Category:Trailers

Trailers are advertisements for movies, television programs, or Video Games. Usually, this involves a clip or clips of the work in question, skillfully edited together. Sound from elsewhere will often be added: film trailers are often made before the soundtrack to the film is recorded, and voiceovers are always popular. If the work hasn't been released yet, the date of release will be included; if it has, positive reviews (real or otherwise) will often be included.

Trailers in theaters or on DVDs can last for several minutes and, if they are for films, can be quite enjoyable. Trailers aired on television are no longer than any other commercials unless the piece is a Making Of.

They do this to television and radio as well. While it is true to say that the BBC does not advertise, trhere is an exception to this rule - the BBC itself. A sizeable chunk of the BBC's production capacity appears to be the creation of short-ish trailers telling you what'as on next, what's on later, what's coming next month, what's on the other three BBC channels, what's currently on BBC radio, et c. These are played ad nauseum in between shows, and there is good evidence that programme length has suffered because of the imperative to fit as many bloody trailers in as possible. Fitting one or more trailers in just before and just after a show scheduled for a half-hour slot is also a good way to trim its length down to the 22-25 minutes required by commercial TV in the USA and elsewhere - very handy for resales!

And the prime example of the tail wagging the dog was when Radio Four did a series of Goon Show repeats from the 1950's, comedy recorded in a time before trailers to fit the whole allocated thirty minutes. did the BBC acknowledge something special and drop the trailers to allow these to run to the full original thirty minutes? No. The shows were arbitrarily edited down to enable trailers to be fitted in at the start and finish. As Spike Milligan might have acerbically remarked, something was very wrong there...

Overlaps almost completely with Coming Attractions.