The history of film trailers

The first trailer to have ever been created was Pleasure Seekers which was opened at Winter garden theatre in 1913. Since then, film trailers have been changing and developing ever since.

We can already see mass change in the 1937 trailer Snow White. In this trailer we see Walt Disney himself giving a run through of the characters featured in the film. This is unusual as we see black and white moving image from the actual movie however the creator of Disney introducing the characters. This was something only seen in older trailers such as Psycho. The first noticeable scene of the film is the on screen text that reads "The show thrill of your lifetime, nothing ever like it, in multiple Technicolor." The use of this dramatized dramatic voice over and on screen text was very common in the earlier days of trailers, as it was believed to help promote the product. #

The next most infamous trailer was Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. This trailer lasted a total of 6 minute 30 seconds and featured Alfred Hitchcock himself giving a tour of the location setting of the film Psycho. There is no use of colour in this trailer only a black and white display. This is perhaps the most unusual trailer still today since its release in 1960. There is no use of colour and instead a tour of the motel in the scene. We often hear phrases throughout such as "This picture has great significance.. because.. erm lets go ahead to cabin number 1." This leads the audience asking why is it of such significance and wanting to know more and explore the story in greater detail. The last shot we see the most famous shower scene of Marion Crane screaming as the shower curtain is drew back. This allows the audience some insight to the story and clarifies that this story is of a horror genre.

Another famous trailer/film in the 1960's was Dr Strangelove: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb. This was a very quirky and unusual trailer, overall this trailer had about 136 jump cuts. The main feature of the trailer was the use of on screen text. For example, there would be cuts for each word that displayed the sentence 'why was general jack d. ripper obsessed by' then there would be moving image from the film of an actor saying the word 'fluids' as if finishing of the sentence displayed on screen. The use of repetition throughout this trailer was excessive,  this was to reinforce the title- Dr Strangelove.

In 1977 we were introduced with Star Wars IV- A new hope. This trailer was one of the first trailers to show special effects during this time. There is use of moving image throughout the trailer and their is still a narrative voice over which you could argue does still show some evidence of earlier trailer footage. The use of special effects such as; the dollar system and the sci-fi aircraft however really

highlight the huge transformation in technology since the earlier days of trailers.

Another famous trailer is the 1978 phenomenon Grease. Throughout this trailer we see moving image in colour. The is also narrative over the footage announcing the characters and film title. We are allowed some footage of the songs in the film which gives us the idea that the film is a musical. There are several humorous scenes from which we can infer that this film falls under somewhat a comical
genre.

The next big trailer was the 1996 Titanic. Prior this trailer there was another film about this event called A night to remember, which was released in 1958. In this earlier trailer there is no use of colour and limited moving image. There is also a voice over which as already stated represents a more earlier film trailer. The 1966 trailer shows how far technology really has come as; there is use of CGI, moving image in colour, direct footage from the film, solid suitable soundtrack etc.

Modern day trailer follow a typical format of title pages, moving image in colour, some use of CGI, multiple jump cuts, special effects etc. A trailer that highlights this is The wolverine 2013. this trailer lasts about 2:30 and contains approx. 116 cuts. Some of these cuts only last a matter of a second but play an important part in the trailer, for example,  a 1 second shot of a plane in the sky initiates travel. The use of CGI in this trailer is captured to an incredible standard therefore making these scenes look a excellent and realistic standard.