Why Do They Call It A Trailer?

The Trailer. A teaser. A preview. A coming attraction. A buzz creator. A peak into the future. The most adrenaline-driven slice of advertising you'll see this side of adrenaline-driven advertising. The good ones leave you wanting more, the bad ones take all the best scenes from the movie and tell you too much.
Surely, you cannot count how many times you have sat in a theater during the trailers and elbowed your movie going mates with eyes wide open and whisper, "We gotta go see that!"
Yes, like hot butter pumped from a spigot and 10 dollar bags of M&M's, trailers are part of movie-going lore and without them we might all just shrivel up and die of pure boredom. They have their undeniable place as an introduction to many if not all feature films. So why do they call them trailers? They come at the beginning of the movie not the end.

My mom asked me this a few days ago and I didn't have an answer for her. I was ashamed. The internet to the rescue!
 
http://blog.chron.com/outtakes/2007/09/why-do-you-call-a-preview-a-trailer/

So there you have it. Trailers are called trailers because movies used to come in bulk serving sizes and what else were they gonna shove between each movie but a trailer for another movie. Therefore in the early days of going to the theater, the trailers would come after a movie. Makes sense. And isn't it cool to finally understand the meaning of what a B-movie is?

So now onto the business of promoting myself as a movie-trailer producer extraordinaire, I will let you enjoy these phenomenal pieces of art, created with the help of iMovie, some amazing footage and my iPad. FYI, Each trailer took about 10 man-hours to put together

I created this from some video I captured on a family vacation in Tennesee...
Just finished the full movie as a Christmas present to the family. Hope you guys watched it.

This one captures the two days of anticipation as we waited for our son Jack to be born.

This one I worked on as a project for a friend that didn't end up working out but was fun none the less. (I hope he doesn't mind that I post this)


I hope you enjoyed this month's Polar Bear Periodical.
And speaking of movies, I would like to make some recommendations.
1. Argo - Because we need to know what went down and Ben Affleck did an amazing job telling this story and letting the cat out of the bag. My favorite part: John Goodman's and Alan Arkin's characters are a great glimpse into classic show business and what made the silver screen, the silver screen.
2. The Iron Lady - Because Meryl Streep IS Margaret Thatcher and growing old isn't easy especially when you changed the world. My Favorite Part: watching Meryl Streep act
3. Abduction - Because it's not at all what you are expecting. My Favorite Part: Not knowing what to expect.