If anyone knows the history of the modern movie trailer, then it’s Don LaFontaine. His writing and narration have been used in over 5,000 films from 1963 to 2008; from Terminator and Dr. Strangelove to Batman Returns and Fatal Attraction. “We are often asked to make silk purses out of sow’s ears, but it’s our job,” he explains. “And even the worst movie in the world is going to be somebody’s favorite movie.” Over the years, these little trailers clips began as a mere after-thought intended to encourage people to leave their seats following a film as much as return to the theater to see another movie. Yet they quickly progressed to an art form that generates hype and revenue for filmmakers more than any other form of advertising.
Don LaFontaine was one of the early innovators in movie trailer history. With 750,000 TV spots and 5,000 films under his belt, it’s no wonder he’s been nicknamed “the voice of God” and “Trailer King.” A parody of LaFontaine appears in a preview for Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which says a narrator should “employ a deep voice that sounds like a seven-foot-tall man who has been smoking cigarettes since childhood.” Another nickname for LaFontaine is “Thunder Throat.” He’s best known for his line “In a world far away” and his work on trailers for top movies like Terminator, Terminator II, The Land Before Time, Fatal Attraction, Cast Away, Batman Returns, Tomb Raider – Underworld, the South Park Movie and Dr. Strangelove.
Andrew J. Kuehn was an innovator in modern movie trailers production. In 1964, he released independently-produced trailer for Night of the Iguana that used fast-paced editing, high-contrast photography and suspenseful narration. When he realized the potential for this format, he partnered with Dan Davis to manufacture trailers for some of the biggest names and top movies — including Stanley Kubricks’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, James Cameron’s Aliens and George Lucas’s Star Wars. ”He came into the world of previews when they were done very conventionally, and he reinvented them,” said Bob Harper, vice chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment. ”He pioneered the idea of previews as a stand-alone piece of entertainment.”
Film historian Frank Thompson explains, “I think the trailer’s becoming more and more powerful … because it has to do a job today that movie trailers didn’t have to do 20 years ago before the big advent of the blockbuster where every movie has to be a big moneymaking machine.” People will continue to watch movies no matter what, but they’re becoming more and more selective about the movies they see in theaters and the decision to buy movies is even harder to make, which is why so much emphasis is placed on the power of the trailers. They must hide a film’s flaws, bring out the good parts without telling the whole story and create an emotional reaction in audiences.
Being a professional, Matthew McMillan only recommends the best cure possible for the treating genital warts. His methods are highly recommended and information of natural cure for genital warts can be found at treatmentforgenitalwarts.com.
