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A collection of trailers from Manga Video UK

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 7:58 am
by Fireminer
A channel dedicated to old OVAs has just uploaded this collection of trailers from Manga Video UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeAJ5caMAsU

How exactly were these trailers distributed back in the days? The description said the trailers were from VHS tapes, so did they made tapes containing only the trailers, or would the trailers be attached at the end of other shows?

Re: A collection of trailers from Manga Video UK

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:59 pm
by usamimi
Well, if it was anything like how the releases were in the US, they'd usually have trailers at the beginning of the tape before the "feature presentation" started (though some did have trailers at the end! It depended on the company.)

Re: A collection of trailers from Manga Video UK

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 2:52 pm
by Drew_Sutton
Yeah, seconding what usamimi said - trailers were usually packaged before the feature on the tape you bought, like going to the cinema and seeing the trailer package before the film starts. Usually, if trailers were contained after the feature, they might be Japanese or other trailers for the film, akin to a special feature on a DVD. Most companies would make a trailer for individual titles and mix and match the trailers to add to titles that might be related to the viewer's interest. Central Park Media famously did really long 4+ minute single trailer, (or this one) featuring several titles from their catalog and included it on nearly all of their tapes.

Trailers usually weren't collected and released to the consumer market for viewing on their own - I can't think of ever seeing one at the video store for sale. If there were collections of trailers, they were used by sales teams to sell videos to retailers, networks or syndication stations but not for consumers or fans. The idea of following or distributing trailers as a product themselves is relatively new. Up until the early 2000s, trailers were a nuisance that advertised other products and taking time away from the product you actually paid for, whether on a tape or at the cinema. Some time around then, there was some change in culture because the outright shameless advertising became its own thing that fans followed. The change to me seemed sudden but for all I know, it developed over time.