 There has been an awakening. Have you felt it? This scene, this exact moment, was the first time we saw anything from Star Wars The Force Awakens. And we have watched, rewatched, and re-rewatched it over and over again, along with the dozens of other teasers, trailers, and TV spots that have followed. Fans have dissected, analyzed, remixed, and reacted to the clips. That last trailer that aired during Monday Night Football, that one alone was watched over 112 million times in just 24 hours. Suffice to say, people are kind of excited. But even though we've seen a lot, we still have almost no idea what this movie is actually going to be about. It's hyped by omission, and Star Wars is forging a new path at a time when most trailers are serving up sort of a cliff-snot version of the movie that they're waiting for. The Force Awakens represents the latest evolutionary leap in the long history of the movie trailer. Somewhere in space, this may all be happening right now. This is the teaser trailer from the original 1977 version of Star Wars. And that voice? Let's call him the Voice Over Guy. When Hollywood's blockbuster era kicked off in the 1970s, Voice Over Guy explained plot details, introduced characters, and just generally sounded really fired up. But today it sounds dated, a little hokey. That's partly because it was a long-standing holdout from the earliest days of movie promotion. Originally, trailers were shown after movies – hence the name trailer – and were just hardcore sales pitches designed to get people back into the theater. In this spot for the 1927 version of The Jazz Singer, he's just straight up telling the camera about how awesome the movie is. Voice Over Guy was an evolution of that same thing, explaining why a movie was the most amazing romantic tale of adventure to ever hit the silver screen. And while there were occasional exceptions, the familiar Voice Over Guy dominated trailers. Over time, maybe he got a little too familiar. We were in a world with a lot of voice over. But by the end of the 90s, when trailers for Star Wars The Phantom Menace started coming out, the medium had begun to shift. Voice Over Guy wasn't around as much, and more subtle title cards were in. The style was different too. This new breed of trailer could be impressionistic at times, almost moody. The Phantom Menace clips were more like mini-films in the old hard cells, turning trailers into fully realized dramatic experiences. If old trailers were promises of a movie to come, these could be enjoyed entirely on their own. And they coincided with the emergence of the perfect distribution platform – the internet. In 1998, sites crashed under the demand when a bootleg for the original Phantom Menace trailer made it online. The next day, Lucasfilm put out an official download, and more sites crashed. Now you have to remember, this was 1998. AOL was still a thing. Fans had to actually download the video to watch it, which meant they had to click a button, and wait. And wait. And wait a little bit more. It wasn't pretty, but the trailer helped kickstart the idea of the internet as a video platform. Watching the trailer over and over again, fans could grow even more excited, dissecting what would happen with those big space battles, the new Jedi, and Darth Maul's crazy double lightsaber. Then, the movie came out. While it was successful, it's safe to say it didn't quite live up to fan expectations. Where the trailers were sleek and stylish, the Phantom Menace itself was clunky and awkward, and subsequent Star Wars trailers left the salty behind for plot-heavy exposition palooza. And like the movies they were selling, they were pretty heavy. By the time Revenge of the Sith rolled around, you didn't even really need to see the movie at all, with the trailer giving away nearly every major plot point and reveal. And for the most part, that's the trend we still see today, with trailers using up every surprise a movie has to get people into theaters. Hoping to avoid the big reveal in Terminator Genesis that John Connor is a bad guy? Whoops. With so much info coming at fans, and online culture making it so easy to share points of view, it's given rise to a creative cottage industry. The Force Awakens trailer comes in an era of dissection, where fans don't just watch trailers, they break them down, analyze them, post reaction videos, make remixes, even create shot-for-shot duplicates using cardboard sets. Okay, seriously, the hyperspikes effect is f***ing awesome. I can't say f***ing can I? It's become a perfect match of artform and medium, and Hollywood is paying attention. Because today we don't just get trailers, we get TV spots, commercials, featurettes, social media posts teasing a trailer for a trailer for a movie that's a year away. There's no stopping it, and it is everywhere. Which is exactly why the restraint of The Force Awakens has seemed so novel. I mean, just listen to some of this dialogue. Who are you? I'm no one. For the first time in years, we're actually being teased, and it's exciting. After being told way too much for way too long, audiences are desperate for a real surprise. And here's what's cool. With more blockbusters part of these huge expanded universes, there's less reason than ever for studios to give away plot or spoil a movie's secrets. Because you don't really need this in a world when you have this, and this, and that one too. So will Star Wars change the way trailers are made forever? Possibly. Trailer trends come and go, as tastes and the way we process visual information change. And as we've already seen, where and how trailers are shown can have a fundamental impact on the artform itself. But let's not fool ourselves. No matter how wonderful and artistic a trailer may be, it's still just marketing. And the best trailer in the world can't make a movie great.
 There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?
 This scene, this exact moment, was the first time we saw anything from Star Wars The Force
 Awakens. And we have watched, rewatched, and re-rewatched it over and over again, along
 with the dozens of other teasers, trailers, and TV spots that have followed. Fans have
 dissected, analyzed, remixed, and reacted to the clips. That last trailer that aired
 during Monday Night Football, that one alone was watched over 112 million times in just
 24 hours. Suffice to say, people are kind of excited.
 But even though we've seen a lot, we still have almost no idea what this movie is actually
 going to be about. It's hyped by omission, and Star Wars is forging a new path at a time
 when most trailers are serving up sort of a cliff-snot version of the movie that they're
 waiting for. The Force Awakens represents the latest evolutionary leap in the long history
 of the movie trailer.
 Somewhere in space, this may all be happening right now.
 This is the teaser trailer from the original 1977 version of Star Wars. And that voice?
 Let's call him the Voice Over Guy. When Hollywood's blockbuster era kicked off in the 1970s, Voice
 Over Guy explained plot details, introduced characters, and just generally sounded really
 fired up.
 But today it sounds dated, a little hokey. That's partly because it was a long-standing
 holdout from the earliest days of movie promotion. Originally, trailers were shown after movies
 – hence the name trailer – and were just hardcore sales pitches designed to get people
 back into the theater. In this spot for the 1927 version of The Jazz Singer, he's just
 straight up telling the camera about how awesome the movie is.
 Voice Over Guy was an evolution of that same thing, explaining why a movie was the most
 amazing romantic tale of adventure to ever hit the silver screen. And while there were
 occasional exceptions, the familiar Voice Over Guy dominated trailers. Over time, maybe
 he got a little too familiar.
 We were in a world with a lot of voice over.
 But by the end of the 90s, when trailers for Star Wars The Phantom Menace started coming
 out, the medium had begun to shift. Voice Over Guy wasn't around as much, and more
 subtle title cards were in. The style was different too. This new breed of trailer could
 be impressionistic at times, almost moody. The Phantom Menace clips were more like mini-films
 in the old hard cells, turning trailers into fully realized dramatic experiences. If old
 trailers were promises of a movie to come, these could be enjoyed entirely on their own.
 And they coincided with the emergence of the perfect distribution platform – the internet.
 In 1998, sites crashed under the demand when a bootleg for the original Phantom Menace
 trailer made it online. The next day, Lucasfilm put out an official download, and more sites
 crashed. Now you have to remember, this was 1998. AOL was still a thing. Fans had to actually
 download the video to watch it, which meant they had to click a button, and wait. And
 wait. And wait a little bit more. It wasn't pretty, but the trailer helped kickstart the
 idea of the internet as a video platform. Watching the trailer over and over again,
 fans could grow even more excited, dissecting what would happen with those big space battles,
 the new Jedi, and Darth Maul's crazy double lightsaber. Then, the movie came out. While
 it was successful, it's safe to say it didn't quite live up to fan expectations. Where the
 trailers were sleek and stylish, the Phantom Menace itself was clunky and awkward, and
 subsequent Star Wars trailers left the salty behind for plot-heavy exposition palooza.
 And like the movies they were selling, they were pretty heavy.
 By the time Revenge of the Sith rolled around, you didn't even really need to see the movie
 at all, with the trailer giving away nearly every major plot point and reveal. And for
 the most part, that's the trend we still see today, with trailers using up every surprise
 a movie has to get people into theaters. Hoping to avoid the big reveal in Terminator Genesis
 that John Connor is a bad guy? Whoops.
 With so much info coming at fans, and online culture making it so easy to share points
 of view, it's given rise to a creative cottage industry. The Force Awakens trailer comes
 in an era of dissection, where fans don't just watch trailers, they break them down,
 analyze them, post reaction videos, make remixes, even create shot-for-shot duplicates using
 cardboard sets.
 Okay, seriously, the hyperspikes effect is f***ing awesome. I can't say f***ing can I?
 It's become a perfect match of artform and medium, and Hollywood is paying attention.
 Because today we don't just get trailers, we get TV spots, commercials, featurettes,
 social media posts teasing a trailer for a trailer for a movie that's a year away. There's
 no stopping it, and it is everywhere.
 Which is exactly why the restraint of The Force Awakens has seemed so novel. I mean,
 just listen to some of this dialogue.
 Who are you?
 I'm no one.
 For the first time in years, we're actually being teased, and it's exciting. After being
 told way too much for way too long, audiences are desperate for a real surprise.
 And here's what's cool. With more blockbusters part of these huge expanded universes, there's
 less reason than ever for studios to give away plot or spoil a movie's secrets. Because
 you don't really need this in a world when you have this, and this, and that one too.
 So will Star Wars change the way trailers are made forever? Possibly. Trailer trends
 come and go, as tastes and the way we process visual information change. And as we've already
 seen, where and how trailers are shown can have a fundamental impact on the artform itself.
 But let's not fool ourselves. No matter how wonderful and artistic a trailer may be, it's
 still just marketing. And the best trailer in the world can't make a movie great.