Logan

Given the deluge of superhero movies in recent years, it was only a matter of time before the Marvel Universe would offer a different take on the genre. Something away from the goofy shenanigans of Guardians of the Galaxy, capable of more levity than the high school backstory of Spiderman could possibly muster. Indeed, in retrospect, a movie starring our beloved Canadian Wolverine with more serious, down-to-earth undertones seems obvious.

Trailer 1:

The shift in cinematic tone presented by the eponymously-titled Logan is perfectly encapsulated in the choice of trailer music for its first promotional outing.

“Charles, the world is not the same as it was,” Logan cautiously intones to Professor X as the languid acoustic guitar tones of Johnny Cash’s famous cover of Hurt (originally by Nine Inch Nails) wash over turgid shots of a forest and cemetery. With the hit of Cash’s first line, “I hurt myself today,” added timpani-like strokes add impact to the first full shot of our antihero, ravaged by scars and blood.
About midway through the trailer, we are introduced to Logan’s protégé, a young girl whose name we don’t yet know.

As the title card appears, we see a montage of action shots in sync with the chorus, played in double time thanks to the introduction of a piano playing a steady, insistent tone in the upper register. More low drums and rising-tone sound effects lead to a cut of the song to the end of the lyrics where Cash asserts, “I will find a way,” and the opening guitar riff continues, offering some semblance of hope despite the sense of despair that underscores so much of this first trailer.

Trailer 2:

The second trailer offers a directly contrasting perspective of the film. We enter with in medias resith some generic diegetic background music playing. This relatively low-fi aesthetic serves as an effective contrast to our first SFX hit roughly twenty seconds in, a now-quite-common “power station shutting down” sort of sound that signals a key moment in the trailer’s narrative, in this case the girl’s supernatural display of physical strength. 

This mini-prologue gives way at 27 seconds to our studio title card and the main song for this trailer, Kaleo’s “Way Down We Go.” The laid-back atmosphere of this track serves as a counterpoint to Logan’s tense speech. At 0:50-0:56 the trailer offers an intradiegetic moment, as the SFX for the punches and gun fire sync perfectly with the beat. 

The studio title card at 1:18 adds vocals with a clear intertextual meaning for the lyrics, “way down we go.” Way down we go, indeed, as Wolverine’s protégé engages in extreme violence, and it becomes clear that the film portends to be as much about Logan as it is about the next generation of superheroes and heroines.

Taken as a whole, the second trailer is quite different from the first, exploring very different aspects of this film. Between these two promotional exercises it is clear that the film promises to be just as engaging as a drama as it will be as an action movie; it was likely very intentional that Marvel would begin on a more down-to-earth note to effectively market the departure of this superhero from the usual cavalcade of Marvel Universe antics. This being said, the second trailer signals that Marvel hasn’t forgotten its core fans, either.

– Curtis Perry

The Lego Batman Movie

If the trailer campaign for The Lego Batman Movie is any indication, audiences will be treated to music full of subtle nods and on-the-nose allusions when the film hits theatres this week. Following in the wake of The Lego Movie (2014), The Lego Batman Movie has big shoes to fill. Much of The Lego Movie’s success is no doubt due to its effective use of music, and in particular the infectiously catchy original song “Everything is Awesome.” However, the trailer campaign for the franchise’s second film has opted for a different tack, using popular music in lieu of original material, recoding the music’s meaning as a means for achieving its comedic ends.

Trailer 1

Right from the beginning of the first trailer, the music sets the tone of the film as the audience is treated to a beatboxing Batman voiced by Will Arnett, who is casually laying down what he calls “some dope tracks.” Cut to the Warner Brothers title card, the music shifts tone to over-the-top epic trailer music, synched with flying title cards listing the Batman films in sequential order, finally ending on The Lego Movie. The stark juxtaposition between the serious tone of the cliché trailer music with the amateur beatboxing is enough of a parodic musical statement to prepare the audience for the shenanigans that are all but guaranteed. The trailer makes effective use of silence, often cutting the music entirely to deliver hilarious punchlines. Wiz Khalifa’s hit “Black and Yellow” accompanies the remainder of the trailer, a clever nod to the cape crusader’s iconic costume and logo.

Trailer 2

After Batman breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience, Mozart’s Requiem dramatically underpins the next scene of the second trailer, which features a lonely Batman speaking to his deceased parents while looking at a family photo. The music cuts abruptly when Alfred interrupts his quiet contemplation and Batman accidentally kicks his unsuspecting butler into the piano. When Alfred prompts Batman to talk about his feelings, Batman says “no” repeatedly until it transforms into song, with the classic Batman theme song that further digresses into impromptu beatboxing. The trailer ends with a contemporary hip-hop version of the theme song.

Trailer 3

The Comic-Con trailer for the film begins with synthesized bass pedalling accented by percussion shots, only to be interrupted by the theatrical dun-dun-dun cliché. More percussive shots and strings play through an intense motif, which is interrupted by a brief musical interlude featuring a heavily filtered bass guitar when Batman’s sidekick Robin ignores Batman’s advice and inevitably presses the big red button. Kalifa’s “Black and Yellow” again closes out the trailer.

Trailer 4

The audience is again treated to Kalifa’s mantra for the fourth and final trailer of the film’s campaign, this time at the beginning of the preview. Upon arriving home to his solitary Batcave, Batman embarks on various solo-endeavors accompanied by Three Dog Night’s “One is the Loneliest Number.” Batman’s seclusion is however short-lived when Robin appears, cuing the final number. Leaving all presumption of subtlety at the door, a pop remix of Starship’s “We Built This City” plays out the remainder of the trailer.

- Andrew Sproule

ThrowbackThursday // Vol. 8: Doom – Yeah, Yeah – Doom

Hello friends, family, and foes,

Welcome back to the wacky and wonderful world of time travel. I am your host Artesian House, in for Artful, who stepped in for Artimus, who replaced Artie, the original substitute for Arthur, some three weeks ago.

I was having a late night chicken wing with my friend Danny Mac last Thursday (no relation), when he told me that there was a new trailer for a new Doom game that I just had to see (I told him, “and hear!”). Seeing as it was near the end of the billing month, and I was approaching my mobile data limit (where 1 GB is not nearly enough to watch trailers in a selfless pub), I had to wait until I got home (where the Wi-Fi is) to connect to the old Bell310 Network.

While he fired up the iMac and got our NBA streams going, I found this new trailer on my cell-phone:

 [Warning!!! This trailer contains extremely disgusting and violent sights and sounds that will most certainly trigger some visceral reaction!!!]

I have to start with the obvious – the sound of whatever it is that cued me to think of mushing brains and their juices (maybe the foley artists squished a pineapple) - this measured sound-tool occupies a unique space in this game’s futurescape-hellsphere where comedy and horror co-exist without a tongue in cheek. For example, with a bagful of the new Doritos Roulette at your side, playing this game will not keep you refrained from eating the surprising snack, but every once in a while when you score a particularly gruesome kill, you might say (with a mouthful of that delicious Dorito mush), “ahhhhh!” or “groossss!” or, and depending on what type of person you really are, “awesome!”

It horrors me, however, to think of some of the language I have heard playing multiplayer games online. You wonder if these kids know what they are saying, or if they just know what words they are not supposed to say and then string them together into slightly coherent sentences – like some of those upbeat poems in Bob Dylan’s Tarantula. Meaning is imposed over the string of words after-the-fact and only because we care that it is Dylan or that a string of words should carry meaning. I swear, that guy could have said anything, actually anything, “penny-zip elephant cheese” and people would find what they were looking for.

Anyway, back to the sound of squishing brains. I couldn’t help but think that maybe I have heard those sounds before and I had to ask, where?  Danny said "Casino," and the scene popped into my head (pun intended). Listen again, to the gruesome sounds of a skull being crushed and again, a proper warning is due – this scene is of obscenely graphic nature, and I only feel comfortable sharing it with you, dear reader, because I know that it is “movie magic” and some foley artist recorded the sound of something other than a cracking skull with bubbly brains (unlike the popular case of that famous Italian cannibal film, where the effects were so real, a judge called the director in for murder):

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To thankfully change the pace of this entry, the new trailer for the campaign mode takes a different approach and uses a cinematic touch that is reflected in the soundtrack. The kill-zone of a multiplayer mode is sounded out by hyper-space-marine-industrial-rock and the story mode has music to guide the…story...for a few seconds before it goes back to that micro-music culture that I just invented: 

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You know what else is fun? Take a listen to all of the trailers for every other Doom game all the way from 1992, up until 2015 in one long trailer-of-trailers that, again, is the result of fan-art and a dedication to the series:

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All of those pre-orders for Doom II – exactly like the Vitaphone system we wrote about not too long ago – selling the image of popularity is just as important as actual popularity, just like selling the image of having money is more important than actually having it – right 50 Cent?!

I am going to pretend then, that I am on a beach!

Take care and I will be back in time,

Art.