Why do we call them movie "trailers" when they are shown before the main feature and they are previews of something we haven't seen yet?
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
They used to be in the middle of a double feature, which almost all movies were, back in the day, so they actually "trailed" the supporting movie, before the main attraction.
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
Because they're on the outside of the reel of film, so they "trail" along outside the film itself. Just imagine a roll of film with all the "trailers" unwound, "trailing" behind the reel with the movie on it.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Thanks. You know -- I don't remember trailers when I was little. I thought they were more recent, but according to that little blurb they've been around forever. Hmm.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
All movies used to be double features? Were movies way shorter back then?
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Yes. Watch any older movie- in general the further back you go, the shorter they get.
EDIT: By older I mean 40s or 50s and earlier. Some people seem to call movies made in the 70s "old".
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
Does this refer to the little cartoons and shorts that used to be at the beginning of movies? Or were there two complete movies being shown each time?
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Most of the main attractions were 70-100 minutes long. The double-feature debuted in 1924. By 1931, they were common and had "emerged as a way for the unemployed and the middle-class to occupy their time."
Remember, this is also where the "B" movies got their name. The "A" movie was the main attraction, and the "B" movie was to fill the time, though many a cult classic were created.
Also, don't forget that often times, there were serials or "Our Gang" shorts and news reels. They weren't all double features. But between the serials and news reels, it was about the same.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote: Remember, this is also where the "B" movies got their name. The "A" movie was the main attraction, and the "B" movie was to fill the time, though many a cult classic were created.
I had no idea.
I know more useless trivia now than I did when I woke up this morning. Today has not been a waste. Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Hey, I'm full of useless information.
I was going to just say "I'm full of it", but that didn't sound right. True, but. . .
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: All movies used to be double features? Were movies way shorter back then?
All movies used to be double features, for the most part, no matter how long the movies were, actually. I remember once, when I was in junior high, I went to a double feature of Gone With the Wind and How the West was Won. With intermissions, I was in that theater close to eight hours. Which was fine with me, considering that I had walked in a parade that day, and my feet hurt.
Personally, I think they should still have double features. They're much more civilized. They didn't make you leave the theater at the end of the movie. And if you bought a large popcorn, you got a free refill - and you could manage two or three if they marked the refill on the bottom of the container with a pencil and you had a really good gum eraser. Very handy if you were with a few friends on a Friday night and had limited funds for refreshments.
Oh, and they always used to have a cartoon before the movie, as well, and a newsreel - although by the time I came along, television had pretty much put an end to the newsreels. Still, I remember seeing a few newsreels when I was very young - my movie-going career began at drive-ins when I was about six weeks old, and for years it was a family tradition to go to the drive-in every Friday night. I really miss drive-ins.
Posted by Speed 2: Cruise Control (Member # 6765) on :
The last double feature I went to was Star Trek V and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Holy cow, I'm old.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
The terms trailer and preview are interchangeable. Saying preview instead of trailer is perfectly acceptable, and vice versa.
Trailers because they used to be shown after the film, previews because they are now shown at the beginning of the film.
Not to step on anyone else's answers, but just for clarification it has nothing to do with where the trailers may or may not appear on the film reel.
(That makes no sense.)
Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
quote: Not to step on anyone else's answers, but just for clarification it has nothing to do with where the trailers may or may not appear on the film reel.
(That makes no sense.)
I dunno, TL, it made sense to me when I read it.
Anyway, this discussion sent me looking it up in a few places. There are 2 definitions for trailer (as the word applies to film) in the American Heritage dictionary online :
quote: A short filmed advertisement for a movie; a preview. A short, blank strip of film at the end of a reel.
So seems like we're combining two separate uses of the word trailer. Aren't words interesting? Thanks for all your comments!
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
What a fun thread! Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote:I dunno, TL, it made sense to me when I read it.
Hmmm, well.... Let me explain a little something about film reels.
Trailers are *not* on the outsides of film reels, which is why it makes no sense. Before building up a trailer pack, they come on these little cores and are usually no more than 5 or 6 inches across; they come individually. They're not attached to reels at all.
After you've built up a trailer pack, and it is attached to your film, the trailers sit at the center of a center ring (in other words, on the inside of the film reel). They're on the inside because they're the first thing (other than the leader) to be threaded through the platter brain, the projector head, the sound head, etc. If they were on the outside, they really would be the last thing that ran through the projector -- if that were the case, they'd show at the end of the film, not at the beginning.
There are bits of film on individual film reels called the heads and the tails (or heads and feet) which must be removed from the individual film-reels before building up the print. I think that may have been what he was thinking of, but even so, the tails are usually on the inside of the reel, not on the outside. This is because film reels need to be "heads out" meaning the head is on the outside of the film reel in order to be built up. Occasionally film reels will come "tails out" but this is a mistake. Whenever that happens, you've got to rewind the film onto a new reel before proceeding, so that the film will be "heads out."
It's possible that he may have been thinking of tails, instead of trailers. Tails do occasionally appear on the outside of film reels. Trailers never do.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
quote:A short, blank strip of film at the end of a reel.
That's the tail. That is not the same thing as a trailer.
The American Heritage Dictionary is incorrect.
Posted by odouls268 (Member # 2145) on :
quote: Some people seem to call movies made in the 70s "old".
Yes. Old. Very OLD. ...and BAD
Except Scarface Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
The Scarface you are thinking of was actually released in 1983. However, it was a remake of the original 1932 film. Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
I think 80s movies are old...
Ps. Speaking of trailers. Anybody else enjoy pulling out the old VHS cassettes and taking a gander at the antiquated trailers for bad van daam flicks in the early nineties? This is just great because having been much younger i do not remember ever even HEARING about these movies before. Its like seeing the trailers for whole new and exciting generations of cruddy cruddy movies. This is actually really really fun.
Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
Thanks for the explanation, TL. It's quite obvious that anyone who can casually throw out terms like "platter brain" (I guess that doesn't have anything to do w/ Salome and John the Baptist, right?) knows far more about film than I EVER will!
Just out of curiosity, why do you know so much about it? Profession or hobby?
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Is there such a thing as a profession and a hobby combined? Like a hobby that became a profession?
I dunno, but I used to be a union-certified projectionist. I'm still a movie theater manager, a booth manager, and all that.
I just have a lot of experience in this, that's all.
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Very handy if you were with a few friends on a Friday night and had limited funds for refreshments.![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
I dunno, TL, it made sense to me when I read it.![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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