Movies have been marketed in a myriad of ways in recent years, but since the advent of the internet, film studios have become ever more imaginative and creative.

Loading

Loading

Loading

Loading

Loading

The most popular recent development is what has become known as the ‘Video Viral’ – clever, promotional shorts that don’t look like or sound like ads, but really are ads, and extremely shareable ones at that.We’ve posted a few of our favourites such videos below, but first, a potted history of how this trailer technique has evolved in recent years…In the 1990s teasers were all the rage, with the summer blockbusters shooting special trailers in advance of principal photography, with Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park prime examples; brilliant adverts that masterfully whet the appetite without showing a single shot from the finished film.David Fincher also had a go with his now legendary Fight Club Public Service Announcements, which were deemed too subversive for theatres at the time but later found a home on DVD and YouTube.As the internet grew in popularity, and sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Reddit became dominant, the industry was forced to adapt, creating teasers and trailers that not only impressed in theatres, but also inspired people to post and share on social networks, thereby increasing the reach of their campaigns exponentially.In 2006 Michael Bay’s Transformers teaser skilfully set the stage for carnage that hit screens the following summer, and immediately became the most talked-about trailer on the 'net, inspiring other filmmakers to show little but say a lot.Christopher Nolan simply used dialogue in the first The Dark Knight tease, with trailer brilliantly backed up by a huge viral campaign revolving around The Joker and Harvey Dent , a technique he again used when marketing The Dark Knight Rises last summer.J.J. Abrams is another filmmaker who has embraced the internet, the jaw-dropping teasers for Cloverfield and Super 8 supported by stacks of online material offering clues as to the nature of the horror at the heart of both films.With his Star Trek reboot he produced one of the most simple but effective teasers yet seen; a nostalgia trip for long-time fans of the franchise, and an introduction to the majesty of the U.S.S. Enterprise for newcomers.And Abrams’ recent Star Trek Into Darkness trailer took the technique to the next level by secreting URLs in the background and foreground of shots that unlocked content in the shape of brand-new international posters. For example, when Alive Eve appears in her underwear, the following URL appears in the background: bit.ly/WyJV4F . Though why you'd be checking out the background during that moment is anyone's guess.[widget path="global/article/externalvideo" parameters="type=apple&video_id=internationaltraileruk&company_id=startrekintodarkness"]But the coolest and most interesting of these teasers are the ones that ignore the traditional trailer template in favour of something a little more exciting and original.The clever people at Pixar released a spoof ad for Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear to promote Toy Story 3, and even added a tracking line to lend proceedings for that 1980s VHS look.Disney followed that example with its fake trailer for Fix-It Felix, the made-up game at the heart of Wreck-It Ralph.Eli Roth took a less family-friendly approach to the marketing of The Last Exorcism, the below compilation of Chatroulette videos terrifying and hilarious in equal measure and the kind of clever content that spreads across the internet like wildfire.David Fincher was at it again for The Social Network, crafting a a teaser that made clever use of the subject of the film - Facebook - which as a by-product made it hugely shareable on that very site.But perhaps the most interesting viral vids to hit the net were those created for Prometheus. The ‘Quiet Eye’ short offered an illuminating glimpse into the mind of Elizabeth Shaw while ‘David’ gave the audience some background on the film’s scene-stealing android.Best of all was Peter Weyland’s TED talk, a marvellous three-minute short that introduced the film’s most mysterious character as well as the film’s major themes. “We are the Gods now” explains Weyland at the end of his speech, and Prometheus revolves around the horror that follows making such a statement.Finally we come to the latest video viral to hit the net – General Zod’s ominous warning to the people of earth issued earlier this week and heralding the release of Man of Steel in June. It’s the first such video to hit this summer, but with shorts of this sort increasing in both effectiveness and popularity, we’re pretty sure it won’t be the last.

Chris Tilly is Entertainment Editor for IGN in the UK and wants to know what your favourite teasers and virals are, so drop him a line on either Twitter or MyIGN