The first trailer was shown in a U.S movie theatre in November 1913 when Nils Granland produced a short promotional film for the musical 'The Pleasure Seekers'. Granland also introduced trailer material for an upcoming motion picture for an upcoming film which featured Charlie Chaplin in 1914.
Up until the late 1950s the film being advertised often consisted of the main key scenes with large writing describing the story. Most of the trailers had some form of narration and those that did featured loud, dramatic voices.
In the early 1960's there was a new trend, this was montage trailers and quick editing which became extremely popular. In 1964 Andrew J. Kuehn distributed his indepently produced trailer for 'Night of the Iguana' using stark, high-contrast photography fast-paced editing and a provocative narration. This form of trailer was a huge success.
Kuehn opened the west coast office of Kaleidoscope films in 1968, he became a major part in the trailer industry. As Hollywood was producing bigger blockbuster films and investing more money into them, directors such as Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Barbera Streisand began on Kuehn and his company to create the best trailers which film/theartre goers could view.
The contrast between film trailers now and in the early 1900s is huge this is because trailers were only part of the entertainment which included catoon shorts and serial adventure episodes, These earlier trailers were much shorter and often consisted of little more that title cards. However, today trailers are much more elaborate and have replaced other forms of pre-featured entertainment, also twenty minutes after the posted showtime is devoted to trailers.
The purpose of a trailer is simply to attract an audience to the film, the trailer has to achieve this in two and a half minutes. It usually features the most exciting, dramatic and funny parts of the film without producing spoilers. This is created by not neccessarily featuring the scenes in order as they are in the film. By achieving to pick dramatic scenes from the film the people who create the film trailers often begin their work while the movie is still being shot, therefore the trailer may contain footage which is not featured in the final movie. A common technique is including music on the trailer which does not appear on the movie's soundtrack, this nearly always occurs as many trailers or teasers are created long before. It also helps set the tone and mood of the trailer. Aswell as featuring music which is not neccessarily in the final product it can also feature footage of scenes which are not featured in the final movie. Most trailers have a three-act structure similar to a feature-length film. They start with a beginning, middle and usually ends with a dramatic climax. To add to the tension, voice over narration is used to briefly set up the premise of the movie and provide explanation when necessary, it is also a useful tool to enhance the audience's understanding of the plot.
The studio production logos are usually featured near the beginning of the trailer, however this has only happened since the late 1970s as they used to always be featured at the end of the trailer.
The MPAA- Motion Picture Association of Anerica film rating system mandates that theatrical trailers not exceed two minutes and thirty seconds in length, and each major studio is given one exception to this rule per year.
However in the last decade film trailers have advanced because of the on-going technological improvements, trailers featured today always have a voiceover as this provides the audience with an added narrative element and creates added suspense, vital pieces of text also help the voice-over project a short sneaky preview into the synopsis of the film. The music featured in the trailer is one of the most important devices as this immediately can set the tone of the trailer and reflect the genre to the audience. The studio production logos are often featured at the beginning of the beginning of the trailer, often there are logos for the production and distributer of the film.
Sources used www.wikipedia.com
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