History Of Movie Trailers

Definition

A trailer is a promotional video for an upcoming film that is to be shown in the cinemas, they consist of a series of shots that are in the movie to make a montage of motion clips along with some form of narration to give the viewer an idea of what the film is about using visual aids and a sneak preview of the film without actually giving away spoilers.

First Film Trailer

The first trailer was shown in the US for a musical called "The Pleasure Seekers" in November 1913 by Nils Granlund, he was also the first person to a trailer for a motion picture film with Charlie Chaplin in 1914. Trailers were usually made up of the key scenes in the film along with large pieces of text describing the story of the film and and underscore (music) if the trailer had narration it would usually have a voice over up until the late 1950's.

However in the 1960's motion picture trailers changed, they became text less and consisted of montage and quick editing this is due to the arrival of 'New Hollywood' and these aspects of a trailer were widely popular and so appealed to people more. New Hollywood is also know and American New Wave dated in the late 1960s to the 1980's this is basically when a new young generation in america influenced  the type of films produced along with marketing and production.

Movies now depend a lot on the quality of the trailer, so up to date and popular techniques should be used in order for films to be promoted in the best way possible and in turn gain peoples attention and get money from it.

In1964 a man called AndrewJ. Kuehn independently distributed and produced a trailer for the film 'Night of the Igwana' which included high contrast photography fast paced editing and provocative narration. This type of trailer was so popular and successful that andrew went on to produce trailers like this with his partner. In 1968 Andrew opened a Kaleidoscope films office. His company was a major influence in the trailer industry for the next 30 years. When Hollywood began producing more bigger films the demand for good marketing trailers increased  and more money was being invested in them as films and their directors depended on the quality of the trailers and so became dependent on Kuehn's company 'Kaleidoscope'.

To begin with trailers were short and simple however nowadays the trailers are longer and much more detailed. they are also now featured not only on TV and cinemas but also on DVD's, Blu-rays and online, so play a major part in the film industry.

Trailers usually have a three act structure:

• Act 1-The premise of the story which is shown at the beginning.
• Act 2-Delves more in to the story and plot and ends in a dramatic climax which is usually shown in the middle.
• Act 3- a musical number that is strong and is the 'signature music' along with a montage of motion clips that are significant and dramatic in the film this is usually at the end.