History Of Film Trailers

Where did 'trailer' come from!?

The term trailer came about as they were originally shown at the end of a feature film screening, opposed to the modern way of them being shown at the beginning of the film.

 

This way didn't last long though; as the audience would tend leave before watching the trailer, this is why we now see them before the film.

 

 

                The First Trailer

 

The first trailer shown in a U.S. film theater was in November 1913 and was produced by Nils Granlund, advertising manager for the Marcus Loew theater chain. The trailer material was used in order to promote the musical; The Pleasure Seekers.

Although it is not possible to find these trailer; here is an example of the Casablanca, 1942 trailer.

 

 

The differences between modern day trailers and Casablanca are clearly striking..

Trailers were mostly created by the National Screen Servuce up until the late 1950's and follow the style of Casablanca in which they would have the iconic key scenes from the film being advertised and would have large descriptive text in order to describe the story, also complemented by a dramatic soundtrack.

 Nowadays trailers are very different - just as the whole film making experience has, with all features over dramatized in order to keep the audience enticed.