Movie trailers have been around almost as long as movies themselves, and they have grown more popular everywhere as the film industry has chugged along.
Trailers begin all cinematic experiences, many YouTube videos and almost all forms of online media.
For most of film history, trailers have been viewed only as something which takes up time before or after the intended viewing experience, a distraction from the thing that audiences actually wanted to view.
However, in recent years, movie trailers are becoming entertainment in and of themselves.
“I really like watching trailers,” senior Thomas Cuda, who had recently seen the trailer for “Avengers: Infinity Wars,” said. “As soon as I saw that, I went and showed it to three people and I was like, ‘Look, I am so amped for this!’ ”
Trailers for films like, “It,” “Avengers: Infinity wars,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and many more have reached hundreds of millions of views in the first 24 hours of their release.
Trailers like these are analyzed frame by frame by critics and fans desperate for any indication of what might happen in the upcoming film. Their thoughts and predictions are viewed by millions of moviegoers, looking for a great film to watch.
Of course, trailers for films are used by studios to promote their films and entreat fans to come and check out their movies in theaters.
In the past, positive word of mouth had been the driving force in convincing throngs of people to sit down in movie theater seats and munch on some overpriced, buttery perfection; today, trailers are becoming increasingly more influential.
“Most of the time, by the time I’ve seen the trailer, I’ll know if I’m going to go see it,” Cuda said.
This does not mean that all trailers are good. Fans despaired when the trailer for “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” gave away the entire plot of the film and when the trailer for “The Amazing Spider Man 2” completely misrepresented the film, and audiences got a product different from that which the trailer promised.
“I think that a trailer should make you more curious,” freshman Brendan Rodgers said.
“I think a good trailer gets you excited for the movie, introduces the characters, and sets up a little bit of the story without giving too much away,” Cuda said.
Talking about both good and bad trailers has become increasingly popular, especially at colleges like the University of Dallas, where the target demographic for most major films live and study.
At UD, you can often overhear people excitedly talking about a trailer they just saw, what they think the movie will be like, whether it will be good or bad, whether they will go see it or not and what they think is most important for the movie to get right.
Whether a trailer accurately represents a film or not, many prove to be intriguing and become, not a mere advertisement, but a source of entertainment that excites and provokes speculation from film fans of all varieties, and they can prove to be a form of artistic expression themselves.
