History of Film Trailers

During my research and planning I looked into some of the first ever film trailers. Although i am unsure to which was the first one I have watched many that date back to the very early 70's, 80's and 90's. However, 'Nosferatu' which was made in 1922 was the earliest film trailer i could find. Although this film trailer may not scare viewers today, when it was made i am sure that viewers were very sceptical about what they were viewing .This is because it creates suspense for the viewer through the images shown and the eiry music throughout the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-DrKgjit4I

Halloween was the next film trailer i focused on which was made in 1978. This trailer is a lot more advanced than 'Nosferuta'. Firstly this trailer is in colour where as 'Nosferuta' was filmed in black and white. Halloween also features a voice over at the beginning of the trailer which helps to set the mood for the viewer and slightly explains what is going to happen as well as using speech from characters throughout the trailer. The trailer is cleverly filmed through a point of view shot and at the beginning of the trailer where it is clear we are looking through the villains eye's. This is interesting to the viewer as it may be a technique they have never seen before which may intrigue them. This also shows a great shift in film technology and starts to show the future of the film industry and how it is starting to develop rapidly. The trailer is also longer than 'Nosferuta' which shows that film makers are beginning to understand the importance of a film trailer and what it can mean to the viewer to want to watch the film. Halloween also has more of a narrative which intrigues the viewer in to watching the film as they understand a bit more of the storyline. The music is also played over the trailer at the right times during the trailer and not the whole way through. This shows that the director is understanding how effective the music is if it is played at moments in the trailer when something interesting is going to happen to create suspense. The only criticism that i would give the director is that the lighting is very dark. Whether this is intentional or not i do not think that at this stage of film making the mise en scene such as lighting and props is necessarily essential to the making of the trailer. A reason for this is because technology is not fully developed through film making and directors are not fully aware of all the elements that make an excellent film trailer. These trailers are the start of developing tropes that will rapidly develop in to meme in horror trailers and films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SFmmROBUto