Challenge: Create a trailer for an AH film!

Choose your favorite AH novel (preferably something that would be good for a movie adaptation, I'm thinking A Man in the High Castle Here), and write a short script for the trailer you'd create to promote it.
 
Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen
The mess after the first major battle when the captured mercenary artillary specialist asks Lord Kalvan what god taught him to cast cannon like that...
 
If I have a little time this weekend, I might try to bang one out for Not This August (which would about twenty-three times better than Red Dawn as a movie, IMHO).
 
More of a short teaser:


Scene opens with a fade in to a CSA belt buckle shown in tight closeup, scene gradually expands as martial music (maybe the "Bonnie Blue Flag") slowly swells from nothingness to show the buckle is on a uniform worn by a Confederate officer, scene further expands to show the barrel of a gun, which expands further to be an AK-47. Scene expands further to show similarly armed Confederates standing and milling about in front of the damaged White House with the detritus of a battlefield littering the grounds. As soon as everything is clearly recognizeable, the music suddenly swells, ending with a large boom and the screen goes suddenly black, with the simple words, "The Guns of the South" fading into and out of legibility.
 
I know this is self serving, but...

EXT. LUNAR SURFACE

An Apollo lunar module sits on the lunar surface.

The airlock hatch opens and a space suited figure emerges.

A title card reads: December, 1975

The space suited figure descends down the ladder.

A title card reads: The flight of Apollo 23

The space suited figure stands on the landing pad of the lunar module.

WENDY (OS)
I'm going to step off the LEM now.

The figure steps off. Boots make imprints on the lunar soil.

WENDY (OS)
This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in mine eyes.

Fade to:

A field of stars.

Title card reads: Children of Apollo.
It could have been like this...
 
VOICEOVER:
"In 1940, Adolf Hitler was triumphant everywhere. France had fallen before his mighty Panzers. All Europe lay under his sway."
Images of victorious German Arms -- Stukas diving, Panzers rolling along French roads, the Wehrmacht marching triumphantly through Paris.

CUT TO
A dozen middle-aged Englishmen are walking along a road in a pleasant stretch of English countryside on a mild misty English morning. Eight of them are carrying rifles; all of them have white armbands with "LDV" on them in black letters.

VOICEOVER
"In all the world, there was only one nation that still faced the tyrant, one nation that he had to crush. Would he do it by air? By sea? Or would he send his mighty army on its most daring leap, across the storm-tossed Channel?"

The men look up. Mists are clearing away, and the air is full of airplanes. Then, parachutists drop from the planes, their chutes opening:

SERGEANT
"That's them, boys. They've come."

TITLE CARD
IF HITLER HAD INVADED ENGLAND
Based on a story by C. S. Forrester
 
A man wearing a gray business suit is walking down a dark hallway. He is followed by four guards dressed in gray military uniforms and World War One-era doughboy helmets. This man is President JAKE FEATHERSTON of the Confederate States of America. The sound of cheering is getting louder and louder.

ANNOUNCER (v.o.)
Imagine a world where the South won the American Civil War.​

As the announcer is speaking, images of the past flash for several seconds: images of McClellan surrendering to Lee, the Confederate flag flying over the White House, soldiers in blue and gray clashing, and American barrels fighting in the Great War.

ANNOUNCER (cont’d.)
Imagine a world where the United States was put between two hostile nations. Imagine a world where the Allies lost the First World War.​

JAKE FEATHERSTON finally exits the hallway and is standing on a balcony overlooking a huge crowd. Thousands fill the plaza, with guards in gray uniforms and holding Freedom Party flags are in the front. The crowd goes wild as they see FEATHERSTON. He snaps off a clean Bellamy (Nazi) salute. The camera pans around and we see the massive crowd responding in kind. Large cries of “Freedom!” ring out.

ANNOUNCER (cont’d.)
Well, stop imagining.

JAKE FEATHERSTON
My name is Jake Featherston, and I'm here to tell you the truth!​

The crowd, which had quieted down, explodes into applause and more shouts of “Freedom!” can be heard.

The shot changes to that of SCIPIO, his wife BATHSHEBA, and their two children running down a dark street. Buildings are on fire and shouts of “Freedom!” can be heard in the background. The shot then changes to that of camp guard JEFF PINKERTON watching as a truck drive up.

ANNOUNCER (v.o.)
Dive into a world filled with hate and violence.​

A guard in gray steps out of the truck and walks up to JEFF PINKTERTON. Several more guards open up the doors of the truck and empty out its passengers: black prisoners in chains.

TRUCK DRIVER
I’ve got you another batch.

JEFF PINKTERTON
I’m over my population limit. What I am I going to do with more niggers?

TRUCK DRIVER
That’s your problem.​

The image turns to a shot of the battlefield in Ohio. Confederate barrels are charging past the burned out wreckage of their American counterparts. We see more images of war.

ANNOUNCER (v.o.)
And into a world gone mad with war. Presenting Settling Accounts: Return Engagement, the groundbreaking movie based off the best-selling book by Harry Turtledove. Coming to a theater near you on May 10th. Rating pending.​

The screen goes black

CROWD (v.o.)
Freedom!​
 
A map of the United States is shown, the border between Virginia and Maryland is shown. A fire burns between the borders and engulfs the map.

In a world of might have beens America is split in two.

A black and white photo of black men being pushed into trucks is shown.

Picture a world where the confedracy lives on to 1941.

A black and white photo of Gary Oldman wearing a uniform shouting into a mircophone, the reverse confederate flag behind him.

The south ruled by a racist madman named Jake Featherston.

Barb wire fences are put up by black men with rifles.

In the midst of war, a greater terror is occuring.

Ed Harris stands by a fleet of trucks his face cold and stern.

The horrors that occured are unlike anything mankind has seen before.

Camp Dependable
 
I promised I’d write that trailer this weekend, and I delivered. I went more of an action-y route with this, as I thought the book tended to have some of the heroic highs and wicked lows of traditional action films, and I doubt anyone’d take the whole concept of the story seriously enough to try a more “serious” trailer. Besides, it’ll get bums in seats, and that’s what we’re aiming for, right?

TITLE CARD:Logo of FILM STUDIO is displayed. However, the whole image appears as if shot through a dark red filter, and the lettering is in a yellow, Impact-like font. Furthermore, a few of the R’s and N’s in the name of STUDIO are reversed. A slowly rising ominous tone is heard.

CUT TO:Snippet of speech given by THE PRESIDENT. THE PRESIDENT, who looks like Lyndon Johnson after spending six months in a prison camp, is delivering a speech, fighting to hold back tears. The image looksit was shot on early 1960’s TV.

THE PRESIDENT

My fellow Americans, our armed forces have met with great defeats on land and at sea…

JUMP CUT to a field with burning American tanks (M60’s probably) with Soviet armor (T-62s) trundling unopposed across the wreckage, then JUMP CUT back to speech.

THE PRESIDENT

…our last defenses along the Rio Grande have fallen, and the heartland stands unprotected from attack.

JUMP CUT to city (maybe Phoenix) being buzzed by MiG-21s then JUMP CUT back to speech

THE PRESIDENT

…I have had no choice but to communicate our unconditional surrender to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics…

JUMP CUT to a battalion of Soviet troops marching in formation down the main street of a small town (Norton, NY) then JUMP CUT back to speech.

THE PRESIDENT (almost breaking down into tears)

…may God bless you all and stand you in this hour of trial.

CUT TO shots of Soviet troops setting up shop in Norton (erecting banners, setting up chain-link fences, civilians in breadlines, etc…)

NARRATOR

In the darkest chapter of American history…

CUT TO KGB MEN holding a farm family at gunpoint.

NARRATOR

…In a world where all hope is thought lost forever…

CUT TO JUSTIN and GRIBBLE in an underground launch pad, looking at a massive satellite mounted on the top of a rocket. They are about level with the top of the rocket. Keep the camera on the satellite for a full 3 seconds for dramatic emphasis.

GRIBBLE (bitterly)

There it is. The ultimate nuclear doo-hickey that’ll win this war and keep it won.

CUT TO TITLE CARD reading “THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM LIVES ON”

NARRATOR


The fight for freedom lives on.

MONTAGE of several scenes from the movie, including: firefight in Norton between American rebels and Soviet troops, with a few buildings exploding; BETSY CARDEW, in white doctor’s coat, trying to deal with several people on gurneys at once, in a hallway packed with sick old people; BILLY JUSTIN in a prison cell, getting pistol-whipped in the mouth by a KGB man; the rocket launching from its pad in an “Apollo 13” shot; a group of Red Army troops lined up against a school wall, facing a row of machine guns; and finally BILLY JUSTIN in the underground launch pad, looking up to pray. Throughout whole sequence, some typical “action movie trailer montage segment” music plays, rising in volume and tempo to cresendo as the last scene ends. CUT TO TITLE CARD of movie title.

NARRATOR

Not This August.

CUT TO TITLE CARD reading
“THE LIBERATION BEGINS” (new line) “06.23.06”​

What do you all think?
 

NomadicSky

Banned
that was good Fenwick I think that book series could made into a successful movie series there more than enough Civil War buffs who'd go see it
 
FADE IN . . .
The scenes are of New York at the beginning of the twentieth century: Coney Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the fine houses of Upper Manhattan, the teeming communities, the family neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens; couples walking in the streets, children playing on the beach, a fine society party, a laughter-filled tavern.
"It was a new century and a great nation. The Full Dinner Pail was the rule of the land. The country had won its splendid little war. This would be America's Century."

Grimmer music, the scene of a convoy of ships. As the camera pans in we can see a few soldiers on deck, wearing picklehaubes . .
"But others also wanted a place in the sun. They envied and resented our rise, and hoped to cut it down."

Gunfire and fighting. German soldiers march through the streets of New York City. The camera pans in on an American flag that has been torn down and trampled.
"Our nation was attacked, our people put under foreign dominion."

The same flag, flying over Washington. The camera pulls back to two men standing before the White House before a large crowd, shouting "Pete! Pete!" In the background a band is playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever".
"In this time of crisis a new president was faced with the ultimate challenge."

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
"I give you the new General in Chief of the U.S. Army --- General James Longstreet!"

The cheers of "Pete! Pete!" rise to a new crescendo.
General Longstreet turns to face the flag and salutes it. He is in Union blue, with four gold stars on his epaulets. As he salutes we can see a tear in his eye.
GENERAL LONGSTREET
"Americans from North and South, together as one now! America will fight --- and America will win!"

The band breaks into "Dixie"
FADE to Title Card

1901

Coming to a theater near you on 19th January
 

Superdude

Banned
BLACK SCREEN

VOICE- You soldiers have been the finest group of people I have ever trained with.

SHOT OF A PLANE TAKING OFF


VOICE-You've been with this great nation's armed forces throughout this conflict.

SHOT OF A GERMAN TANK FIRING ITS MAIN CANNON

VOICE-But these guys out here, they want us all dead. They want our way of life destroyed. They want our freedom eliminated.

SHOT OF A GERMAN PLATOON MARCHING

VOICE- But you know what? We are going out there and we are give them a taste of what REAL SOLDIERS CAN DO! We are going out there and we are going to WIN THIS WAR!

(short pause)


SERVICE TO THE STATE!


Shot of a group of tall, muscular men and women with military uniforms on.


ALL- GLORY TO THE RACE!


(then random shots of soldiers jumping out of planes, shooting from behind a barricade, tanks dueling, and one long shot of a man jumping from the roof of an APC onto another, moving, one.)



TITLE CARD- SM STIRLING'S MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA
 
DISASTER AT D-DAY

(footage of D-Day preparations- OVERLORD invasion fleet, airborne boarding planes, amphib forces boarding ships)
Voiceover: Imagine if the world's greatest invasion had failed...
(footage of combat on Omaha Beach, BIG RED ONE destroyed by 12th SS HITLER JUGEND, then also wrecks of British and Canadian armour around Caen, long rows of Cth POWs, with depressing martial music)
Caption: What if the Allies had lost at Normandy, despite the best efforts of our greatest men ?
(footage: Lt Eberly and hsi squad fighting desparately a la Ramelle firefight from SPR, Lt-Col Birks and his 30th Inf Div OLD HICKORY troops fighting rearguard action for evacuation despondent Lt-Gen Rennie (?), 51st Highland Div surrendering to Rommel)
Caption: Based on the book by Peter Tsouras...coming to a theatre near you


If anybody can think of anything else, pls feel free to add...
 
BTW, I'd also love to do some trailers for other AH movies, such as K IS FOR KILLING or LIGHT AS A FEATHER, but I'm disadvantaged by the fact that I don't hace these books immediately avail in front of me...
 
{Fade in}

:Nice calm music:
Exterior: Overfly of ocean. Camera sweeps over an old clipper style ship, then over a small town on land.

{Fade to black}

Words (white letters): On a the small island of Nantucket

{fade in}

:Music contining in nice tempo:
Exteriors: Scenes of people getting off ferryboat, people realing in sails on ship, people doing shopping in town.

{Fade to black}

Words (white letters): Something unexpected is going to happen

{fade in}

:Music lurches into something darker:
Camera shows a woman looking up at the night sky next to a telescope. She says "What the...". Scene shifts to town where many people are looking up at the sky. Sailors on the ship as well. A shot glimps at a glimmering sky...

{Fade to black}

Words (white letters):That will leave them

{fade in}

:Music builing up in pace an tension:
Several quick and short scenes including... People in town carrying torches. A whaling harpoon getting thrown. A darker skinned pagan priest dressed as close to a jauguar as possible. The three masted sailing ship in heavy seas. People arguing in a large town meeting setting. A charging line of savages with some chariots and carrying brozne age weapons.

{Fade to black}

Words (white letters): All alone.

{fade in}

:Muisc is in sharp quick notes:
Just flashes of action scenes of Fighting. Sailing. An elctric arc on board the sailing ship. A Katana being qucikly drawn from its scabboard.

{Fade to black}

:No music, just the sound of a flag flapping in the breeze:
Daytime: A close up of a flag moving in the breeze. The perspective slowly pulls back to reveal a fluttering US Coast guard flag hanging from the back of the sailing ship, and the island is in the background. The camera pans away to the east, and into an open ocean. Words fade in close to the horizon line.

Island in the Sea of Time
 
The "Idealist Movies" logo appears, followed by the WB logo.

NARRATOR
Imagine...​

The WB morphs into a sun, and the camera moves down to rest upon workers standing angrily beyond a metal gate. They are waving picket signs with slogans like "IWW WILL TAKE CONTROL" and "DOWN WITH THE ROBBER-BARONS". They can be heard screaming various things, while nearby police watch on nervously.

NARRATOR
...a world where things are different.​

The sound of horses trotting can be heard. The camera moves to one of the horses' head, and then moves to it's owner. He has a somewhat portly face, and has brownish-gray hair, a short mustache, and round spectacles. He is Theodore Roosevelt, President-elect of the United States. He begins to speak, but his voice cannot be heard over the protestors.

NARRATOR
And it just so happens...​

Behind Roosevelt, there are many other horsemen, all with shotguns at readyness. On the ground next to Roosevelt, a Pinkerton (Samuel Hammett) draws his revolver and looks at the crowd as Roosevelt continues to speak.

NARRATOR
...that on this world...​

Roosevelt stops speaking, and him and the other horsemen begin to advance towards the gate, even as the protesters start chanting a slogan repeateadly and begin to try and climb the gate. The police begin to take action, rattiling their clubs on the bars of the gate and yelling orders to cease and desist.

NARRATOR
...a change has happened...​

The horsemen aim their guns at the gate, which is weakening under the pressure. Roosevelt raises his hand, apparently ready to order a charge, when a gun firing is heard. His mouth opens, and he says one last word.

ROOSEVELT
(softly)
Bully.​

Cut to spectacles hitting the ground and shattering, and then to the Pinkerton's face, watching in shock as shotgun blasts are heard.

NARRATOR
...that was heard 'round the world.​

Cut to a scene in Washington, with several notable landmarks visible. It is snowing slightly. The camera zooms to a scene on the Capitol, where a man has his hand on the Bible and is speaking.

CHARLES FOSTER KANE
...So help me God.

NARRATOR
And this change...​

Cut to a shot of Lincoln's statue in the memorial. Icy tears fall from his eyes. Then, suddenly, the camera is filled with a crimson hue, with a hammer-sickle symbol expanding from the center.

NARRATOR
...would make America go red.​

The Beatles' "Back in the USSR" plays, but a similar toned "A" has been spliced into the song in place of the "R". Meanwhile, there is a montage of scenes from the movie, from the sinking of the Titanic as seen from the eyes of Houdini in the water, to soldiers fighting in a trench-crossed France while shells burst, to another scene of Washington with a huge group waving red flags and chanting, to a smartly-dressed Alphonse Capone walking down a White House corridor with his cronies following.

NARRATOR
This fall...​

The screen turns to black, and the words First Part of the "Back in the USSA" Trilogy" appear.

NARRATOR
...revolution is in the air.​

The words Red Revolution Rising appear in a way that makes it seem as if they have been written in paint... or blood. They then disappear, and "10.13.05" appears to end the trailer.
 
Peshawar lancers was made for film and the book suffered for it.

Shots of standard Victorian London and a caption telling you THE DATE, London, United Kingdom. God save the queen playing in the background and cockneys happily going about their buisness then suddenly a small explosion wipes out a street.
Cut away to newspapers unvealing the disaster as it happens over the top of scenes of London decending into case ending with the break down of all order and the last ship escaping.
Black screen and 'xxxx years later' (I can't remember exactly how much)
Images of Delhi at first looking fairly standard and Indian but gradually the reality becomes clear with Angrezi doign their thing and all that, Indian music is faintly heard in the background becoming louder (actually god save the king played with a Indian style) as it becomes totally obvious the caption says the date and 'Delhi, Angrezi Raj'.
Then the standard trailer really starts up, with various rapid small scenes appearing, one has to tell it how it is (you know- the raj is here, France outre mere is here.With our alliance we can defeat the muslims here), the airship battle, figting in Afghanistan, the odd shot of the Russians, etc...



Obviously there'd be a voice over man making comments too but....you get the jist. I think the 'WTF?' factor would be pretty good amongst the plebs.
 
Screen fades in to a group of soldiers in butternut uniforms marching with torches and banners, mules screaming overhead, tanks rolling through the street in a military parade.

The screen fades black and a text fades in

July 18 1938 the Dawn of WW2..........

Close up on the banners held by the soldiers the Stars and Bars.

Screen fades back to black Text returns

July 18 1938 the Dawn of WW2......... South Carolina

Close Up on Featherstone. "I am hear to tell you the truth!" "Freedom"

Crowd chants "Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Freedom!"
screen fades black
 
Various hissings and clickings

The Raboatev

Showing images of an alien race

The Halessi

More images

And now.......

The Big Uglies

A scene of a biped in rusty battered armour astride a quadruped

Fleetlord Atvar - World Conquerer

An Imperial Lizard production shelved after the initial images of Tosev 3 arrived Home
 
Scene opens with black and white, vintage film footage of war, bombings, no sounds. Pearl Harbor. Sea Lion landings. Then, attacks on the U.S. Zeros over San Francisco, Golden Gate hit. Panzers rolling into New York. Finally, silent, cheering German troops.

Screen Text
If history had lost a leader​

SFX: A gunshot.

CUT TO: Zangara assassinates FDR​


SFX: Tense music, or possibly drumbeats

Quick-Cuts: inauguration, Newspaper with headline “President Bricker declares neutrality!” A fictional conference with smiling Hitler, Tojo, and Mussolini, then colored versions of the earlier scenes of an invasion of U.S.​


Screen Text
What would result?​

SFX: Sad, patriotic music.

CUT TO: Defeated, dirty American troops standing in the bombed-out ruins of Chicago. Patton ceremoniously hands Rommel his sidearm/sword.


Screen Text
If evil had triumphed​

SFX: Again, tense music/drumbeats

Quick-cuts: Images of the Todt Plan, American working on reconstruction under Nazi overseers, refugees running through a dark city, millions of Luftwaffe jets fly over an African savannah, Japanese officials shaking hands with new PSA puppet gov't, German soldiers (actually the SD from the scene late in the book) storming an office building, final shot is of rebuilt New York City, with Nazified architecture​

SFX: Shifts, holds a note, makes an odd ethereal sound

CUT TO: Pan over the length of the Nazi Space Rocket, magnificently huge, zoom out until you realize that its launch pad isn’t on Earth.​


Screen Text
Who could oppose it?

BAYNES (in hushed tones)
And there are others of us. Do you hear? We did not die. We still exist. We live on unseen.

Screen Text
If hostile nations had conquered America​

SFX: No sound, tense silence

Hold shot for 1.5 seconds: Map of U.S. divided into Pacific States, Rocky Mountain States, and the United States​


Screen Text
Where would we be?​

SFX: Once again, tense music/drumbeats

Quick-cuts: Juliana leading a class of judo students; Frank Frink kneels in front of a I Ching oracle book and tosses sticks into the air, prompting the camera to zoom onto them momentarily; Mr. Tagomi peeks out from behind a wall that has an American Civil War recruiting poster prominently displayed; Ed McCarthy holds up something shiny in his hand though we can't see it clearly; an ornate jewel box opens to show a Mickey Mouse wristwatch on a bed of plush velvet; slaves take Childan's luggage as he disembarks from a rickshaw.​


NARRATOR (v.o.)
In this world we see not only the horrors of totality...​

SFX: Tenseness/drumbeats near a crescendo of intensity

Quick-cuts: Imperial Japanese troops execute a Japanese man (profiteer mentioned in the novel), a Nazi rocket passes over the Rockies as Juliana watches, an army of SS troops carrying huge portraits of Heydrich marches towards an army of blackshirts carrying huge portraits of Goebbels into an inevitable fight, "Joe" kills a British officer in North Africa.

CUT TO: Two American cops, one holding Frank Frink.​


COP #1
Back to Germany.

FRANK FRINK
I'm an American!

COP #2
You're a Jew.

NARRATOR (v.o.)
...But the shame of normality.​

SFX: Nostalgic music, slowly fading and becoming more sinister

Quick-cuts: 1950s suburbs, mixed in with some '30s Gernsback-styled art deco technocratic futurism in a way Ray Bradbury would have approved. Kids playing on lawns with hula hoops, roller skates, dressed in odd khaki uniforms. Pan across city, showing well-kept lawns, happy people, neoclassical civic buildings, then...

Shot: The city is surrounded by scorched earth, hundreds of acres of cleared rainforest, images of burnt villages, and as you drift further away, you can see flat, square factories with tall smokestacks spewing out the ghosts of billions of people in the form of midnight-pitch smog.​


[[[In the actual film, a caption would be on the bottom left of the screen: Dakar, Senegal]]]

NARRATOR (v.o.)
A shadow of the truth is awaking.​

SFX: Desparate, dramatic music

Hold shot for 1.5 seconds: A hardcover book with a picture of a grasshopper prominently displayed.

Cut to: Juliana puts hand on cover carefully, picks the book up and looks at it carefully, curious look on her face.

Quick-cuts: A crowd of Japanese and Americans walk out from a bookstore displaying copies of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, Wyndan-Matsom throws his head back in loud laughter as he drives, Childan (in the Kasouras' living room) flips the cover over, Reiss angrily throws the book across the room, Mr. Tagomi sits on park bench in a trance​


HAWTHORNE ABDENSEN (darkness hiding his face)
I'm not sure of anything.

Juliana
Believe.

Fade in and out for each different line

Screen Text
Based on the alternate history classic about the nightmare of a Nazi victory.

The Man in the High Castle

Directed by Stephen Spielberg


HAWTHORNE ABDENSEN (v.o., passionately)
Germany and Japan lost the war!

Screen Text
A Philip K. Dick Story

Fade to black
 
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