The History Of Film Trailers

A trailer is an advertisement for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future; it shows scenes/clips from the film to give the viewer an idea of what the film's about. Normally they are short, depending on what type of trailer it is. This means the production company need to successfully show the genre of the film and make the audience want to see the film without giving the whole film away. They use different techniques of editing/pace, music/tone, lighting, setting etc..

Often shown at the cinema before the main film begins, the trailer usually has a similar genre to the main film; this is done to attracted the target audience. Trailers can also been found on television and at the beginning of Blu-rays and DVDs. Trailers are becoming more popular online (e.g YouTube) as people are now searching the web for upcoming films; making some trailers getting millions of views and become viral. 

The first trailer was not for a feature film, but for a musical. The trailer showed extracts from the musical and raised knowledge of the production. The musical was produced by Nils Granlund who later made the first film trailer in 1914 for Charlie Chaplin. As this method of marketing worked so well more and more film institutions used them.   

Tzvetan Todorov simplified the idea of narrative theory. The theory is the fictional environment begins with a state of equilibrium (everything is as it should be). It then suffers some disruption (disequilibrium). Then recognition, which builds up tension of the disruption, followed by attempt to repair. This is at the highest point of tension, and there is a change in the disruption dynamic. Lastly reinstatement; everything is back to how it was. This is for the whole film, but trailers are very similar in format; beginning, problem and then a solution. This teases the audience into wanting to watch the film, but some people say that some trailers show the best bits in the film and reveal too much; to make the film seem more appealing, but the rest of the film does not live up to the trailer.  

Here is a classic example of a conventional trailer (Toy Story 3)

Some trailers also include sequences that are not actually in the film. Hitchcock's Psycho had a six minute trailer which showed Hitchcock giving a tour around the set of the film.