A film trailer is a number of shots from a feature film put together which is shown at cinemas and on TV to advertise the film to an audience. The purpose of a film trailer is to gain an audience’s attention and therefore the funniest, exciting and most memorable parts of the film are put into the trailer. The name ‘Trailer’ was given due to the trailer usually being shown at the end of the film at the cinema when they were first seen in cinemas. However, this did not stay for long due to an audience normally leaving before the end of the film (the credits) and therefore, they were put before a film however, kept the name. Throughout the years film trailers, the way they are presented to an audience, and way they are made have changed.
The first ever U.S film trailer was to the film ‘The Pleasure Seekers’ directed by Jean Negulesco, released in 1913 and shown at The Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. The genre of the film is a musical romantic comedy and this is obviously shown in the trailer. Unlike modern day trailers, the comparison between the styles of how film trailers have changed visually is huge. Due to the time in which the first ever film trailer was made, a very limited range of technology would have been available which can be seen throughout the trailer. A definition of a (modern) trailer is a short video in which the most exciting, funniest and most memorable parts of a film are put together to grab the audience’s attention. However, the trailer for ‘The Pleasure Seekers’ is a video which shows one single clip from the film continuously for 3 minutes and 28 seconds. The clip does show the musical genre of the film as well as indicating the romantic genre, however nothing suggest the comedy genre of the film. This is the downfall of the first type of film trailers - although during the time they were first created they were seen as impressive and did grab an audience’s attention, they did not give an audience enough information for them to feel compelled to go to see the film
Into the late 50’s, film trailers took a dramatic turn. Instead of the trailer consisting of one continuous shot from the film, a number of key and important clips were put together with cuts in between to entice an audience further. As well as this, the film trailers usually included large text added over certain clips to explain the story and a underscore (a very plain and basic music clip). An example of this style of film trailer is the film ‘Attack’ directed by Robert Aldrich and released in 1956. Throughout the full trailer, large text has been used over a number of the clips explaining what happens throughout the film as well as a stentorian voice over.
In the early 60’s, film trailers changed again to a more modern related style. Text-less and fast cut montages became a trend, more or less due to increasingly popular TV. A well-known popular trailer filled with fast cut montages, however also keeping some of the more well-known and traditional conventions of past film trailers (with some large texts) was the film ‘Lolita’ directed by Stanley Kubrick and released in 1962. The arrival of the ‘new Hollywood’, a term which refers to the 1960’s-1980’s which speaks of brand new film makes and directors coming to the American scene with a new type of film.
Continuing into the later 1960’s, Andrew J. Kuehn became a well-known man for revolutionizing film trailers at the audience have ever seen them before. Kuehn is well known for the film ‘Night of the Iguana’ which he independently distributed and produced the film trailer which included newly never seen before stark images, high contrast photography, fast paced editing and a narration over the trailer. He was highly successful and after this trailer made him well known in the film industry, he began producing his new form of trailer with Dan Davis and in the late 1960’s, producers such as Steven Spielberg and Olive Stone became dependant on his amazing new trailer ideas. More recent films he create film trailers for are: Jaws (directed by Steven Spielberg, released in 1975), E.T. (directed by Steven Spielberg, released in 1982), The French Connection (directed by William Friedkin, released in 1971). A quote from Kuehn said ‘A trailer is two or three minutes long – a length of a song – and I think of trailers as songs’. This is a very well-known quote as Kuehn was one of the first trailer producers to include full length songs in his trailers. He believed that the music was a very important feature behind a film trailer.
Today, trailers are given a specific slot in the cinema routine. Usually, the first 20 or so minutes of the adverts shown before a film begins is dedicated to film trailers. Additionally, VHS and DVD’s have a selected time space before the film starts or before we reach a selection menu in which a selection of trailers are shown. VHS being a now obsolete way in which an audience watch films however, when they were hugely popular and the only way some people could watch films, all had trailers before the film however, some were still traditional and played trailers after the film had finished, after the trailer. However, some Blue Ray and DVD’s now have a choice in which an audience can choose whether they want to watch the trailers as they are bonus features on a disk – this may well be because as an audience, people are witness to trailers frequently on TV, on the radio, in the newspaper, etc.
