Joe PugileseYou don't know his name. But if you care about trailers you know his work: iconic previews for films like The Social Network, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Tree of Life, and director Nicolas Winding Refn's latest project, Only God Forgives, out July 19. Meet Mark Woollen. A video editor since high school—he was already cutting trailers for movies like Schindler's List in his early twenties—Woollen now runs his own company in Santa Monica, California. It's one of the go-to trailer boutiques for an elite group of Hollywood filmmakers that, in addition to Fincher, includes Spike Jonze, Terrence Malick, and the Coen brothers. And they all want what he's selling: trailers that not only capture the spirit of their movies but get people talking. If there’s an auteur in the trailer industry today, he’s it.
The Art of the Trailer
Short History of Coming Attractions
Why Fan-Made Movie Trailers Are Often Better Than the Real Thing
How's the trailer industry changing?
When I began, trailers were not on the Internet. That's changed dramatically over the past several years, especially with fan participation. We have instant critiques, for better or for worse. Everything has gotten faster.
Gotten faster—and better?
Those don't always go together. The web has definitely opened up lots of opportunities for different types of pieces. I was in a meeting with a director a couple of years ago. We had cut something that was on the short side, and he made a crack about it feeling like a trailer for a trailer. It's bizarre that a year later, that's become an actual thing people are doing. But I'm not a fan of that phenomenon. Honestly, I will say that my best experiences as a moviegoer are when I go in knowing as little as possible about a movie. That's so hard to do these days.
That’s fascinating coming from someone who cuts trailers for a living.
[Laughs.] Yes, it’s funny.
Do you watch trailers for movies you’re not working on?
You do it to stay current and see what the other guys are doing. But if there’s something I’m really interested in, I probably don’t watch as many.
If you’re involved early, what happens if you end up hating the final cut of the film?
That’s always the job. You come in hoping for the best. But I feel fortunate about the kinds of the things we work on—with certain directors you know it’s going to be a pretty good experience.
How would you characterize your body of work?
I want to figure out the right language without sounding silly. Most of the movies we work on come out in the fall versus the summer. Whatever is the nice way to say what those types of movies are.
Like … Oscar winners?
Yeah. Those are the movies that I tend to be interested in—from the filmmaking. It’s a type of director-driven film. Dramas and a certain type of comedy. I’m interested in a Coen brothers comedy or a Spike Jonze comedy more so than a broader type.
These are films that are defined by their directors’ aesthetic approach and choices. Does that constrain the trailer-editing process—because you feel like you have to honor that?
It’s not about me putting my own imprint on the work. I’m handling their material, and it should reflect their work and represent that. That’s one of the exciting things. We work on up to 75 films a year in different stages. And so being able to get into the heads of the characters in the stories and the minds of the people who are putting these films together and live in that world for a while—it’s fun.
How does your process begin?
We come in at different stages, when there’s just a script or where they’re shooting and there are a lot of dailies or when there’s a finished film. When a film is fully done, you can make sure you’re getting the tone right and capture that vision. On the other hand, it’s fantastic to have the freedom of dailies for when you need a few more frames of this close-up or that shot. That’s why you sometimes see things in trailers that don’t end up in the movie.
Your most recognized trailers are defined by a single piece of music. Why?
Directors talk about how it’s all about casting for them—when they get the right actors, their jobs are easier. For us, that’s true of music. Sometimes 70, 80 percent of the job can be trying to find that perfect piece. Trailers are all about rhythm, pacing, and feeling. That’s why it’s important to always be listening to things. I go to South by Southwest every year, trying to build my bag of songs that I’m going to hold on to for the right moment. I’d had “Creep” on my iTunes for five or six years kind of kicking around before the Social Network trailer. You’re always looking for the right project to line things up with. And then when this project came along, I started to consider that song. There are a couple of qualities to it that I thought could do a lot for the trailer. It was a fantastic piece of music—the build, the message, the flavor. So that was one of the half dozen concepts I presented. We shot the beginning of the trailer—the Facebook stuff—in our offices and came up with that whole concept. It was something that got a good response. That’s how the piece came about. You find music in different places.
What else sets your work apart?
You won't hear some of the familiar sounds or stylistic tricks. We're always trying to reinvent things when we can. It should be about teasing and raising interest and asking provocative questions, not answering them.
How many people do you work with?
About 20—producers, editors, writers, graphic designers. I oversee how all the pieces come together creatively. But I'm actually in front of an Avid right now, going through my process of breaking down a film. I'll watch the whole movie without sound, just looking for visuals—that little head turn, that glimpse, that spark of something. Then I'll watch the movie just for dialog. I can get down to about 10 to 15 minutes and from there start crafting and making connections.
Did you always want to make trailers?
I started editing professionally right out of high school. When I was 19 I got a job doing trailers for Disney, with things like Beauty and the Beast. Then I got an opportunity to work at Universal. That was my big break because I got to do the trailer for Schindler’s List—when I only about 21, 22. That afforded me the opportunity to strike off on my own. I did that for several years, working from home on a handful of projects. Sometimes it feels like I’m still in my spare bedroom, just trying to figure things out.
A lot of people think trailers today give away too much.
I’d tend to agree. You probably have to ask: Why is that?
Why is that?
The studios want to have one weekend to capture the largest number of people. As I understand it, the data they get back is that people want to know more story—they want to know more before they make an investment. Now it may not be what you, me, or the readers of your magazine consider the right approach. But that’s what they’ve come to.
Do you reject the traditional three-act structure of trailers?
To a degree. You’re usually setting up a character and a situation—that can be an act I. And depending on the film you’re often setting up a conflict or obstacle—that can be an act II. But it’s all about the pace and style and the manner in which it’s handled. The worst feeling is when you get to the end of act II and feel like, “Here we are rounding the corner and then this is going to happen!” That’s kind of miserable.
Are there certain trailers over time that jump out at you as transformative or influential?
The easy ones to go to are any of the Kubrick trailers—they continue to be influential, inspiring. But for the most part, when we go back and look at a reference—we’ve done this a number of times—most old trailers are almost never, ever helpful. They have such a short life. You look at a trailer from even 10 years ago and it feels like things have evolved.
So looking back, would you cut Beauty and the Beast or Schindler’s List differently today?
For sure. I don’t know how they would play. Beauty and the Beast would probably be done more in the animated style of today—slicker, more crackle and pop. The trailer for Schindler’s is a fairly emotional piece, a fairly intense piece. I don’t know if it would be too heavy, if there would be a request for more story.
Most of your material is so heavy. Aren’t you ever tempted to cut the next *Iron Man 3 *trailer?
[Laughs.] It doesn’t really appeal to me. And I don’t think I’m the best person for that. There are people—including people in this office—who really love those films and know what’s expected. I’d still rather watch Beasts of the Southern Wild.
But it would be an interesting experiment.
We have gotten calls over the years to see what our perspective would be on that type of film. So we have worked on some of those things. But it isn’t ultimately what they’re looking for.
Do you get sick of a movie in the process of making the trailer?
Oh yeah. There's a long withdrawal process after you've been working on something for a while. You dislike even the smell of ice cream after too much.
