1. THE HISTORY OF THE MOVIE TRAILER
The first trailer was advertisements – these were shown
between films in the theatre, this idea went well which led to
the development of film trailers.
The National Screen Service (NSS) began in 1919, where they
had a monopoly of the creation and distribution of all trailers –
they had a specific template which all trailers followed, so the
structure was the same on every one. This was the use of text,
narration to ensure the plot is clear, music to set the tone of
the film, and montage editing.
Before 1929, trailers did not use sound. They relied on title
cards to show the narrative. This all changed when The Jazz
Singer was produced in 1929.
There was a downfall of the NSS in the 1940s/50s and the
received criticisms for taking over the industry. Due to this,
people were able to change the structure of trailers and
experiment with different techniques. There were some star
directors who became known in this period, for example
Hitchcock who directed the trailer of ‘Psycho’.
The 1960s was the most experimental stage for trailers in
history.
In the 1990s, movies were becoming more and more
expensive, meaning producers would become less and less
experimental and would no longer take risks when creating
trailers. They would learn the best was to sell their products
and stick to that method.
Some trailers are criticesed for giving too much detail from the
film away – ‘The Dissolve’ by Tasha Robinson was known as
‘the biggest spoiler’.
Trailers become one of the most popular entertainment
methods .
Trailers now have teasers which precede the release of the
trailer.
