The History Of The Movie Trailer

Movie trailers were first shown at the end of the film, trailing the main feature. This practice was changed, however, after it became apparent that most people were leaving the theater as soon as the feature ended. The first movie trailer shown in the United States was for the movie The Pleasure Seekers, and was shown in November 1913 at the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway.

The trailer was the idea of advertising manager for the Marcus Loew theater chain, Nils Granlund. Trailers soon caught on in popularity, and until the late 1950s, most trailers were created by the National Screen Service and were essentially a series of spliced scenes from the actual movie that they promoted, narrated to inform theater goers about the key points of the film.

In the 1960s quick editing techniques revolutionized the look of both the motion picture and the trailer. One of the first movie trailers to employ quick editing techniques was Night of the Iguana, narrated by James Earl Jones and independently distributed by Andrew J Kuehn. Movie studios took notice of the success of the Iguana trailer, and soon began producing similar trailers to promote their own movies.

The primary purpose of a trailer is to promote a movie by revealing the major plot points without giving away any of the plot twists and surprises. Most trailers are two and a half minutes or shorter in length, but some may be longer. Usually, trailers feature scenes that do not actually appear in the film, or are shot from a different aspect than the final version of the scene that does appear. Since the music for a film is usually the last thing to be finalized, the music that is in a trailer is not normally music that is featured in the final version of the movie.

Trailers are rated under the same criteria as motion pictures. A green band at the beginning of a trailer means that it has been approved for all audiences, a yellow band means that it is rated PG 13, and a red band indicates an R rating. The top trailers are recognized every year at the key Art Awards and The Golden Trailer Awards, and recognition is given to the writers, directors, cast, and crew who have helped to make the most compelling and watchable movie trailers of the year possible.

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