Page 55 - Star Wars Insider #176
P. 55

TEASER TRAILERS


                                                       episode FOUR
                 STAR WARS





                 T E ASER T R A IL ER, 1976



























                                                                                           he first footage of Star Wars

                                                                                           that audiences saw came in
                                                                                           this portentous trailer, which
                                                                                    T promised the story of “a boy,
                                                                                    a girl, and a universe,” and “aliens from
                                                                                    a thousand worlds!” The narrator signed
                                                                                    off with the boast that the movie was
                                                                                    “a billion years in the making,” but we
                                                                                    can forgive a bit of hype, especially as
                                                                                    Jurassic Park (1993) would use a similar
                                                                                    line in its ad campaign 16 years later.
                                                                                      A highly unusual trailer for the time,
                                                                                    the film uses fast editing as opposed to

                                                                                    the slow takes that were more common
                                                                                    in the late 1970s. These swift, dramatic
                                                                                    shots are built around a slow, somewhat
                                                                                    menacing reveal of an early Star Wars
                                                                                    logo, which gradually moves toward
                                                                                    the audience before exploding.
                                                                                      What’s most notable about the trailer,
                                                                                    however, is what it doesn’t feature. John
                                                                                    Williams’ famous score and Ben Burtt’s
                                                                                    sound effects were some of the last things
                                                                                    to be added to the movie in 1977, so
                                                                                    neither are present. Instead, this teaser is
                 “TWENTIETH Century Fox and George                                  soundtracked by a variation on Vivaldi’s
                                                                                    “Winter” from The Four Seasons.
                                                                                      With many other post-production
                 Lucas, the man who brought you American                            processes still to be completed, the
                 Graffiti  now bring you an adventure unlike                        trailer also includes a different cry of “No
                                                                                    blasters! No blasters!” from the fi nished

                 anything on your planet—Star Wars !”                               film, a cruder lightsaber effect, and no
                                                                                    hint of what Darth Vader sounds like.



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          SWI176_054-060_FEAT_TrailerTriumphs_FINAL.indd   55                                                  13/09/2017   14:09
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