Anything Goes : New Teaser Trailer for "Psychotica" by Jim Merchant

I would edit different. I would use fast moving excitement scenes "Hi-Lights" Think Vine Teaser. Go look at old X-men trailers on Youtube for a clearer meaning. I did not get any excitement or understanding of your movie. YOU know what it is, but I did not. FWIW. Do not Swear, save it for the movie. Swearing is reserved for a Highly emotional impact. IMO. Sound was good, although it needs some work. To reverberant for a kitchen of that size. SOUND is 65% of your movie. You asked....

Thanks for the feedback Simon, particularly about the audio. I knew I didn't like the sound of that dialog but hadn't put my finger on it. As for 'fast moving excitement scenes', there is very little of that in the whole movie, not being an action movie by any stretch.

You do not have to change a thing Jim....You asked for critic. Classic example: I did not know this was about an alcoholic movie. I think you missed the point of my X-men analogy. Passion is a hard thing to see past. However if you do, it's an elevated vantage point. IGE: If you had chopped up the Trailer with faster scenes (X-men Style) of a man wading in bottles, being thrown out of Bars then add a few argue scenes. To me that would have painted a picture of alcohol abuse. Swearing was mentioned OUT of the Trailer. IN the movie is fine. However technically, you need to Restrict that Trailer because of that. Hence my suggestion when trying to reach a full audience. You do realize you open yourself up to both ends of the spectrum when you ask for critic. Unless you only wanted atta'-boys. That is what Facebook is for.... Don't confuse me with being rude or tough, I am really trying to input non-biased information to help you. Some people ask for help, then lash out when I do. Not that you did, simply an example of how information could be mis construed as negative and quickly escalate in the wrong direction. I cannot see or hear the inflections in text, so to me it comes off as defensive. I did not want to hurt your feelings, hence me elaborating, on the points you retorted to. A woman told me this one time; "Our creative hearts crave critic and accolades," Or something to that effect...LOL Come back and read this a month later and you will see what I mean, Peace. SF

Funny thing about my comment... I got this email (Quoted below) to respond to above. I wrote it out to answer to this...Now I do not see it? So disregard I guess... "Thanks for the advice Simon. Good advice on the overall sound design. Not taking out the swearing and not gonna edit my alcoholic character study to look like an X-Men movie. But any and all critiques are certainly welcomed and appreciated."

That wasn't Jim's response, Simon. It was mine. And again, thank you. I'm not concerned with anyone's rudeness, toughness or inflections. The piece of advice on the sound editing was solid. If I was worried about unwanted criticism, I would keep my movie to myself. Feel free to let it fly.

I'm glad you included my original comment in your post. Not sure why, but my words disappeared. oh well, glad you at least received them via email. One quick response to your "swearing" advice: Indie films are sometimes advertised with Red Band trailer disclaimers for this very purpose, which I'm sure you know. I'm an Irish recovering alcoholic. I swear. My characters swear. And my trailers sometimes swear. That's just how I roll. I feel the content of Psychotica lends itself nicely to profanity laced Red Band trailer.

Well I am slightly confused... Jim's Post, you are Chris...? Glad all is copacetic.

Thought the trailer was great!! Would love to see the film:)

Thanks Cindy!

You're most welcome!!

Very good trailer, would also be interested in seeing the full feature!

thanks, man. That reel falling off the spindle was a total accident but we thought it looked interesting. In the actual scene I made it look as though the 8mm footage on the screen gets damaged from the crash. It all just sorta came together, haha.

...And Jim is gonna kill me for not claiming it was all part of the master plan. I'm giving away secrets.

Thanks, man. One of my favorite films is Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past from 1947. I think it's the purest film noir ever made. I lift ideas from it constantly, and did so in Psychotica.