Movie Trailer History

In 1916, Paramount became the first motion picture company to hire an in-house team of trailer makers. They saw great potential in splicing together the best scenes of their films to promote upcoming movies. However, most movie houses outsourced the job to a group of NY ad executives at the National Screening Service. As a result, many trailers from the twenties through the sixties are very similar to one another. In the sixties, more movie producers deviated from the structured NSS formula and sought to create their own divisions of trailers clips producers. Richard Kahn of Columbia House explained, "It's like the ebb and flow of the ocean: The whole question of whether someone should do these in-house or job them out varies with the attitudes of those in charge."

Some people wonder why we call it a movie "trailer," if it's shown before the movie. In the past, mini-films were shown before new movies to keep audiences entertained and trailers were shown at the conclusion of a film to encourage viewers to leave. Over time, movie trailers became an independent art form that began to attract viewers as much as the movies themselves. Theater owners then began showcasing previews first to entice audiences to come back for more. Many motion picture preview innovators surfaced over the years. Alfred Hitchcock previews were known for their wit and suspense, while Andrew J. Kuehn previews began a new standard of quick editing and thought-provoking narration.

Andrew J. Kuehn was an innovator in modern movie trailers production. In 1964, he released independently-produced trailer for Night of the Iguana that used fast-paced editing, high-contrast photography and suspenseful narration. When he realized the potential for this format, he partnered with Dan Davis to manufacture trailers for some of the biggest names and top movies — including Stanley Kubricks's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Steven Spielberg's Jaws, James Cameron's Aliens and George Lucas's Star Wars. "He came into the world of previews when they were done very conventionally, and he reinvented them," said Bob Harper, vice chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment. "He pioneered the idea of previews as a stand-alone piece of entertainment."

Film historian Frank Thompson explains, "I think the trailer's becoming more and more powerful … because it has to do a job today that movie trailers didn't have to do 20 years ago before the big advent of the blockbuster where every movie has to be a big moneymaking machine." People will continue to watch movies no matter what, but they're becoming more and more selective about the movies they see in theaters and the decision to buy movies is even harder to make, which is why so much emphasis is placed on the power of the trailers. They must hide a film's flaws, bring out the good parts without telling the whole story and create an emotional reaction in audiences.

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