TRAILERS THROUGH TIME

WHAT IS A TRAILER?

A trailer or preview is an advertisement or a

commercial for a feature film that will be

exhibited in the future at a cinema. The term

"trailer" comes from their having originally

been shown at the end of a feature film

screening. That practice did not last long,

because patrons tended to leave the theatre

after the films ended, but the name has stuck.

Trailers are now shown before the film

Movie trailers have now become popular on

DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, as well as on the

Internet and mobile devices. Of some ten

billion videos watched online annually, film

trailers rank third, after news and user-created

video.

Up until the late 1950s, trailers were mostly

created by the National Screen Service in the USA

and consisted of various key scenes from the film

being advertised, often augmented with large,

descriptive text describing the story.

The 1922 film Nosferatu is an example how trailer were made in this time. The trailer is fairly basic in that it uses the key scenes from the film and the sound is music which is used to create emotions for the audience such as tension and fear. This contrasts to modern trailers

that have lots of dialogue. It also suggests audiences at the time were dependent on the visual look of a trailer, this is largely due to technology of the time where there was nothing to create dialogue thus creating silent film. Trailers in this time were for the exclusive few and where only shown at cinema screenings highlighting the

film industry had a small demographic at this time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-DrKgjit4I

During the 1960s the concept of a trailer had

changed to a similar style to its modern counterpart.

techniques such Textless, montage trailers and

quick-editing became very popular. These earlier

trailers were much shorter and often consisted of

little more than title cards and stock footage.

The 1960 film Psycho indicates these characteristics as

there are range of scenes and only the title card. Sound

has radically changed, this is the period where the trend

of a male narrators voice became the norm and dialogue

from the film was being used more often. In this time

audiences of films were rising as more cinemas opened

and drive through cinemas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz719b9QUqY

In the 70s the National Screen Service’s lost its control

of making trailers and Studios and individuals became

responsible for making and distributing their own trailers.

This was a time when TV advertising began to have a

larger role in the style of trailers, therefore trailers would

have to constantly evolve in synch with television

advertising in order to keep up.

The 70s was a time when a narrator developing the

narrative was in the increase, however some films

such as Piranha indicate that the use of dialogue and

fast paced shots was beginning to become the norm,

Similarly in this time the narrator would repeat the

title of a film multiple times. Often actors with the

staring role would also each get their own intertitle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoCKGvVlNYM

The 80’s was a period where the film industry was

rapidly increasing and so was the use of trailers. The

invention of the VHS allowed upcoming film trailers

to be put before a film starts, forcing audiences to

watch it. Similarly this was a time when more people

had disposable incomes and access films.

This was the peak of when trailers had narrators

forming the narrative. In the 1984 trailer for The

Terminator there is a voice of a narrator both at the

beginning and at the end. The trailer roughly has the

look and feel of a modern trailer for example the fast

paced ,action pact camera shots and finally the use

of dialogue from the film that forms the narrative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHz95RYUbik

This decade is where trailers rapidly increased. In this time trailers became the norm due to the internet and video sharing websites such as YouTube

where it can be watched for free.

Trailers are now a part of mainstream society, viewed by millions of people. Trailer are still shown on traditional devices such as TVs and Cinema screens but now also on convergent devices such as Smartphones and

tablets.

In the early noughties DVDs were in demand and this is where people would also watch trailer, now due to digital technology film brought as a digital copy from ITunes and Flixsters UV. Trailers also now have a synergy with

posters and websites to create a brand for a film.

After 2000 film trailers evolved due to the

rapid increase in demographics being a able to

afford to watch films. Trailers are now made for

specific demographics and use sound and the

visual appearance to encourage audiences to

watch films.