About Movie Trailers
There is a good chance that you haven't given a lot of thought to movie trailers: They are what you see in the movie theater before the main feature begins. However, you have probably decided that you wanted to see, or didn't want to see, a particular movie based solely on the trailer. Taking that into consideration, trailers are a persuasive and effective form of advertising. Over the years the art and craft of creating movie trailers has come a long way.
Other People Are Reading
-
History
-
A movie trailer is called a "trailer" because the previews of upcoming shows used to trail, or appear at the end of, the feature movie; however, it was determined that people were apt to get up and leave the theater as soon as the movie was over and didn't stick around to watch the previews; therefore, showing the previews at this point was counterproductive. Even though the "trailer" was wisely moved from after a movie to before it, its name stuck.
Benefits
-
Movies costs thousands or even millions of dollars to produce, so it's in the best interest of the directors and producers and backers and actors that the movie succeed. Trailers provide the kind of publicity that would be impossible otherwise. There is a captive audience, sitting in a darkened theater, eating popcorn, and ripe for the picking. Theatergoers decide, once they see a trailer, whether it's something they would enjoy seeing and who should or shouldn't see the movie. They determine on the spot that the movie is something that they definitely want to see but conclude, based on the trailer, that they shouldn't bring their child with them because the content is inappropriate or that they should leave the husband behind because it's a chick flick and he would be bored. Trailers are so good these days that most theatergoers enjoy watching them before the feature film and don't grouse about having to sit through the previews of upcoming movies.
-
Disadvantages of Trailers and Criticism of Trailers
-
Some argue that movie trailers aren't that effective because the theater audience members are apt to get up to get drinks or popcorn during the previews or because the audience is annoyed that they have to sit through "trailers" that they're not interested in viewing. ,If the audience is restless or annoyed then its attentiveness may be less than what the trailer producers had hoped for; therefore, the preview has not been a beneficial form of advertising and was all for naught. However, there is probably a good case against this theory since most people seem to enjoy the previews and do base their future theater-going on what they've seen in the previews.
Most people think that movie trailers are an effective way to communicate an idea in a brief amount of time. Yet there are those who complain, and rightly so, that shots are used in the trailer that don't end up in the movie. According to Longway Factory, which has done extensive research into the efficacy of trailers, this happens when the trailer is created before the final cut is done on the movie. What is seen in the trailer is later edited out of the final version. Sometimes the dialogue in the movie is different from what the theater-goer heard in the trailer and that, too, is due to editing; or this technique can be used as a ploy to detract from what the movie producers fear is a shortcoming in the film while playing up some other aspect of the movie which they feel is more compelling.
Have you ever noticed the record scratches in a trailer? This technique is frequently used in a trailer because it has proved to be an effective means of accentuating a punch line.
Whose Idea was This, Anyway?
-
According to Longway Factory, movie trailers have been in existence for nearly 50 years; however, the original trailers weren't anything to write home about. Most were not memorable and didn't do much to boost the sales at the box office. The "trailer" that turned the tide and raised the bar appeared in the mid-1960s and was created by Andrew J. Kuehn. It was used to advertise the movie "Night of the Iguana." Kuehn used actor James Earl Jones, the actor with the imitable voice, to do the voice-over and incorporated dramatic music and fast-paced editing. Kuehn created an entirely new art form.
Assembling an Effective Trailer
-
A trailer is only 150 seconds long, so a lot has to be conveyed in a short period of time. A film distributor can only go over the 2.5 -minute mark once a year. The rest of the time, he must keep to the 150-second limit because that is the rule of the theater owners. The best parts of the movie are, naturally, incorporated into the trailer including the funniest scenes or the scariest; however, some maintain that too much is sometimes revealed in a trailer. The trailer for Harrison Ford's movie "What Lies Beneath" was criticized for revealing too much. Most agree that it is advisable not to give too much away but show just enough that it piques the audience's curiosity.
Material that may not end up in the movie, or even music that's not in the final version, is sometimes in the trailer because the trailer is created while the movie is being made. There are collectors of trailers and one of their coveted finds is the trailer for "Casablanca" in which the character Rick Blaine remarks, "OK, you asked for it!" before he shoots someone. However, this scene isn't in the final version.
The scenes that you see in the trailer may not be in the order that they will appear in the movie. The trailer is a fast snapshot of vivid dialogue and images that draw the viewers in and make them want to see more. Some trailers actually include footage that was never intended to be in the completed movie.
Trailers have a set design: They are based on three acts including the beginning, where the viewer gets the gist of the movie; the middle, where even more information is provided, but not enough that it spoils the suspense or any surprises that may be forthcoming, and the third act, where forceful and recognizable music is played in hopes of further capturing the audience. In the third act, powerful scenes pop up, the kind that make you scream out in terror, double over in laughter or succumb to tears.
Outcome
-
Movie trailers have become so important in the film industry that there are companies that do nothing but produce trailers. They're called trailer houses.Trailers are generally attached to a feature film that has been made by the same production company. To get maximum exposure for a trailer (and the movie it is advertising), the studio will try to attach it to a feature film that has a big following. This form of advertising, in spite of those who criticize it, is extremely effective.
-
