These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art.

Although there’s also an art to cutting together an effective trailer using footage taken from the movie being promoted, I harbor a special affection for those rare efforts that stand as their own little films. With only the barest glimpses of the film itself, the teaser trailer for Ron Howard’s excellent 1989 comedy, Parenthood, makes an accurate promise for what moviegoers would get when they plopped down money for a ticket. Remarkably, the well-populated scene of an attempted family photograph even provides a sense of several of the characters. It has energy without being kinetic. More than a fine advertisement, it’s a gem of smart, compact filmmaking.

Other entries in this series can be found by clicking on the “Art of the Sell” tag.