* Trailer History and Background

A film trailer is an advertisement or preview of a feature film that is soon to be released. The term "trailer" comes from when they were originally shown at the end of a feature film. However, this was changed due to moviegoers leaving when the credits rolled. The name however, remains the same.

The first film trailer was shown in U.S theatres in November 1913 for the film "The Pleasure Seekers". Since then trailers have increased in used up to the point where almost every feature film has a trailer of some kind. Some of the common conventions of the early trailer remain the same such as key scenes being shown, large text describing plot points and stentorian voiced narration. With the introduction of home video and the VHS, film trailers from the same company as the VHS would be shown during and after films. This saved money from TV advertising. Then with the introduction of DVDs, films could now more easily be skipped and also were featured more as a bonus feature. Now with the introduction of the internet and sites such as youtube, trailers are widely accessible on demand with little to no cost. Sometimes, trailers can even make money for a film due to advertisements features before or on screen during.

Trailers usually include the most funny, exciting and noteworthy scenes but usually without including spoilers. The scenes are generally not in order they appear in the film. Trailers are usually under 2 minutes 30 seconds as this is the max the MPAA allows. However, once a year each studio is allowed to exceeded this if they believe it is necessary for a particular film. Some trailer feature scenes that are not even in the final cut of the film or were not intended to be in the film at all were made specifically for the trailer. This is usually for a teaser trailer, a very short trailer shown a long time in advance of the actual film release.