FILM TRAILOR HISTORY
What is a film trailer?
A film trailer is the vital part when it comes to marketing films. They are usually shown at the beginning of a film when you watch them in the cinema or on a dvd. They advertise upcoming films to attract attention from their chosen target audiences. As they are usually quite short snippets, they therefore go to the extreme of their film genre, for example, if the film is a comedy then the editing would be fast paced along with the music to match which then shows the tone and mood of the film. But if it was a horror then the editing would be slow and the shots are dark. Film trailers have become very popular searches online, especially on sites such as youtube, film companies are now taking advantage of this by creating more than one trailer in attempt to go viral.
The beginning of film trailers-
The first trailer was shown in 1912 at Rye Beach, New York. One of the concessions hung up a white sheet and showed the serial The Adventures of Kathlyn. At the end of the reel Kathlyn was thrown in the lion's den. After this 'trailed' a piece of film asking Does she escape the lion's pit? See next week's thrilling chapter!"
Even before the studios got into the act, exhibitors were innovating ways to let audiences sample upcoming films. As the folklore has it, some would simply run the first reel of a new movie after the main feature, while others would choose a few of the most interesting-looking scenes and put them together.
In 1916, Paramount became the first studio to officially release trailers, though they only bothered to spend the extra effort with their highest-profile films.
By August 1919, the studio had set up its own trailer division and was actively assembling previews for all of their upcoming films
Up until the 1950’s film trailers were made by national screen service, which was contracted by the film companies to create the trailers, which would be used for upcoming films, this company only lasted until the 80’s.
As films stared to change their ways in the 60’s, so did the trailers to go along side. The new ‘breed’ of films spawned new styles and ways.
Andrew J. Kuehn.
Andrew J. Kuehn was a very influential trailer producer. He changed the way that trailers were made in his 1964 trailer for ‘Nights of the iguana’, which is when he created the company Kaleidoscope Films. The company worked for three decades creating some of the biggest trailers for the biggest films and film makers of the time, including many Spielberg films, for example, Kuehn produced the original trailer for ‘Et’.
Kuehn was presented with the Cannes lifetime achievement award and is credited with other 1000 trailers.
Kuehn is quoted saying:
“A trailer has but one goral: to draw audiences out of their houses into a theater. To do that you have to set up a sense of urgency. In the process of arriving at that forced pace, we advanced the style of editing. We really pushed the envelope in terms of what audiences would accept.’
The format of trailers - Trailers tend to follow the same pattern as film does. They have a beginning a sequence, followed by a problem and then a solution. This shows the audience what the film is about, however it has been debated that this format reveals too much of the story. Some people suggest that all the best and good bits of the film are put into the trailer.
Some trailers also include sequences that are not actually in the film. This is most famously seen in the six-minute trailer for Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ in which the whole trailer is shot post production and even included a different actress for the main role. However some things are in the trailers that have been cut out from the original film. Although this doesn’t seem that bad, it still miss leads the audience.
