The history of trailers

Through the years film trailers have changed in different aspect. They have changed in many ways due to the technological advancements in recent years and the shift in the audience for modern films. The way in which the trailers presented has a also changed as they have transitioned from a more promotional trailer that focuses on 'bigging up' the film, to a more theatrical trailer that makes the film look real as if the audience is involved in the movie.

One of the most noticeable trailers is snow white 1937, this was the first animated film and was created by Walt Disney. The trailer consisted of still frame work and no motion picture this did not give much away front the full feature. This was probably due to the lack of technology at this time. Also this trailer was a commentary from Walt Disney himself who was explaining characters and their role in the film. This different to the present day as now trailers are most commonly narrated or even a voice over by one of the characters  themselves such as in man of steel or iron man 3. Also in this trailer there is a big emphasis on the amount of text used throughout, this is very large text that usually fills the vast majority of the screen, this shows a change in trailer manufacture as during the time of this trailer there were no special effects to catch the eye of the audience so the use of large text was a popular technique. Whereas in the present day the text is rarely used in trailers as they have new special effects such as CGI which draws in the audience. The voice over also in this trailer was very loud and bold this was to make the movie look big and better.

 

Another recognisable trailer for its time was psycho which was produced in1960. This trailer is recognisable as it lasted over 6 minutes, this is very unusual as the average trailer length is limited to 2 minutes 30 seconds for a feature trailer. This was the one exception that was allowed to exceed this. This trailer consisted of a tour around the setting of the film, in which it told the premise of the film. This was presented in black and white due to the gore that was involved in the film, this is very unlikely to happen in the present day. The text that was used through out this film was smaller than in previous years this is due to the fact that it now has motion picture to attract the audience and not just the large text. This trailer did not have a main voice over as it had a presenter I'm the form of the directors talking about the events as if  they were real. This exact style of voice over was not completely carried on however voice over are usually done as if its real however it is done by a character on the film.
 

 

In my view star wars: a new hope (1977) was a big leap forward in trailers a s they now had technology to use even though it was not particularly advanced. For instance it was the first time that special effects were used in a major role. This trailer however still used old techniques to attract the audience as it still used large text to promote the film.this also created the excitement behind such films as thus film in my view kicked of the whole sci-fi film industry as it rallied a very large following when it was produced, this as well as the extremely popular star trek series. 

Forest gump was produced in 1994 and this showed a giant leap forward in film trailers this was due to the new technology with the capability of creating a setting that looks real such as a war zone. this also showed how trailers no longer needed the help of a voice over or large text to promote itself it could now exploit the new technology to create a new era of film trailer promotion through the likes of special effects.

A more modern day trailer of iron man 3 made in 2013 is very different to earlier trailers. For instance throughout the trailer a different style voice over is used, this is because the voice over in iron man is a more theatrical and dramatic style which is voiced by the character in the film. This has changed as in previous trailers a voice over was used to promote the film through a bold voice, whereas now it is used to give a sense of the story. Also in this trailer the pace of the trailer changes as it progresses as it starts off allow then turns into a montage of clips, this shows a leap from previous trailers as they all stay at the same pace throughout. Also the sound fx and cgi in the trailer are now the main focus with the advancement in technology.



In conclusion i think film trailers have changed dramatically due to the advancements in technology, i can support this as in the early days of film trailers bold voice overs were used to promote the film and make it look better. Whereas now with the advancement in technology has allowed film producers to exploit new ideas that are capable of becoming reality.