| Theatrical trailers are 2-3 minute advertisements for movies that play in cinemas before another movie. The term comes from their originally being
shown at the end of a movie, though today trailers are almost always shown before the film begins.
Trailers before films are placed there by the film's distributor, not the cinema. Thus trailers almost always advertise
another film from the same firm. This makes a hit film even more valuable as means more people will see ads for the company's
other films. This ability can also affect when films are released. If a studio has a guaranteed hit they will schedule similar
films for release soon after so that the audience who saw the trailer before the first film will see the second. An extreme
example of this is Miramax's decision to delay the North American release of
Hero by two years mostly so that they could widely advertise the
film before Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.
This advertising is especially valuable as it can be carefully targeted. Movies appealing to one age group or demographic will
have trailers for films targeting that same group. Trailers tend to appeal to specific markets, and if you compare different
trailers for the same movie, you'll find that they also portray specific themes depending on their intended market.
The vast majority of trailers are made up of film scenes cut out of context. Trailers of this type are quite cheap to produce
and are usually effective. The most common technique is to show some the highlights of the film. Thus for an action movie some of the most elaborate special effects shots will be cut into the
trailer. For a comedy two or three of the funniest jokes will be put in the trailer. Dramas, which tend not to have five second highlights, tend to focus more on
plot.
There are a few films that do not use edited footage from the actual film, but instead created their own mini-movies to sell
the film. The most notable film to use this technique was Terminator II,
whose trailer featured elaborate special effects scenes that were never intended to be in the film itself. One of the most famous
"mini-movie" trailers is that used for the 1960s thriller Psycho which featured
director Alfred Hitchcock giving viewers a guided tour of the
Bate's Motel, eventually arriving at the infamous shower. At this point, the soft-spoken Hitchcock suddenly throws the shower
curtain back to reveal the only scene from the movie included in the trailer -- Janet Leigh's bloodcurdling scream.
A common occurrence is for a trailer to include scenes that were originally filmed to be part of the movie, but were later
cut. A trailer might also use a different take of a scene than the one that appears in the
movie. These trailers are particularly coveted by collectors, especially in cases of trailers for classic films. For example, a
trailer for Casablanca shows a sequence in which
Rick Blaine says "OK, you asked for it!" before shooting Major Strasser, an event which does not occur in the final film.
All trailers also emphasize what high profile stars are in the film, sometimes listing some of the awards these actors have
achieved. Noted directors and producers are also listed, but since few directors and producers have name recognition among the
general populace far more common is to mention a previous successful film the director or producer released in the same
genre.
As well as highlights from the film, another ubiquitous feature of the trailer is a voice-over. The voice-over is usually essential to inform the audience about the plot of the film, as brief
disconnected scenes rarely can do this.
The end of a trailer is marked with a brief shot of a list of the main cast and production team. This list normally contains
dozens of names and is impossible to read in the brief period it is on the screen. It is still insisted upon by union contracts,
however.
After this listing of credits is one final clip from the film, of only two or three seconds. Research has shown that this clip
is what audiences most clearly remember. In comedies it is very common for it to be a brief bit of physical comedy, often involving an injury to a character. In dramas it is
more common for it to be a single line that the trailer's creators hope will create interest in seeing the entire film.
While some filmmakers leave the creation of the trailer to the studio, many others closely supervise the task. A trailer must
be regarded as an important part of a film itself. Almost all of the audience that sees a film will have seen either the trailer
or a briefer television commercial. Thus what is revealed in the trailer greatly impacts on the level of suspense and the
audience expectations. For instance that the entire audience is aware that a film is about a serial killer because of a trailer, will greatly reduce the surprise they feel when a character is
killed.
How much to give away in a trailer is a controversial question. Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis argues that a trailer should tell everything about a film, even its ending, as audiences do
not want to pay a goodly sum to see films unless they know exactly what they are paying for. Most other filmmakers disagree and
believe that some surprise is necessary and that a trailer should show no more than is needed to convince the audience to see a
film.
Trailers have spread to other media as well. Trailers for computer
games have especially become popular.
The two most well known voice-over artists who work on movie trailers are Don LaFontaine and Hal Douglas. They currently take most
of the voice-over work for movie trailers, making their voices well-known to the movie-going public.
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