THX ("Make Your Own Trailer" Contest Entries)
Background
In 2006, THX operated a contest for fans to create a trailer. Winners of the contest would get their trailer featured on the THX website and receive a THX Director's Chair. Many entries were submitted, but ten were chosen and won, and as of 2023, only nine out of the ten (including two entries that didn't win) are easily watchable on YouTube (with one of the 10 also being on Vimeo).
Winning Entries
A Good Idea (Paul S. Gordon's entry)
Visuals: There is a boy folding a paper airplane. Once he unfolds the wings, he swings the airplane twice while saying "VROOM!", hoping something interesting would happen. The boy is disappointed and throws the paper airplane on the table. A girl notices the boy's disappointment and says, "And now, I've got a good idea." The boy draws "THX" in a box with a blue crayon, and swings the airplane again, which starts the Deep Note, and we transition to the THX logo. The paper airplane flies in and out of frame, before hitting the THX logo and breaking it.
Technique: Live-action and CGI.
Audio: A simple piano tune is heard throughout, alongside the dialogue and sound effects, and the Deep Note.
Availability: Created as a fan-made trailer. It has not been used in any THX-certified products or theaters but appeared on the company website during the climax of the contest. This trailer is one of the six trailers from this contest that is available on Demo Disc II.
Audience (Arron Dennis's entry)
Visuals: A film projector is shown before we cut to a shot of people sitting in movie theater seats, enjoying popcorn. The camera pans up from a back shot as we see the THX logo (inside a white rectangle) projected onto the movie screen. However, just as the Deep Note is beginning to get louder, the film shorts out (in a cheaply animated fashion) and the projector breaks. The people in the audience are briefly left bewildered, but not before one of the audience members begins humming the Note. The people look behind them as we see a man and a woman humming the Deep Note. The rest of the audience begins to follow suit, and before you know it, the Deep Note begins playing again. A bucket of popcorn is seen shaking a lot, and the screen flashes white just as the projector begins to work again. The screen pans again to the movie screen, once again with the THX logo projected on it, before the THX logo appears without live action.
Technique: Live action.
Audio: The Deep Note, the people humming, and a 'drop' sound effect.
Availability: See above.
Beyond Imagination (Wes Jones's entry)
Visuals: On a black background, there are four lens flares of different lens types (Standard on the top-left, 35mm on the top-right, 70-300mm Zoom on the bottom-left, and 105mm Prime on bottom-right) in each corner of the frame, slowly zooming towards the center. Then, the screen flashes slowly, revealing the THX logo on the white background. The flares zoom outward, and the logo fades out.
Technique: 2D animation done in Sony Vegas Pro/Movie Studio.
Audio: The Deep Note.
Availability: See "A Good Idea." Was not on Demo Disc II, however.
Big Sound (Sarah Char's entry)
 | This logo is currently missing in action. Please do not add reconstructions of the logo if any exist, as they are likely not accurate to the actual logo. Additionally, do not attempt to add a finalized description of the logo until it has been found in its entirety. |
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Currently the only surviving image of this trailer.
Visuals: In the above image, a wall of speakers with the THX logo in the corner of each one can be seen. It's unknown what else is in the logo.
Technique: Likely CGI.
Audio: Unknown, but it contains the Deep Note.
Availability: The trailer itself is completely lost aside from one screenshot on the THX site; and absolutely no records of this trailer have appeared online nor on YouTube, Dailymotion, nor Vimeo, as its existence is way too confusing. See "A Good Idea" for additional information about this trailer.
Horror Sound (Mathieu Provost's entry)
Visuals: On a black background is the stacked text "UNPARALLELED QUALITY" in a blocky font. After a few seconds, it folds up and flies away like a bat, revealing another set of text "UNMATCHABLE PICTURE" in the same fashion. The text suddenly opens up to reveal the text "SENSATIONAL SOUND". In a sideways movement, the text opens up to reveal the text "CAN ONLY MEAN ONE THING...". Then, one-by-one in a diagonal movement, the text "YOU", "ARE", "IN", "A". After this, a large portion of the screen is unraveled and swirled into the center like a vortex, revealing the THX logo inside a white rectangle. The text "CERTIFIED CINEMA" is seen below it. After this, the trailer fades out.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: Horror-related sounds and the Deep Note.
Availability: See "A Good Idea." Was not on Demo Disc II, however.
Jobe (Jason Jobe's entry)
Visuals: On a dark brown background, a few low tones can be heard with the sound making ripples in the background. As the camera pans up, the brown gets lighter until it all reaches a black circle in the middle, which is where the ripples are emanating from. The Deep Note then begins playing and the camera pans to the other side as the THX logo can be seen. The camera then faces the THX logo as the tones stop being heard and the deep note reaches its peak. Water "ripples" around the THX logo for a short time, and once the Deep Note stops playing, the logo then just cuts to black.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: Some heartbeat-like sounds at the start, followed by the Deep Note.
Availability: See "A Good Idea." This trailer is one of the six trailers from this contest that is available on Demo Disc II.
Luminous (Michael Swindler's entry)
Visuals: The THX logo spins around (a la Warner Bros.) some as the Deep Note plays, with the Deep Note reaching its peak as the camera faces the fully CG logo.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: The Deep Note.
Availability: See "A Good Idea." Was not available on Demo Disc II, however.
Shards (Javier Ariel Garza's entry)
Visuals: There are many glass shards flying to form the THX logo. Then, the logo flies out by a 3D transition effect.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: Corresponding sound effects, and the Deep Note.
Availability: See "A Good Idea." Was not available on Demo Disc II, however.
The Audition (Adam White's entry)
Visuals: The text "Lucasfilm Headquarters 1982" is shown on a black background, before the screen fades into a door with a piece of paper reading "Lucasfilm Sound Logo Auditions TODAY" on it. The screen fades into a CGI audio-recording room as a man is seen behind the door window, saying "Okay, uh, welcome to the new sound division logo audition. Uh, basically we want the audience to know they're about to have the best possible listening experience. So, um, whenever you're ready, go for it!".
The screen then cuts to a shot of a chair and a microphone, as each one of the below scenarios occurs:
- "HAL" is seen on the chair, saying "The following film contains sound of the highest quality". The man in the window says "NEXT!".
- The letters in "abc" jump around on the chair and babble like babies. The man says "NEXT!" again.
- "XYZ" is shown, with a zipper sound effect. The man sighs and says "NEXT!".
- "XXX" says "Hello there." seductively. The man says "Yeah, not that kind of audition."
Then is the THX logo on the chair, as the man in the window says "THX, wha-what is that? Anyway, uh, let's hear it, whenever you're ready." The camera slowly pans onto the THX logo as the famous Deep Note begins to play. As the note ends, the logo shines and fades onto a white background, as we hear the man say "Uh, when can you start?".
Trivia: The first four auditions in the entry have a specific meaning to them. "HAL" is based off HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the "abc" symbolizes childhood education, "XYZ" is an abbreviation of the common acronym "Examine Your Zipper", and "XXX" is a term usually used for pornography.
Technique: Mostly CGI, with some live-action elements.
Audio: The dialogue, sound effects and the Deep Note.
Availability: See "A Good Idea." This trailer is one of the six trailers from this contest that is available on Demo Disc II.
Woah! (Michael Rohlfing's entry)
Visuals: There is a male college student (Danny Zondervan) walk into what appears to be a dorm room with a bed, and a TV with a VCR/DVD combo under it. He places a glass of water onto the shelf of the TV, grabs a DVD case and puts a disc (with a blank white label on it) into the DVD player. The man then sits down on the couch and takes a deep breath (one can spot a green blanket and 2 posters reading "The Audience..." on the first poster and "...is Listening" on the other), and presses the play button on the player remote. The screen cuts to the TV (notice how the brand logo at the bottom is covered in black tape), which now has the THX logo slowly zooming in as the Deep Note begins to play. The glass of water begins to shake (a subtle nod to Jurassic Park) and many pieces of paper fly onto the man. As the Deep Note gets louder as per usual, the couch begins to sway back and forth and the room gets very windy, when suddenly, the THX logo pops out of the TV screen and lunges itself towards the man, covered in purple lightning. The THX logo then swings right back into the TV, the force so strong it tears the man's shirt right off. The man (rightfully) says "Whoa!" in awe, before we cut to the THX logo on a black background.
Technique: Live-action combined with CGI and chroma-keying.
Audio: Sound effects corresponding to what is happening and the Deep Note, along with Zondervan's dialog.
Availability: See "A Good Idea." This trailer is one of the six trailers from this contest that is available on Demo Disc II.
Runners-up
THXphobia: Fear of Digital Audio (Jake Thomas McCook's entry)
Visuals: In black-and-white, there is a ticking metronome from various angles cutting in time to the rhythm. There is the text "Thxphobia: Fear of Digital Audio". Then, in color is various walls with THX-hating messages scribbled throughout ("anti-THX", "THX bad", "THX kills", "hate THX", etc.). After that is sheets of music on a piano, being played frantically by a weird man with white hair, glasses, a tie, and a blazer strangely without a shirt. The man is muttering gibberish such as "Analog smooth, digital is death, reel to reel, Lucas is a jerk (referring to George Lucas)," etc. Suddenly, there's a series of quick cuts back and forth between the man's face, the piano, and the metronome. Cut to the front door of the man's house (the windows also covered with scribbles) as the doorbell rings. The man gasps, stops playing his piano, and stops the metronome as he says, "They're here...!" The doorbell rings again as the Deep Note starts. The man says "Shining... chrome... pillars of fear!" Suddenly, his door begins to rattle violently. He sits in terror as his house and the various things on the walls begin to rumble and shake from the Deep Note. The man says "NO!" as he jumps out of his seat and mutters more gibberish. You can barely make out him saying, "George Lucas is a genius!" He quickly grabs his sheet music and his metronome as he opens his front door and shouts "By the power of analog, I compel you!" while holding the metronome up like a cross (a reference to The Exorcist). There is the THX logo backwards outside his front door. The man stops in confusion, before the THX logo shakes and rotates around to meet the man face-to-face. He screams and falls backward as the environment turns to black and we see the THX logo as it fades out.
Technique: Live-action combined with CGI.
Audio: The waltz composition "Grande valse brillante" by Fréderic Chopin (which is heard in the beginning of the trailer), the man's quotes (some quotes may be hard to understand but they're printed in the comment section of the linked video), suspenseful music after the man jumps out of his seat, corresponding sound effects, and (of course) the Deep Note. After the man faints, the THX logo gives off a high-pitched giggle.
Availability: Same as "A Good Idea", but this was not chosen as one of the 10 finalists. Strangely, while not being one of the ten finalists, this was available on Demo Disc II.
We'll Certify Anything (Joe Redifer's entry)
Visuals: On a black background, a movie theater picture fades in, with "MOVIE THEATER" appearing below via a whoosh. It then changes to home theater pictures (such as a radio) with the text changing to "HOME THEATER". While this happens, weird shapes fade in slowly which move and rotate. Later on, the text and picture fades, fading to a computer sound card with "COMPUTER SOUND CARDS" below, then an additional piece of text ("(CREATIVE LABS ONLY!)") also fades in below. Later, the screen zooms into the big square with info on it, which fades into an 8-bit sprite of a video game character walking with the text changing to "VIDEO GAMES". Later, the screen fades into a rusty car with the text changing to "CARS". Then, the screen fades into a toilet with the text changing to "TOILETS". Lastly, the screen fades to a picture of a baby with the text changing to "HUMAN BABIES". Then, everything fades out instead of the shapes. After a while, the shapes reveal that it is actually the THX logo. After a while, "WE'LL CERTIFY ANYTHING" appearing below, stacked via a whoosh. Lastly, the screen cuts to black.
Technique: Live-action combined with CGI.
Audio: A long Deep Note, with the sounds of a projector, a TV, the Windows 2000 startup, video game tunes, car sirens and a honk sound, a flushing sound and lastly, a baby giggling. After this, the Deep Note reaches its peak.
Availability: Same as "A Good Idea", but like "THXphobia", this was not chosen as one of the 10 finalists and was never seen on the website or Demo Disc II.
