When you're a low-budget independent filmmaker, finding the right audience seems impossible. What's more, you don't have the budget or the time to make a trailer that tells the story you want and has that big-budget trailer aesthetic.

I get it. I've been there. And my clients have had similar challenges.

Here are some of the filmmakers and storytellers I've made trailers for and how I helped them find their audience, as well as some of the spec work I’m most proud of.

Drama

DOLO

Series Pilot

When director Gonçalo Braga and I spoke for the first time, he introduced me to his first big project, Dolo. The pilot of a series for which he has great ambitions. Being his first project, Gonçalo wanted a trailer that stood apart from series like Euphoria and 13 Reasons Why, and made Dolo look bigger than its budget.

The result was a trailer with a fast-paced edit to the sound of a slow song by Édith Piaf, which helped it achieve over 100,000 views on Instagram.

Uníssono/Unison

Short Film

I spent almost a year working on this short film. In the process, the story changed, various budget constraints, nights of sleep turned upside down (and yes, I loved it all from start to finish).

In the midst of the various changes, one thing remained consistent: from time to time, I asked myself “How would this look in a trailer?”. Although counterintuitive, thinking about how I would reduce the essence of this movie into 30 seconds helped keep me focused during the process.

When I showed the trailer to the person I took as a reference for my target audience, they had the reaction I was aiming for, solidifying my confidence that I had reached the right audience with the trailer.

Comedy

Wilford ‘Motherloving’ Warfstache

Short Film

This is a spec trailer.

Based on a 20 minute short film, I made this trailer to use comedy not just as a selling point, but as a tool to tell the story of these two completely opposite characters. Comedy, in trailers, is about breaking patterns and subverting the viewer’s expectation. Starting with a dramatic intro to introduce the protagonist and then radically shifting to the absurdity of the antagonist’s personality.

Dinner for Schmucks

Stage Play

The production company asked me to make this trailer very close to the release date. They needed me to film the play and cut a trailer within a week. Although I had a tight deadline, I still managed to deliver the trailer that presented the plot and the style of humor in a very clear and concise way within that time frame..

Horror/Thriller

The Edge of Sleep

TV series

This is a spec trailer.

For this trailer, I wanted to cut something that felt in line with the psychedelic nature of the show and that would make the viewer see the world from the main character’s POV. For that, the editing needed to convey a sense of unpredictability and rely on unconventional sound design.

The trailer was cut in just 3 days.

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Horror

This is a spec trailer.

This film tells the story of a haunted kids’ restaurant. I feel these two opposing ideas (horror and a kids’ place) needed to somehow come through in the style of the trailer. Which gave me an idea to set myself a very clear challenge: take an upbeat eighties song and make it sound creepy.

In the end, I think it helped to represent the style of the film.

Family Friendly

In The Twinkling of an Eye

Stage Play

For this play, director Mafalda Santos had a big obstacle in front of her: having written a play aimed at children about a period of dictatorship in Portugal's history, the play was given an age rating higher than the target audience's age.

With a limited budget and resources, the trailer needed to reach the right audience. The trailer therefore retained the energy and style of humor that young children appreciate, while remaining faithful to the themes it explores and the musical component of the play.

Because of the trailer, they were ultimately able to find their audience of children, despite the fact that the age rating was not targeted at that demographic.

Raining Questions

Stage Play

Director Carolina Parreira had a philosophical children's play in her hands.

As the play's budget and resources were limited, the company was unable to have the set and wardrobe complete in time for the early promotion. The trailer and promotional videos were then planned from the conception of the play so that the process became agile for the team and managed to appeal to the young audience they were looking for.