998 by storm, totalling a $150 million combined ad spend. Whether it was creating glow-in-the-dark posters and flashlights with Duracell, or producing one million containers of 'Godzilla Vanilla' ice cream, TriStar Pictures made this film impossible to miss. Marketing reports showed that Godzilla's promotions reached 96% of American households up to 12 times.
Godzilla's 'Size Does Matter' campaign is vast, extending far beyond traditional forms of advertising. For this article's purpose, I will be primarily focusing on the campaign's teasers, trailers and T.V. spots.
GODZILLA: THE ALBUM
Before I break down the first trailer, it's worth mentioning Godzilla: The Album, Godzilla's official soundtrack.
The album sold 2.5 million copies worldwide by July 1998 and had two Godzilla-themed music videos:
Puff Daddy ft. Jimmy Page - "Come with Me"
Jamiroquai - "Deeper Underground”
Back in the late '90s, film soundtracks mattered. They were iconic, chart-topping, and an integral part of a movie's marketing strategy. Although these music videos are not trailers themselves, they are both packed full of Godzilla-themed chaos and helped build awareness around the film's release.
I am a big fan of Godzilla: The Album. That said, I believe that TriStar missed an opportunity to integrate the soundtrack into the film's campaign more. We do get a snippet of Puff Daddy's "Come With Me" during a T.V. spot (more on that later). However, I would have loved to see a backend trailer montage cut well to Jimmy Page's iconic guitar riff.
TEASER A: 'MUSEUM'
Debuting at theatre showings of Men in Black (1997), Teaser A was Godzilla's first snippet of the 'Size Does Matter' ad campaign on the big screen.
Focused entirely around a singular scene that was shot specifically for the teaser, a tedious teacher lists T-Rex facts to a group of students on a museum trip. As the students stare at the prehistoric structure in awe, thunder, lightning, and ominous music intensify as the museum begins to shake; building to a perfectly-timed crescendo with the teacher's monotonous monologue reaching its climax:
"This creature was believed to be one of the largest predators who ever lived on our planet," the teacher proclaims. However, this statement quickly diminishes after an enormous reptilian foot comes crashing through the ceiling, crushing the T-Rex skeleton to smithereens.
As the children scream in horror and evacuate the building, a text card appears reading: "FROM THE CREATORS OF INDEPENDENCE DAY” leveraging the blockbuster success from two years prior. As well as production credibility, this text card is a great way to highlight the movie's genre, one of the three core appeals of a movie trailer in Lisa Kernan's book Coming Attraction: Reading American Movie Trailers. As you will discover, this card is a commonly reoccurring theme throughout the campaign.
At the peak of intensity and destruction, the teacher removes his glasses and stares at the gigantic tail waving over the huge hole in the ceiling. A second text card reads: "GUESS WHO'S COMING TO TOWN" before the final Godzilla title appears along with its release date.
At this point, we do not know Godzilla's backstory, motivations, or any lead actors in the movie. However, showcasing Godzilla's size and the havoc he is capable of causing is enough to build hype and excite audiences to see the full film, or at the very least, another trailer that provides more information.
In summary, Teaser A did a great job of building anticipation and intrigue, using unique original content not intended for the film. By taking a lighthearted jab at The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the 'Size Does Matter' campaign was off to a strong start, highlighting Godzilla's larger-than-life presence.
TEASER B - FISHING
Previewing before Titanic (1997) and Flubber (1997), Godzilla's second teaser trailer also focused on a singular scene. However, this time, the scene was included in the movie, albeit with a very different colour grade and a few alternate shots.
In a similar fashion to Teaser A, an establishing shot is cross dissolved into a character entering the scene. A fisherman named Joe walks to the end of a derelict pier in the pouring rain. As Joe is teased by two onlookers who know him, he hopes that today is his lucky day.
Using a musical score that closely resembles John Williams' Home Alone theme, the editor employs a diversion tactic; hoping to lure viewers in and pull the rug from underneath them.
When executed well, I am a big fan of the diversion tactic. That said, I found the music to be distracting. Being so close to the Home Alone theme, I struggled to look past it and focus on what was happening. Echoing this statement in the book Music Editing for Film and Television: The Art and The Process, Steven Saltzman notes: "Music which is too familiar to the audience will lose its impact, and may come across as corny.”
In theory, this idea could have worked well. Much like Home Alone, the scene was designed around inevitable doom. The characters even slightly resemble Kevin and the Wet Bandits. Nonetheless, the connection did not quite align or have the same payoff the editor intended.
Perhaps in the mid-to-late nighties, the Home Alone reference would have been more relevant and had a stronger comedic impact. The elements were there, but I feel that a different song could have lured viewers in without distractions, having a more impactful result.
The second half of the two-minute teaser is much better. After Joe's rod is aggressively yanked into the sea, he soon realises it is definitely not his lucky day. A colossal creature begins to emerge and make its way towards the pier. The epic musical score builds to a natural pause revealing the "INDEPENDENCE DAY" text card once again. The timing of this was great because viewers believe they are about to see Godzilla in his full form for the first time.
Shortly after, we jump back to the pier for approximately 11 seconds of mayhem. As Fisherman Joe runs for his life, planks fly everywhere as Godzilla blasts forward. It is hard to judge the quality based on a highly compressed YouTube video. Still, the bombastic sound effects aggressively taking over the scene work well, amplifying the chaos and intensity, which would have sounded awesome in a movie theatre.
The Godzilla title appears after Fisherman Joe darts past the screen in a frantic attempt to save his life, as the concealed creature remains elusive to the audience.
After the title card, the audience is presented with a final button, showing Godzilla slowly rising from the sea. We see an extreme closeup of Godzilla's eye, which is the first time we get up close and personal with the prehistoric sea monster. The trapped onlookers stare in awe, resembling movie spectators watching a screen. In a cinema, this would have been fantastic and puts the audience in a great P.O.V. experience.
A "SIZE DOES MATTER" card appears with each word replacing the next. This card worked well, but I feel that the hits that landed with each word (especially the third hit) could have aligned with the music cue a bit tighter. It is hard to not think of today's excellent editing standards and trailer sound effects, but a more contemporary sounding whoosh combined with a hit would have worked well.
Despite not being a fan of the first act execution, overall, this was another great teaser. The progression of intensity and reveal of Godzilla was all timed effectively. The action flourish after the title card was a great choice, which if executed poorly would have left a bad lasting feeling. It is always important to end strong and finish big in the third act.
Overall, this teaser did its job of building intrigue and maintaining mystique whilst revealing more of the monster than we had previously seen.
THEATRICAL TRAILER
Next on the list is the official theatrical trailer. Despite showing more of the film's world and characters than its previous counterparts, this trailer also resembles the characteristics typically associated with a teaser.
Starting strong, Centropolis Entertainment's and TriStar Pictures' logos establish an immediately disruptive tone with negative film and glitch effects. Ominous drones, monstrous roars and thunderous rumbles combine with flashes of destruction and snippets of Godzilla as torrential rain aggressively pours down.
Dialogue from news reports and radio transmissions amplifies the danger, stating: "the target's moving right at us," and "he's too fast." Despite seeming outnumbered, we get a sense that humans are trying to combat Godzilla for the first time. A reporter asks viewers to "please standby," before seeing a ship capsize and Godzilla emerging from the water. The negative film effects and cuts to black push this further, as if power outages have occurred.
The first act's disruptive tone ends with a short pause before cutting to a shot of Downtown New York. Sustaining strings and pulsing synths serve as the primary sound bed, whilst car alarms and screaming citizens fuel the intensity as surrounding buildings begin to crumble.
Several reaction shots conveying expressions of disbelief cut to an emerging Godzilla before the familiar "INDEPENDENCE DAY" text card obstructs the reveal of the monster once again. Inevitable chaos ensues as a wild-ride third act commences. An insane montage for approximately 20 seconds shows Godzilla storming through New York, destroying everything in his path.
Despite Godzilla making a lengthy appearance, he remains elusive. Whilst it is vital to maintain mystique, the shot selection became somewhat repetitive. Almost all of Godzilla's destruction came exclusively from foot stomps, which became monotonous after the fourth or fifth time.
The stomps worked most effectively around the "SIZE DOES MATTER" text cards towards the backend of the montage. However, several earlier usages diluted its impact. Perhaps replacing the earlier foot stomps with closeup I.D. shots of the cast would have been better suited.
In Coming Attractions: Reading American Movie Trailers by Lisa Kernan, she highlights 'Stars' as a core movie trailer appeal. The 'Size Does Matter' campaign is designed around Godzilla being the star of the show, but it is almost unheard of that a movie has not begun to leverage its primary actors at this stage of the campaign.
Unlike Teaser A and B, which focused on generic characters, the official theatrical trailer did begin to show its lead actors, mainly Hank Azaria, who appeared twice. Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno also appear in a group shot, but I feel that separate I.D. shots would have added more star power and made the backend stomps more prominent.
Speaking of Hank Azaria, the final shot of him at the end felt too long. The part where the dubbed psychotic laugh kicks in at 1:41 is good. However, his facial expression being the same before it kicked in confused me. Adding another quick shot before the laugh could have possibly resolved this.
Despite those main two criticisms, the official trailer is still great overall. Over a three-trailer span, Godzilla's mystique still reigns supreme whilst gradually revealing more of the monster each time. I am glad that they decided to stick to a two-act teaser formula rather than introducing extensive exposition. Still, I do feel that familiarising the audience with its lead characters a bit more would have been advantageous.
T.V. SPOTS
Accompanying the teasers and trailer, TriStar released a collection of T.V. spots. This section will briefly summarise several T.V. spots from the 'Size Does Matter' campaign.
As mentioned by Film Editing Pro, unlike trailers, T.V. spots do not have a captive audience's attention. They have the difficult task of making an immediate impact and telling a synopsis of the film's premise, or a particular core theme, in 30 seconds or less.
As we saw with Teaser A, Teaser B and the Theatrical Trailer (still technically a teaser), the film's premise was mainly hinted at and teased rather than explained. However, the T.V. spots chose to mix things up a bit.
COMEDY SPOT
Leaning into the film's comedic moments, the 'Size Does Matter' campaign attempted to appeal to a different audience with this particular spot.
We hear Puff Daddy's "Come With Me" for the first and only time in a T.V. spot or trailer across the entire campaign. As great as this song could be for other videos, this was a bizarre choice and one that did not match the tone at all.
The spot begins with the narrator reminding viewers of what they have already been told: "We know where he came from. We know how big he is. But our problems just multiplied." Shortly after, Matthew Broderick reveals that Godzilla is pregnant. Several forgettable remarks follow, along with exposition centred around stopping the reptilian monster from reproducing. After the title card, Maria Pitillo and Matthew Broderick share one final gag about Godzilla reproducing asexually.
Overall, I was very disappointed with this spot, and it was my least favourite video from the 'Size Does Matter' campaign. It was glaringly obvious that a studio tried to force a theme that did not have the adequate content required. I understand the 'something for everyone' tactics, but nothing about this 'comedy' spot is funny or exciting.
To the editor’s credit, they had a challenging task of trying to force something that just wasn't there.
ACTION T.V. SPOT
Moving back to more familiar themes, one T.V. spot that took a similar approach to the teasers was titled: 'Prepare Yourself for the Big One'. Using the same music cue as the theatrical trailer, the main character, Matthew Broderick, is shown cautiously inspecting a destructed area with his team.
Once we have established the main actors, two well-timed text cards launch into familiar Godzilla chaos shortly after Jean Reno encourages Hank Azaria to start running. An energetic backend montage ensues before the familiar: 'SIZE DOES MATTER' slogan appears in the form of text cards before we cut to the final title card.
Structurally, this T.V. spot is more conventional than the teasers or trailer, choosing to leverage the main actors before the conflict develops. These shots and dialogue lines from the main actors would have been a nice addition to the theatrical trailer and solved the issues I mentioned earlier. That said, perhaps these scenes were not filmed in time for the trailer's release. Similarly, this T.V. spot's montage included many shots I previously felt were lacking in the theatrical trailer's backend; most notably, the glimpse of Godzilla's eye before the title card, which would have been a great addition.
ACTION T.V. SPOT 2
Containing by far the most exposition using narration and dialogue, this action-focused T.V. spot is easily one of my favourite videos from the campaign.
For the first time, Godzilla's mystique and strength surpasses what we have previously seen, with statements such as: "Science cannot explain him," and "Technology cannot stop him," from the narrator.
With exposition and context, the audience understands the stakes involved and the difficulty at hand. We also discover that "unless we outthink Godzilla, we won't survive," which presents a way to beat the monster and teases a good resolve.
The editing is very well balanced, packaging digestible segments of information and presenting them with style. The scale of the attack on Godzilla seems enormous, which is an excellent payoff after the initial setup execution.
After a swarm of choppers ambush Godzilla as he's getting blasted by bullets from all angles, a helicopter flies directly into the monster's mouth before we cut to the final title card. This shot was easily my favourite from the entire campaign, and by far the most revealing we see of Godzilla.
Shortly after the: "We need bigger guns" final line of dialogue, an additional Godzilla: The Album title card promotes the film's soundtrack.
CONCLUSION
After revisiting Godzilla's 'Size Does Matter' campaign over 20 years later, it is clear why my nostalgic memories of anticipating the film's release are so vivid. As we discovered in the 'Size Does Matter Marketing' promo, the range of products and advertisements was vast, with nearly every American household being reached.
In addition to exceptionally high volume, many of the campaign's assets were executed superbly. The overall strategy of selling the mystique around Godzilla worked well. Furthermore, this approach disguised Godzilla's T-Rex-like design, which many fans disliked due to it straying away from Ishirō Honda's original imagination.
Another concealed element from the majority of the campaign was the actors' performances, which became another major criticism of the film. Although I mentioned that the main actors should have been leveraged more, perhaps not doing so helped somewhat; which we saw in the comedy spot. That said, the final T.V. spot I covered showcased the talent excellently.
Many fans argue that the marketing campaign falsely sold a bad movie. I find it hard to ever agree with this statement unless it includes false information or sells the audience an entirely different film. Simply put, a marketing agency chooses which moments to preview for audiences, and in this case, the best moments were chosen. Teaser A did include a scene that was not in the movie. However, I felt that it worked great and accurately hinted at its tone.
The landscape of Hollywood and media consumption has dramatically evolved since Godzilla's release; making direct comparisons to marketing campaigns from today difficult. That said, Godzilla's character still manages to build hype, as we saw in the Godzilla vs. Kong Trailer last week. It is fair to assume we will not see the type of advertisement volume from its 1998 counterpart. Still, Godzilla vs. Kong certainly generated a lot of anticipation from its first trailer alone.
One thing from Godzilla's 1998 campaign I would like to see reintroduced is original content filmed for trailers. This is certainly a rarity and can present complications such as time, budget and presenting moments that some fans hope to see in the film. Nevertheless, if executed well, I believe there is an opportunity to break formulaic moulds and be more original.
Regarding the success of 'Size Does Matter', Godzilla is often considered as a box-office flop for its time. Yet, despite performing below expectations, Godzilla still grossed approximately three times its budget. In addition to its box office sales, the film had also generated more than $400 million in merchandise sales across North America.
Does size matter when marketing a film? Absolutely. I am a firm believer in quality over quantity, but numbers don't lie. Hollywood's first interpretation of Godzilla may not be considered as a cinematic masterpiece, but there's no denying the buzz around its campaign and the money it generated.
So yes, Size Does Matter.