How to Make a Movie Trailer Like a Professional Editor

Professional movie trailer editors use accents to make their edits punchy and entertaining. This video walks you through what accents are, and how to use them in your own trailers!
Read the text of this video here: www.derek-lieu.com/blog/2019/...
Video Chapters
00:00 - Trailer accents introduction
00:36 - Why having no accents isn't as effective
01:18 - What accents do
01:37 - What are accents made of?
02:11 - Types of accents
02:28 - The Departed as an example
03:35 - Accents are punctuation
04:23 - Cutting in accents
04:59 - The flow of a good trailer
05:29 - Concluding thoughts
06:18 - Thanks!
Movie trailers (in order of appearance)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - Trailer 2 - • Scott Pilgrim Vs. The ...
Get Out - Trailer 1 - • Get Out - In Theaters ...
Atomic Blonde - Trailer 2 - • Atomic Blonde - Offic...
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Trailer - • Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2...
Fast & Furious 6 - Trailer - • Fast & Furious 6 Offic...
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Trailer 3 - • Hellboy 2: The Golden ...
Fast Five - Trailer - • Fast Five - Theatrical...
Hot Fuzz - Trailer - • Hot Fuzz Official Trai...
Shutter Island - Trailer 1 - • "Shutter Island" - Off...
The Departed - Trailer - • The Departed (2005) Of...
Spider-Man: Homecoming - Trailer 2 - • Spider-Man: Homecoming...
District 9 - Trailer 2 - • District 9 Trailer #2
Wonder Woman - Official Trailer - • WONDER WOMAN - Officia...
Joy - Trailer - • JOY | Official Trailer...
Black Panther - Teaser Trailer - • Black Panther Teaser T...
Psychonauts 2 - Story Trailer - • Psychonauts 2 Story Tr...
John Wick 2 - Trailer 2 - • John Wick: Chapter 2 (...
Mission Impossible: Fallout - Trailer 1 - • Mission: Impossible - ...
The Dark Knight - Trailer 3 - • The Dark Knight - Offi...
The Matrix Revolutions - Trailer - • The Matrix Revolutions...
Thor Ragnarok - Trailer 2 - • "Thor: Ragnarok" Offic...
_
FOLLOW ME
Instagram Trailer Tips: / derek_lieu
Patreon: / dereklieu
Website: www.derek-lieu.com
Twitter: / derek_lieu
Podcast: www.cutdowncast.com
-
ABOUT ME
Hi, I'm Derek Lieu and I make video game trailers! I got my start in the movie trailer industry as an assistant editor at a house which produced trailers for: The Matrix Trilogy, Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean and many more.
Over many years I worked as an editor and started making fan trailers for games, until eventually I got jobs at game trailer houses in Los Angeles where I worked on games like Mortal Kombat X, Shadow of Mordor and lots of LEGO games. Independently I've helped make trailers for games like: Half-Life: Alyx, Psychonauts 2, The Long Dark, Firewatch, Dead Cells, Subnautica, Spelunky 2, Ooblets, BattleBlock Theater and a lot more.
I'm using this channel to teach people about the art of making trailers via video essays, tutorials, reviews, and behind-the-scenes looks at my own work. I think about trailers a lot both for work and fun, so I have A LOT to say about them.
#movietrailers #trailers #trailerediting

[@EmeraldEyeProductions]

Dang this is so important and well done. I can really only speak for myself, but I feel like a lot of fan-trailer editors know the "what" but not the "why." We know from learning by watching trailers, like you said yourself. We imitate what we've seen, like monkey-see-monkey-do (in a good way lol). It just feels "right." But because we don't really know the "WHY," when it comes to branching off from style trailers, or just facing a more challenging trailer to cut, it can be really difficult because we don't have that verbalized-explanation of the "why" to fall back on and implement. When you don't know the "why," and the "what" isn't working, you just end up asking yourself over and over again WHY all frustratedly, and now we have this amazing explanatory video to give us the answers. Thank you Derek (again lol)!

[@DerekLieu]

Thanks! This one is so pervasive but like you said, no one really talks about it. Even after years I still only sort of understood they were a thing 😜

[@CinpleYT]

It is so nice to find a place with other trailer enthusiasts/creators. No one around me in RL understands the drive to make trailers and enjoy watching a well put together one. I hope to learn as much as I can!

[@DerekLieu]

I’m glad you found my channel 😃

[@sophiaweeks]

how is this not viral?? your videos are so well put-together and informative!! great work :)

[@DerekLieu]

Haha I don’t know, but I’m glad you liked it! Every share and comment is much appreciated 😁

[@CuppingHustlers]

@@DerekLieu pls keep making videos! esp on movie trailers!

[@scartinmorsese7723]

I love your content. Your channel has given me the structure I wanted for my passion/hobby. Very nice work. I am so grateful!

[@FBlevcovitz]

Great Video, Derek! Thanks for this!

[@DerekLieu]

You’re welcome!

[@arjunbharadwaj73]

This is some invaluable piece of information. Never looked at trailers like this.

[@DerekLieu]

You can't unsee it XD

[@WilliamMorrisMusic]

Great video, it's really interesting to me to learn from the editors perspective. I'd also been calling these types of moments punctuation.

[@DerekLieu]

Thanks! When making fan trailers with library music or working on a project with a music budget I definitely spent a LOT of time trying to find music with drum fill-like moments just frequent enough to slot dialogue in between, but not so many that no dialogue could fit in.

[@WilliamMorrisMusic]

@@DerekLieu good to know! I hear the same thing from my trailer labels, especially for action movies, where the accents are so pronounced.

[@putrimunaparenti8312]

Thank you for covering this topic! Just wanted to ask about book trailer but someone already did it :D

[@DerekLieu]

You’re welcome!

[@ChildLogicLabs]

You are a genius, this video is a gem

[@DerekLieu]

Thank you 😊

[@dwaynecraig5130]

You just made my commercial brain 10x better

[@DerekLieu]

Haha, glad to help 😄

[@TheBlessingReport]

great video

[@lys5074]

I have learned a lot from you, thank you.

[@DerekLieu]

You’re welcome!

[@julienotsmith7068]

I’m a writer who likes to swipe pacing ideas from movies, thanks for the info.

[@SmorcTV]

Thank a lot the great idea for me

[@DerekLieu]

You’re welcome!

[@Lugmillord]

That's indeed something I never paid attention to. Thanks!

[@DerekLieu]

CANNOT UNSEE 🤣

[@karanodedara3128]

It was helpful, thank you.

[@DerekLieu]

Glad to hear it!

[@SoshJam]

I like how you also did accents in this video

[@DerekLieu]

Haha, all part of the plan 😉

[@johnnro]

Amazing!!

[@DerekLieu]

Thanks!

[@tante4dante]

i feel like accents are like the cool brother of b-roll XD many thanks learned a lot :3

[@DerekLieu]

Haha, that’s a good way of looking at it 😄

[@connormcpherson8793]

Great video, Derek! Do Action Scenes/Fights in trailers count as accents, or would those be too long to be counted?

[@DerekLieu]

Generally they are used as accents, but if they’re a huge part of the film they could arguably be part of the main storyline. It’s kind of a blurry line. Why do you ask?

[@connormcpherson8793]

@@DerekLieu There were a few fight scenes you seemed to be referring to as accents, which confused me a bit. Usually when I think of accents, I think of a split-second cut, or something short. Fight clips can be a bit longer.

[@DerekLieu]

@@connormcpherson8793 Ah I see! Yes it’s kind of a fine line for fight stuff.

[@Spacemarine658]

@@connormcpherson8793 I think it's all gonna depend on the fights themselves too for example in the MI scene where they fought in the bathroom the accent was only a splash of the full fight scene and they even showed multiple blips from that same fight spaced out like the first one was them preparing to fight for like .5 seconds but the second accent was closer to 3 or 4 seconds it felt like but without getting gratuitous like Derek said it's a fine line

[@SURPRISEAGENCY]

cool

[@jonolas1626]

Could you make a video on how to properly do a book trailer or on how you would do it? I can't recall seeing a single one good book trailer.

[@DerekLieu]

I’ve never made a book trailer, so unfortunately I’m not super sure what works best for them. What’s the best one you’ve seen?

[@jonolas1626]

@@DerekLieu I guess these ones, but I don't think they are good enough :( kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3O2dIxtlNmXbaM kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKiYaoGqaq2knsU

[@jonolas1626]

@@DerekLieu The good thing is that, since there is not a way proven to work, doing one of them would give you a huge space for creativity and innovation. I'm proposing this because I want to make one for my book but everything I got for now is good but too movie-trailer like and hard/expensive to produce

[@tante4dante]

@@jonolas1626 the problem i see/think is the issue, is that the budget is probably not that big to produce actual unique assets for the trailer, means they probably use existing stock footage... and making a whole trailer based on stock footage that is really appealing is probably a challenge

[@jonolas1626]

@@tante4dante Idk, then why make them so visual-based? Is it unavoidable?

[@Ferret440]

Dang, I never knew these had a name, I always kinda disliked them because they so often feel like cheating, but it does seem so necessary after watching this!

[@DR---]

So what I learned is accents make trailers worse.

[@DerekLieu]

lol, sure 😂

[@thakrarzeel644]

Make more videos on trailer editing

[@DerekLieu]

I’d love to, I just don’t have much spare time 😰 what aspect of trailer editing do you need the most help doing?

[@thakrarzeel644]

@@DerekLieu just how to not make it boring and some trailers looks like a recap video once you've seen the film or they look like compilation of best scenes😅 How to avoid it

[@thakrarzeel644]

@@DerekLieu and yeah please make more content on films Have so much content on game but less on films

[@taz09216]

@@DerekLieu I've always struggled, should I cut the music to the visuals or vice versa?. Sometimes I start and find it feels like I'm putting together a puzzle that keeps moving out of place. The most difficult part is the second or middle part of the structure.

[@DerekLieu]

@@taz09216 There's no one rule which is objectively better, it depends on you. I like to have some music in place if I can, but I've also edited with no music and then adjusted to fit music I get later. Being able to adjust and change to music or vice versa is a huge part of the job, so I think you'll always be doing a bit of back and forth.

[@belljo]

lol I liked the Departed without the accents way better... with the accents it was much cheesier... it might be because action accents are so overdone these days...

[@DerekLieu]

Haha, in fairness it's from 2006, and trailers might've mellowed by now. I'm biased though 'cause it was cut by a friend of mine.