The beginning of Film Trailers

The first promotional trailer was not for a feature film. It was actually a promotional reel for a musical, produced by Nils Granlund, which showed excerpts of the production and raised awareness of it. Granlund also created trailer for a film in 1914, which was produced for a Charlie Chaplin film. Up until the late 1950's film trailers were made by National Screen Service which was contracted by the film companies to create the trailers for upcoming films, the company lasted until the 80's.

The early trailers consisted of short clips showing the key features of the film alongside narration, a big score soundtrack and screens with text and a cast run. An example would be the trailer from Casablanca.