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What's After the Movie?

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What's After the Movie?
Industry Studios, festivals, awards, release strategies and box office vocabulary.

Trailer: Meaning & Definition in Film

A condensed montage of scenes, music, and text sells a film’s promise in two to three minutes.

  • 3 sections
  • 1 min read
  • Updated
On this page 3 sections

Birth of the Form

The first trailer in 1913 followed a Broadway play, literally trailing after the feature. Modern teasers precede the film, but the nomenclature stuck. Industry pioneers like National Screen Service standardised pacing, while Don LaFontaine’s voice-over turned “In a world…” into genre shorthand.

Trailer: Anatomy

  1. Hook — cold open moment of intrigue.
  2. Build — rhythmically escalating montage synced to braaam hits.
  3. Climax & Button — final gag or stinger encouraging social sharing.

Trailer: Editing Tricks

Trailer houses alter score tempo, add bespoke sound design, and sometimes create CG shots absent from the final cut, sparking debates over truth-in-advertising.

See the vocabulary at work in real films

Look up any movie for its ratings, cast and crew, box office run and where to watch, or read the full plot with the ending explained.

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More Film Industry & Awards Terms

Entries filed on the same shelf as Trailer, each with the one-line answer first. They are the words that usually come up in the same conversation.

All 835 terms

  • Pay Television

    Pay television refers to subscription-based television services where viewers pay a recurring fee for access to premium content, including recent films.

  • ClearKey DRM

    A minimalist, open‑standard Digital Rights Management system defined by W3C for encrypted media playback.

  • Audition Notice

    An audition notice is a detailed announcement that provides actors with all the necessary information for a specific audition opportunity.

  • Hot Cost Report

    Rapid-turnaround cost sheet projects daily budget overages so producers can course-correct before damage snowballs.

  • Official Selection Laurel

    An official selection laurel is a graphic emblem awarded by a film festival to signify that a film has been chosen to be screened at their event.