Geostorm

This week, audioviewing the trailer campaign for what is Warner Bros.’ perhaps most risk-laden big-budget cinematic endeavor of the year, Geostorm. Possibly related to its extended and difficult post-production period, the campaign takes almost directly opposite approaches in its first (teaser) and second trailers, and this is reflected by the approach each trailer takes to its music selection.

The teaser trailer for Geostorm, released March 8th this year, aurally places a cover of “What a Wonderful World” (the perennial Louis Armstrong classic), sung and arranged by Sharon Van Etten and Juggernaut Kid. In this cover, the whole tune is slowed down to a creepy crawl, atmospherics taking centre stage. While the vocals are tonally still in a jazz style, the swinging rhythm is replaced by an insistent, straight pulse.

In the first twenty or so seconds of this first trailer, we only hear a few sound effects to convey the action on screen regarding the weather satellites (granted, there wouldn’t be sound in space, but let’s suspend that fact). After the caption card (“controls the world,” at 0:24), we expect to hear a sound to match the tornadoes forming on the ground, but our expectations are subverted as we are greeted with silence. This is a key moment in the trailer: this is when the audioviewer understands that something not only wrong, but catastrophic is about to happen.

Further, the lyrics of ‘What a Wonderful World” are synchronized with the on-screen action to further emphasize the counterpoint between the audio and visual narratives: Van Etten’s serene crooning of “clouds of white” is heard in stark contrast to the white mists of a tumultuously rising tide on a beach, sweeping away hundreds of people.

Cards are judiciously placed between the lyrical phrases, touting first-time director Dean Devlin’s work on Independence Day. A rise in sound takes us from about the thirty second mark onwards, culminating in the explosion of a satellite at 0:58, synching up the word “world” with a shot of the world in question. In the last twenty seconds, the song gives way to alarming tones and the sound of an ever-quickening heartbeat, showing off ever-escalating scenes of destruction, culminating in a frozen plane falling out of the sky. The trailer cuts to black and silence, finishing with the main title card and a vocal reprise of that signature line, “what a wonderful world.”

The ironic, slow-tempo cover song has become, at this point, a somewhat old trick in trailer music production – just look at trailers for The Social Network or the Avengers for a couple of well-known examples. However, it would be remiss to say it doesn’t work for Geostorm in arresting our attention.

Geostorm’s second trailer, dropped roughly a month ago, gives off a very different tone, as we might expect from a second trailer, here walking a fine line between action and comedy. A few bars from the 1967 hit “Time Has Come Today” by The Chambers Brothers kicks off a spate of narrative at 0:22, explaining that the US government has taken to geoengineering through the use of sophisticated weather satellites. However, this quickly turns to SFX as the audioviewer is made to understand that the satellites have begun to malfunction – unintentionally or not. A subtle, ongoing ticking sound—think of the final trailer to Dunkirk—continues in the background, suggesting grave danger if action isn’t taken swiftly to mitigate the threat.

Around 0:45 we hear orchestral swells as the main character, a father, must go to space to investigate the weather satellite issue, assuring his daughter that he will be fine. The established dramatic tone, however, oddly turns on a dime at 0:44 as “Time Has Come Today” comes roaring back -- for a moment.

The audio editing gets more creative at this point, as I am fairly sure the just the word “time” from the Chambers Brothers song is interjected amidst an original ticking clock sound against the on-screen audio from various action scenes. At 1:33 the release date card arrives at roughly mid-trailer, and “Time Has Come Again” comes (again), this time with bass and percussion featuring much higher in the mix. It seems that some instruments have been overlaid or re-recorded, as the guitar seems to be much heavier and more distorted than in the original, at least.

By the two minute mark, it becomes clear that the vocals are just shouting “time” over and over -- perhaps a sample from, or a recreation of, the original song’s vocals. Some one-liners occasionally interrupt the tune, but it comes back to finish off the rise before the turn line.

Coincidentally, this second trailer seems to reflect the fact that Geostorm has seen three years of filming and another director brought in entirely (Danny Cannon, Judge Dredd) for upwards of $15 million worth of re-shoots. The trailer turns on a dime between trailer editing tropes associated with action, comedy, and drama, in roughly that order. A real storm, indeed.

-  Curtis Perry

Ready Player One

2017’s nostalgia train keeps on chugging along as we take a look and a listen to the trailer for Ready Player One. With Spielberg at the helm of the self-proclaimed holy grail of pop culture by Ernest Cline, expectations for the film are decidedly high. And the trailer has all the telltale signs of a blockbuster: popular culture references, extraordinary CGI, exciting action sequences, loud sound FX, and a few noteworthy actors… The only thing absent from the trailer is an attempt at a plot. In fact, there is so much going on in this trailer besides a discernible narrative that you’d think you were watching a collaboration between Michael Bay and Zack Snyder. Somehow, amidst the chaos, the music finds a way to ground the trailer.

Though the film is indeed directed by Steven Spielberg, the audience will have to adjust to a Williams-less score—the composer was too busy working on another Spielberg film. Nevertheless, the audience’s ears will be in the capable hands of Alan Silvestri, who is known for his work on films including the Back to the Future franchise and the Avengers films.

The trailer opens with strings, followed by silence as protagonist Wade Watts narrates, setting the scene for a dystopian Ohio in 2045. Watts climbs through a stack of cars as percussion takes over the score, cuing an intense string progression that begins to brew at 0:12. Watts starts to don virtual reality gear as he narrates, “They called our generation the missing millions, missing not because we went anywhere, there’s nowhere left to go, nowhere, except the Oasis.” Hopeful strings and faint choral sounds materialize at first mention of the Oasis, immediately colouring the virtual world as a utopia. The movement is equal parts hopeful and dramatic.

The symphonic strings punctuated by deep bass drum accompany a fury of popular culture references as the trailer reveals some of the fictional characters that exist within Oasis, including the Iron Giant, Harley Quinn, Duke Nukem, and Freddy Kruger. At 0:58, the video shifts into slow motion and the music slows, descending by scale degree to a halt at 1:06. A title card that reads “Are You Ready?” appears and as each individual word shimmers a filtered piano plays a note.

This would have been a satisfying ending to the trailer, but at 1:10 the trailer revs up for a second act with Tom Sawyer by Rush. The trailer is cut in such a way that all of the motion is synched perfectly with the music, creating the illusion of choreography. The music cuts abruptly at 1:49 when Watts takes off the virtual reality glasses, robbing the audience of the final note of the chorus and leaving the music unresolved. The trailer ends with the same title card as before, this time reading “Ready Player One” and the filtered piano lingers ominously.

– Andrew Sproule

Black Panther

With San Diego Comic Con well past us, and theatrical trailers are now focusing on Christmas films and 2018 features, now comes the opportunity to check back and catch up on recent trailer releases. Today, we’re audioviewing the first teaser trailer for Black Panther, originally released on June 10th.

For a film directed by Ryan Coogler (Creed, 2015; Fruitville Station, 2013) and set for release in 2018, this trailer is almost as notable for its music as it is for its subject matter. Indeed, just looking at the top two comments at the top of the YouTube comments section for the above embedded video at the time of writing (“some people just don’t understand how long we’ve wanted this”; “who else is loving the soundtrack?”) reveals much, even before seeing and hearing it.

The teaser is comprised of two parts. In the first minute, we see an interrogation scene where a man is explaining the mysterious land of Wakanda, the home of T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman, as The Black Panther). It’s likely no accident that the first scene of a trailer all about Marvel’s first black superhero, a hero with fifty years of lore to draw on for this film, is introduced with a conversation between white characters; moreover, we’ve seen both of them in previous Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films. Still, T’Challa’s point of view/audition provides our first glimpse/audition of Wakanda. It’s a utopian scene, effortlessly melding both traditional culture and futuristic flourishes. While this trailer was released far before Wonder Woman’s run in theatres,  we are hard pressed not to compare this origin story -- as presented so far -- with her film. (For example, actress Florence Kasumba plays both Amazon Senator Acantha in Wonder Woman and Ayo, a member of Black Panther’s royal guard.)

Although the music begins with some standard epic orchestral percussion intercut with dialogue, this gives way to some pretty unique synthesized sound effects, to convey mystery and rhen danger/action. In retrospect, the music is preparing the listener for a full clip from hip-hop duo Run the Jewels’ “Legend Has It,” a cut from Run the Jewels 3 of 2016 and, judging from the title, a song of obvious thematic resonance to the notion of T’Challa-as-legendary figure.

At 1:02, the mid-point, we leave the interrogation room and the presentation of story information, encountering the Marvel Studios card with Run the Jewels’ track playing in full force: there’s no mistaking its intro. A scene with Panther’s spaceship-looking Royal Talon Fighter is presented alongside more traditional, agrarian-looking scenes, highlighting the uniqueness of Wakanda’s high tech society.

Around 1:20, the narrator’s voice imploring Black Panther to be careful (“you are a good man with a good heart”) is juxtaposed between lines by Run the Jewels’ lyrics (“step into the spotlight”). At 1:35 extra sound effects are employed to accentuate Black Panthers’ leap from car to car, where we get one quick look at him in full costume.

The title card for the film is presented at 1:44, slowly emerging and thus effectively conveying the emphasis on stealth for this superhero. Exquisitely deep bass and rattling, sonorous upper percussion complement the high contrast and stark image of the title card.

In all, it's an excellent start to Black Panther's trailer campaign. It will be interesting to see whether follow-up trailers commit as completely to using Run the Jewels’ music, or whether this is a one-off like other music licensed for trailers but not for the associated films.

 - Curtis

Stranger Things Season Two

The trailer for season 2 of Stranger Things is an ode to all things nostalgia. The first season of the Netflix hit delved deep into science fiction lore, consistently drawing on elements from the classics (including some not-so-subtle allusions to ET which escaped no one). If the new trailer is any indication, the show’s affinity for the vintage sci-fi style pioneered by the likes of Steven King and Steven Spielberg has only grown. Through quintessential 80’s imagery and music, the trailer effortlessly establishes Stranger Things as a period piece.

The trailer begins with a lone violin holding a quivering high note as the three boys roll up to the arcade on bicycles. An ominous orchestral swell becomes a crescendo and then cuts abruptly to nothing. The soundscape quickly goes to work to remind the audience we are indeed in the 80’s with the familiar sweeping chimes and sound design of the 1983 arcade classic Dragon’s Lair. As a rousing game ends at 0:22, dread fills the room, signaled by a cut to black and a deep growling bass synth beneath a reverb laden whisper of a disembodied guttural voice. Will appears to have been temporarily transported to another dimension, known as the Upside Down. The acousmetre disappears when Mike runs outside to meet Will, sensing that something is wrong. It appears the Upside Down is permeating into their world.

 A familiar progression starts at 0:51, first on strings, and then joined by a rapid synth playing even 16th notes. At 1:21, the unforgettable voice of Vincent Price says, “Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand, creatures crawling search of blood, to terrorize y’awl’s neighbourhood.” Out of context, the voiceover is difficult to place, only becoming more obvious at 1:35 when Michael Jackson sings “I’m gonna thrill you tonight.” Jackson’s voice brings everything the audience has heard until this point into focus; Jackson’s revered 1982 hit “Thriller” provides the material for both the familiar progression, as well as Price’s monologue.

By the time the title card announcing the Halloween premiere appears at 1:52, Thriller is in full swing. From here, the trailer rides the momentum of the pop song until the trailer seemingly ends with the final note of the song at 2:25. Cut to black, Mike’s voice echoes “If you’re out there just, please, give me a sign.” This cues a last minute twist, revealing that Eleven survived the end of season 1 and is trapped in the Upside Down. A pulsing bass synth underlines a messy orchestral crescendo as strings slide higher and higher, intensifying as Eleven finds a way to escape the Upside Down through an ooze reminiscent of the Alien sega. The trailer ends with the Stranger Things title card at 2:43 and the show’s theme music underpinning Price’s maniacal laugh.

Watching and listening to the trailer for Stranger Things season 2, you can’t help but feel transported to the 80’s. After all, where else do you find a band of misfit kids dressed in full Ghostbusters attire fighting monsters straight out of a Dungeons and Dragons game on Halloween to the tune of Michael Jackson’s Thriller?

– Andrew Sproule

A Wrinkle in Time

Scored by composer Mark Hadley (part of Modern Family’s music department) and featuring the vocals of Keeley Bumford (perhaps best known as the vocalist for the main theme for the video game Bayonetta 2), the just-released teaser trailer for Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time leverages the well-known tune “Sweet Dreams,” originally written by Annie Lennox and originally performed by 80s group the Eurythmics.

It’s not until 0:20 into the trailer that we hear Bumford sing “sweet dreams are made of these,” and immediately the song is identifiable, just with that combination of lyrics and that classic minor third and minor second melody. Bumford’s solo lines act like a Greek chorus of sorts, commenting between the characters’ lines, which are in diegesis. At 0:44 we hear just a snippet of the original, classic synth line from the Eurythmics’ version of the song (a wrinkle in time, indeed). At the same time and in between we recognize the mellifluous voice of Oprah Winfrey (Mrs. Which) narrating the story of the missing Alex Murry to his daughter.

At 0:55 we finally hear the song in full force, a version of “Sweet Dreams” not too dissimilar from the original, with added epic percussion and other effects to underscore the promise of the film’s grandiosity and scale. At 1:14 we hear a clever bit of sound design as the basketballs doubly act as a keeper of the beat, transitioning seamlessly from the previous music.

At 1:24 we get the actors’ title cards and the last third of the trailer, with an epic coda forestalling the resolution of the tune. With the arrival of the main title card and release date, we hear a ticking of a clock, which obviously plays into the theme of a film about time travel. That the trailer lets the “Sweet Dreams” vocal theme echo out at the end is a departure for the preview genre that prefers to close with a spectacular orchestral resonance (Harry Potter trailers)  or a prominent sound effect (LOTR trailers).

The song has been covered several times in the past, including a now-classic version by Marilyn Manson, as well as by Emily Browning on the soundtrack of 2011 film Sucker Punch, a film that features its own brand of surrealism. As such, it was perhaps only a matter of, well, time before this song would appear again. This version by Mark Hadley veers between the gentle and the epic, assiduously conveying the fantasy world illustrated in this teaser trailer.  The song none-too-subtly alludes to the notion that we are witnessing a dreamworld of sorts, which commentators on the teaser have picked up on when they refer to the “haunting” cover.

In all, Sweet Dreams is an appropriate choice that balances the familiar and the fantastic to help introduce audiences to the world of A Wrinkle in Time.

 - Curtis Perry

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

This week on the blog, we take an excursion to the jungle with the redux of the 1995 classic, Jumanji. While the original film was best remembered as a generally dark film carried by the inimitable late actor Robin Williams, this reboot leads with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and is much lighter in feel, causing quite a bit of debate in the comments section on YouTube and other sites.

The trailer opens with some nondescript handclaps and a few light acoustic guitar notes, conjuring an atmosphere that befits the high school setting we’re introduced to. Immediately, it’s understood that this definitely isn’t the Jumanji of the mid-90s.

Subtly, once the teens find the game – now a video game, no longer a board game in this iteration – the hand claps turn into ticking sounds, and we get that now-classic “brwaaaap” sound that now seems to be the international sonic short hand for “stuff is about to go down.”

As the teens select their avatars for the game, each selection is sync’d to the music, ramping up musical and dramatic tension as they get closer to completing the selection process. Then, as you knew would happen if you were familiar with the original film, they are physically sucked into the world of the game.

At 0:57 we hear heavier, orchestral, rampant percussion as the tracking shot reveals Dwayne Johnson as the new avatar for one of the teens. At 1:09 we get our first title cards and the introduction of the second, more comedic third of the trailer. We hear the first few strums of a heavily processed electric guitar, which builds as the characters discover their new avatars they inhabit. The music cuts out as Johnson consoles himself, telling himself he won’t cry, employing a classic visual sight gag as his words contrast sharply with his physical build.

By 1:46, we get the first clearly identifiable music track employed in the trailer, which is perhaps a little too on the nose: Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle.” Of course. In fact, the track is introduced exactly at the point singer Axl Rose rings the lyric from which the song’s title is derived, which kicks off the final third of the trailer with a montage of action shots, still stopping at one point to deliver another comedic line courtesy of Jack Black. The main title card arrives at 2:16 with a strong final chord from the guitar, only to add one last comedic sequence, finally ending for real at 2:30 with the title card announcing its Christmas release window.

Somewhat like the Spiderman reboot we covered recently, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle presents an unabashed reimagining of the core conceptual universe and tone of the original 1995 film, creating a film that stands on its own. Sony is inarguably taking the original 90s concept in a new direction, for a new generation – albeit, not without the astute use of some classic 90s music.

– Curtis Perry

Death Note

This week we venture off the beaten path of Hollywood blockbusters and take a listen to the trailer for Netflix’s upcoming feature length film: Death Note. The movie is based on the Japanese manga series by Tsugumi Ohba, which has amassed a passionate fandom who, rightfully, have high expectations. At least from what we see and hear from the trailer, the adaptation’s blend of dark music and surreal colours flavours the unique cinematic aesthetic required to pull off the enigmatic Death Note.

The trailer opens with pathetic fallacy. Grey textures accompany the pitter-patter of steady rainfall as protagonist Light Turner is knocked unconscious in an effort to stop a mugging. Piano breaks the misery at 0:24 when a leather-bound journal falls from the sky. Here, the music is not to be mistaken as hopeful, but rather, as a break in the cycle of hopelessness, replaced instead with ominous potential. As the piano slowly plays through its four-chord progression, Turner opens the book and discovers that it gives him the power to warrant the death of whomever he chooses.

Emerging from the music, a distorted female voice sings “’Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony this life.” From the characters’ perspectives, truer words have never been spoken. The song is a slowed down cover of The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony,” though the name of the performing artist remains a mystery. The singer’s heavily filtered voice comes in at 0:31, complementing the first appearance of Ryuk, a death god. The omnipotent evil presence is voice-acted by the imminently recognizable Willem Dafoe, whose performance is reminiscent of his Green Goblin days. Ryuk’s sinister laugh serves as the character’s leitmotif, reoccurring three times throughout trailer.

The music immediately ramps up in dynamics and instrumentation. Epic strings, synths, and percussion highjack the music, playing disjunct instrumental excerpts so sharp in their attack that they feel as though they have been cut from a more complete recording. The music cuts abruptly and is replaced with a delicate high-pitched piano melody, which digresses into ringing sounds processed through a reverse effect. The lyrics, though faint and almost indistinguishable, sing “million different people from one day to the next, I can’t change.” The trailer sets splashes of neon fluorescents to darkness overtop a modern remixing of a classic song with unexpected intensity and thematic resonance.

– Andrew Sproule

Spider-Man: Homecoming

It’s June 30th; we’re knocking on July’s door, and with it a cadre of summer blockbuster film releases. Leading the pack is Marvel’s latest cinematic universe entry, the long-awaited reboot of Spiderman on the silver screen.

Following the first official trailer released this past December and the second in late March, the third pulls out all the stops with equals parts action and comedy, likely giving the audioviewer a good idea of what to expect in terms of a shift in tone compared to previous instalments in the Spider-Man film franchise.

At 0:26 we hear the first clear musical number alongside the studio title cards and the sound of a school bell. Hoodie Allen’s “Act My Age” is a recent song (2014) that perfectly encapsulates the tone and direction of Peter Parker’s character. The song represents a step away from the more mature character portrayed by Tobey Maguire in the early 2000s or of Andrew Garfield earlier this decade, and towards the high school-aged, teenage persona we see in Homecoming, with slightly obnoxious “na na na” vocals and cheerleader-style stomps and claps. Similarly, none of the dramatic string music of earlier Spider-Man films is to be found here. It’s a fresh start, bolstered by the charm of Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, who takes on a mentorship role and has received ample screen time throughout the trailer campaign.

This tune weaves in and out as various scenes and dialogue are presented to show how increasingly difficult it is for Parker to lead a double life as a web slinger and high school student. Of course, Spider-Man’s trademark wry banter remains intact; as is in keeping with the comedy trailer as a genre, the music often abruptly stops to make way for whatever punchline occurs in the dialogue.

However, it’s not all laughs. At 1:15 the audioviewer is treated to a taste of the action one can expect from the film, as long-time villain Vulture lifts Spider-Man far up into the sky. By 1:20 some epic percussion comes in to amplify the tension of the scene, cutting at its climax to the title card for the date – July 7th. Demi Lovato’s 2015 song “Confident” underpins the action sequences that follow in this second half of the trailer, interspersed with the suggestion that Parker’s classmates may be homing in on his secret identity. With pulverizing percussion, blaring brass triplets, and an epic descending bass line in a natural minor key, it’s almost surprising that it isn’t the work of a trailer music studio.

An endearing comedic exchange between Parker a high school friend reminds the audioviewer of the essential focus of this film on lighthearted antics, only to be quickly juxtaposed one last time with an epic scene involving Spider-Man keeping a jet plane in the air after suffering a blow to its wing. A large, brassy minor chord plays the trailer out with the final title card.

After a, er, string of lesser-received films produced by Sony in Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it looks like Marvel’s putting a spin on the series that will put it on better footing – and the choices in music for its trailer suit this goal admirably.

– Curtis Perry

NHL 18

How do you market what is essentially the very same video game you released the previous year to the same audience as an entirely new experience? EA Sports masterfully maneuvered its Zamboni-shaped hype machine through this year’s NHL Awards show, dropping the trailer for the forthcoming NHL 18 in front of hockey’s greatest players, broadcast to its biggest fans. The trailer for this year’s edition of the hockey-simulation game marks a notable shift away from the old guard (the Crosbys and Ovechkins) and towards the future of hockey: the kids. This theme is the focus of the trailer at every level, from real and in-game video footage, to narration and title cards, all the way to musical content.

The trailer opens with the unmistakable sounds of the rink: skates cutting through the ice, sticks clashing, and the unintelligible sounds of players calling out to their teammates for the puck. 4 seconds into the trailer, a simple bass riff and clapping sounds begin a vamp. The narrator says, “Hey kid, let me give you some advice…” speaking to both the rookies on the ice, and the kid with the game controller in their hand. For those in-the-know, each piece of ensuing advice is a hockey cliché: work hard, keep it simple, get the puck deep, finish your checks, etc. With each hockey-ism, the trailer shows the future greats ignoring that advice and deking their way to glory. The message? This game is about having fun.

The bass riff continues to build until the break at 0:25 and at 0:29 new music comes in as the footage changes to in-game material. The song is appropriately named “Opposite of Adults” by Chiddy Bang and samples the distinct synth melody from MGMT’s “Kids.” The music is upbeat and poppy, featuring male rap vocals overtop of an electronic beat. The lyrics sing, “Once was a kid all I had was a dream” as Leafs’ phenom Mitch Marner cuts through the defence and dangles his way to a goal and Bruins’ revelation David Pastrnak snipes a goal top shelf. Big body checks add rhythmic accents throughout the trailer and the cheers from the audience up the excitement. Chiddy Bang sings, “Tell mommy I’m sorry, this life is a party, I’m never growing up,” as Jets’ winger Patrick Laine celebrates his goal and Oilers’ superstar Connor McDavid receives a bank pass in the offensive zone and does a trick shot past Canucks’ goaltender Ryan Miller. The trailer ends with the blasting goal horn that every hockey fan knows and loves.

Successful trailers target their audiences. For EA Sports, that means kids who live and breathe the sport and hockey enthusiasts living vicariously through their Playstations. The trailer uses music to complement the highlight reel footage and marks a passing of the torch from the veterans to the youth. Indeed, the kids are alright. 

– Andrew Sproule

Cuphead

It’s mid-June, and that means the Electronic Entertainment Expo (more popularly known as E3) has come and gone, and left behind an embarrassment of riches in the form of game trailers and other videos featuring the gameplay Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and their ilk promise to deliver into the hands of gamers over the next year and beyond.

From the perspective of a musicologist, perhaps no trailer at E3 this year has been as interesting as the release trailer for the upcoming cartoon shooter Cuphead. First introduced at E4 2014, the game aggressively asserts a quasi-nostalgic, 1930s Americana style (quasi, as most players will not have experienced this style in its heyday). Each of the trailers features original music in the style of 1920s and 30s American jazz recorded live and composed by Kristofer Maddigan, a percussionist and composer based in Toronto.

In the first trailer, from E3 2014, the audioviewer is initially introduced to an animated trailer format from the 1920s, before  the widespread adoption of recorded sound, instead using title cards to convey speech and what sounds like live music. The first reads, “By golly! Cuphead and Mugman are in trouble!” amidst the pounding, Krupa-style drums of hot American jazz and rapid keyboard flourishes. While short, at a scant thirty-five seconds, the trailer nonetheless manages to capture all of the essential tropes of silent film era cinematic animated trailers.

The trailer featured at E3 2015 ups the ante, more than doubling the trailer’s length, increasing the tempo of the frenetic percussion, and offering a touch more by the way of plot, stating that “Cuphead and Mugman gambled with the Devil…. and lost!!!” A subtle bit of sync between the sound image occurs at 0:15 as a solitary, high piano chord hits at the same time we see the protagonists in shock over losing to the devil in a game of dice. A grooving ostinato in the double bass (plucked, of course) and trumpets with snarling mutes underscore the plot as Cuphead and Mugman are made to serve the devil to pay off their lost bets. Throughout, animations that strongly evoke the days of late 1920s Disney (think Steamboat Willie) match perfectly with the visceral jazz music. At 0:53 we are treated to a somewhat unexpected sync point, with the wail of the brass matching the mermaid’s attempt to blow Cuphead away. The title cards and final titles at 0:57 onward further hammer home the nostalgia act, stating “Coming 1936. (Plus eighty years)”; however, that number would eventually end up being eighty one. Ragtime piano plays it out.

Fast forward to this year, and the game is finally nearly ready for release. Animated typography in the style of old movie trailers promises a “thrilling game” as brass and woodwinds gradually ascend a diminished chord by tritones and minor thirds, eventually resolving to a glorious major chord and alternating tom-toms that heavily emulate the sound of timpani, showing off the main title card. It gives way to a parallel minor chord at 0:26 and woodwinds change hands as they steady escalate a series of alternating half steps down and minor thirds up, with some deviances in the pattern for good measure, with no particular reference to a steady rhythmic measure. Despite the series of heavy action sequences showcasing gameplay, we only hear this musical arrangement. At 0:38 we get the final release date – September 29th – as the brass and winds coalesce on a triumphant cadential 6/4 with a Picardy third, ending with a faint bit of the static one would hear at the end of a film reel.

The whole musical arrangement for Cuphead’s E3 2017 release trailer appears to be, to some extent, a riff on Also sprach Zarathrustra, Op. 30, the Richard Strauss tone poem made famous by Kubrick’s selection for it to represent the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. So, one might say this piece is a 19th century work popularized to represent the (since-surpassed) near future of 2001, and since rearranged in the style of the early 20th century to appeal to the ears of 2017. Whatever the case, the Cuphead trailers make for a joyful celebration and reminder of the most charismatic qualities of early American cartoons and cinema, replete with the musical stylings of the era – something in part afforded by the novelty of revisiting such media in the form of a video game.

In an era of gaming where the number of polygons a console can push doesn’t appear to be so impressive anymore, the most eye-catching and immersive games are arguably the ones that turn back to the art of cinema and lean heavily on artistry to engross the gamer-as-audioviewer. In this respect, it’s no surprise that Cuphead’s heavy aesthetic borrowings from the 1930s would resonate with such fresh appeal.

 – Curtis Perry

Dunkirk

There is something severe about the Dunkirk trailer. For 2 minutes and 18 seconds, audiences bear witness to the plight of the allied forces trapped on the beaches awaiting evacuation under heavy enemy fire from the air, land, and sea. The shots are tastefully dramatized without the indulgences we have come to expect of depictions of war. The bleak tones of grey that characterize the state of desperation are all consuming. However, it is the music that generates the profound intensity of the trailer – the sparse dialogue and action sequences merely accompany the sounds of Dunkirk.

The film is directed by Christopher Nolan, ergo, the film is scored by Hans Zimmer. Unlike most blockbusters, which opt to use popular music or cover songs in their trailers to connect with the audience, Hans Zimmer’s instantly recognizable style and cultural capital caries enough clout to all but guarantee the film’s success. A partnership like no other, these two creatives have built a bonafide genre of film together, largely defined by their penchant for the epic. Evidence of the duo’s influence in film trailers is ubiquitous. Look no farther than their 2010 collaboration, Inception, which gave birth to one of the most recognizable (and co-opted) sounds in cinema, so infamous that the internet refers to it as the onomatopoeic “BRAAM.”  In the Dunkirk trailer, Zimmer resists the impulse to use the sound he is credited with creating in favour of finding new ones.

The Dunkirk trailer opens with a ringing tone moving in and out of focus and then steady percussive ticking, like a clock in perfect 4/4 time accenting the first beat. At 0:17 a guttural bass tone slowly wobbles in, joined by a mid-range horn before dissipating. At 0:26, the bass bows deeply and the ticking finally relents, sounding only the first beat of each bar. Much like a piece of music, this break in the trailer leaves the audience in suspense, listening, waiting for the inevitable climax, or “drop.” The drop comes as a hail of gunfire. Serene, unmoving strings and choral sounds emerge from the chaos at 0:40, disturbing in their stark juxtaposition of on-screen tragedy. Again, at 0:57 the music is interrupted by the sounds of war. A heartbeat sound enters at 1:06, becoming the ostensible pulse of the music for the remainder of the trailer. Unfiltered piano and a dirty synthesizer appear at 1:28, providing a much needed harmonic progression, though offering little resolution. The music moves in crescendo, gaining momentum as the heartbeat morphs into a steadier beat and additional synthesizers join, rife with distortion. The music cuts abruptly at 1:58, recalling the serene voices and slow heart beat, lingering for the last few seconds.

Nolan and Zimmer are back.

–Andrew Sproule

Wonder Woman

This week on Trailaurality we are looking at the trailer campaign for Wonder Woman, opening in theatres worldwide today. With a Thursday box office opening pegged at $11 million in the U.S. alone, the film's opening gross lands it in the vicinity of 2014’s original Guardians of the Galaxy. Additionally, the Warner Bros. and DC Films box office foray into superheroine antics has been “certified fresh” by Rotten Tomatoes, standing tall at an approval rating of 93% by critics and audience alike as of this writing. In fact, this is higher than most of DC or Mavel’s superhero movies; in fact, it is the best reviewed film since Christopher Nolan’s seminal 2005 film The Dark Knight, and is only bested by the first Iron Man foray in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In light of the exceptional success Wonder Woman is currently enjoying, it’s especially worth delving into its trailer campaign to see if one can glean any hints of the praise it would come to receive.

Sitting at five and a quarter million views on YouTube, the official final trailer, released May 7th during the MTV Movie & TV Awards, starts with a seven second micro-teaser with lyrics that immediately scream “we are the warriors.” The moment, which appear later in the actual trailer, tips the listener off immediately that it uses Warriors, a track by Imagine Dragons. While an appropriate choice in itself, the fact that the track was also used to promote theLeague of Legends video game makes for a neat intertextual tie-in as well as a ploy for long-term musical brand awareness.

Having presumably captured the attention the of audioviewer, we are whisked away to the world of the film with a more gentle track and various voiceovers off screen which are revealed to take place as an on-screen conversation between Diana Prince, Princess of Themyscira (Gal Gadot) as a child with her mother. The music, Francoid-Paul Aïche’s Aria, continuously builds, ending as her mother says “be careful of mankind… they do not deserve you.”

Next, the title cards appear at 0:40 alongside an adult Diana and a frenetic, strings-driven track. We see Steve Travor (Chris Pine, best known as Captain Kirk in the most recent Star Trek films) warning Diana of the horrors of World World I underway in the film’s universe between thunderous triplet arrays of drumming courtesy of original trailer music track Catapult, by Position Music. These triplets give way to a sprightly, galloping 6/8 compound meter of lower strings and piano as we see Diana making the decision to leave the island where she grew up.

At 1:12, these elements of percussion and strings come together along with a strong male voice, tightly synced to the action of Wonder Woman, in costume, scaling a wall. At 1:25 the trailer takes a lightly comedic turn as Travor (Pine) deadpans, “the war’s that way, but we have to go this way first.” This presages a turn in musical aesthetics at 1:28 as we hear a groovy electric bass. At 1:38 we get a brillaint sequence as an older man asks Travor who Wonder Woman is. Between Travor’s consternations (e.g. “she’s my, ah”; “and er, uh”), we see and hear blasts of action by Wonder Woman set to heavy metal riffs. Those substitutions of what would normally be descriptive language after these filled pauses are both funny and dramatically effective; by implication, Wonder Woman is “beyond words” in a way that only music can attempt to describe. At 1:51 the lyrics and full track come in full, largely uninterrupted force for the last third of the trailer, incessant right to the end at 2:42.

We’re looking forward to the trailer campaign for the inevitable sequel – as there’s little, er, wonder at at this point that there will be one.

– Curtis Perry

Game of Thrones: Season 7

This past Wednesday, the whole world stopped and was beholden to the new Game of Thrones season 7 trailer. According to HBO, the trailer was watched 61 million times across digital platforms. For those of you keeping score at home, that is a new world record. However, as one of the most highly regarded series on television, Game of Thrones is held to a higher standard than most, and so too are the trailers. Fans of the show wait for months for their first peek at the upcoming season, and when it finally arrives, these trailers are deconstructed and analyzed religiously in an effort to glean tiny insights into what the new season has in store.

Revered as works of art in their own right, Game of Thrones trailers are famous for their thoughtfully selected musical accompaniment, which typically feature potent lyrics that audiences in the know recognize as apropos. However, season 7’s trailer broke this pattern, instead opting to make characters the narrators and use music more subtly. The trailer features an orchestral arrangement that begins with violins lingering over a high note before making way for the primary motif: an ascending two-note figure played arco on the double bass, evoking a Jaws-like sound. From here, the trailer music only builds. With each break, a new layer of percussion and strings is overlaid over the previous, adding to the intensity as the trailer ramps up towards a syncopated climax. As always, the trailer masterfully interweaves sounds of marching, church bells, and the clashing of swords into the musical progression. Still, despite the effective use of orchestral music, the trailer lacks some of the punch that allusions to the narrative through lyrics so readily bring.

This week on Trailaurality, as we look forward to the seventh season of Game of Thrones, we listen back to a couple of the series’ most memorable trailers, and the songs that make them great.

The trailer for the second season of Game of Thrones immediately cemented the series into trailer enthusiasts’ hearts with its use of Florence and the Machine’s “Seven Devils.” In addition to being a powerful song featuring ethereal choral sections and a haunting yet simple piano motif, the lyrics resonate with both the onscreen action and the overall themes of the series. “Seven devils all around you! Seven devils in my house! See they were there when I woke up this morning, I’ll be dead before the day is done.” Game of Thrones is rife with betrayal as factions from opposite ends of the world clash as their leaders work towards ultimate conquest. For fans in the know, the number seven is of particular significance in Westeros, as there are seven Kingdoms, seven Gods, and seven Hells.

 After an emotionally traumatic end to the fifth season of Game of Thrones, the trailer for the show’s sixth season continued to play on fans’ heart strings. A beautifully covered version of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” by James Vincent McGrow carries all of the weight of the series and offers little hope for its characters, nor its fans. The familiar lyrics ring: “The world was on fire and no one could save me but you. It’s strange what desire can make foolish people do.” These lyrics, powerful on their own, had added significance after a fan-favourite character was infamously killed off in what the audience perceived to be an impulsive and short-sighted series of events. For the makers of the show, systematically murdering fan-favourites has become a twisted, wicked game.

Indeed, the wicked game undoubtedly continues this summer. Winter is coming July 16th, 2017.

– Andrew Sproule

Blade Runner 2049

Continuing the theme of “what if Harrison Ford, but older?” explored by Indiana Jones and Star Wars films released this past decade, the trailer for Blade Runner 2049 dropped last week shows that new director Denis Villeneuve deeply understands the universe that Ridley Scott wrought some thirty five years ago. As a cyberpunk dystopia, its arrival follows the box office bomb that was the recent Ghost in the Shell adaptation and the TV adaption of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

It wouldn’t be Blade Runner without Vangelis' menacing, synth-laden score, and Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (The Theory of Everything) promises to deliver on these expectations beautifully. As Jóhannsson recently said in an interview with Slashfilm, "this is a sequel, not a remake, so we're doing something that exists in the world but is new as well."

However, we are made to wait a bit longer to see what Johannssohn is devised for the film, as the music for this trailer comes courtesy of Cieran Birch, titled "Decay" and published by Elephant Music. The trailer follows the initial teaser, which featured the original Blade Runner theme as composed by Vangelis; the music, written by Cato, clearly takes cues from Vangelis, but is also very much its own sound.

After a six-second “trailer for the trailer,” our first scene opens with a pulverizing saw tooth bass tone. At thirty seconds we get the studio title cards, and musical motif that ends cadentially at 0:45. We are reminded at this point that Scott is still involved as Executive Producer, further reassuring an audience who may be rightly concerned about the idea of a Blade Runner sequel.

The next round of shots introduces the viewer to Harrison Ford’s voice, reprising his role as Rick Deckard. Coincidentally, Deckard has been missing for the past thirty years in the film universe. Deckard trepidatiously steps into his old apartment, gun in hand, pointed and shaking at Ryan Gosling’s character, Officer K. A synch point with his footstep brings the synth down to a deep, low rumble as we hear Officer K’s nonchalant response, and the proverbial torch being passed to a new generation in acting.

Are these synthetic sounds particularly well-suited to dystopian fiction, or are these aesthetics merely inherited from the original? By 2017, the world of Blade Runner feels increasingly like a parallel universe than an implausible near future as it did in the early eighties. The style of “80s synth” has achieved recognizability as an aesthetic, and one of the most important films to use it is taking that mantle and hopefully extending it in imaginative ways that leverage the technological advances in synthesized music that have occurred over the past three and a half decades.

By 1:26 the audioviewer is introduced to some sounds of an aesthetic and overall fidelity that reminds us that we are indeed watching an action trailer from 2017. At 1:39 and shortly thereafter, gun shots are rhythmically tightly synched to the soundtrack, another very common technique in action trailers these days.

At the end of the trailer, an unknown character tells Officer K, “your story isn’t over yet. There’s still a page left,” and the camera pans up to a smiling Gosling. We'll see -- and hear -- what this page brings later this year.  

  - Curtis Perry

The Defenders

Still defying the laws of market saturation, film studios are pumping out superhero movies at a seemingly unsustainable pace, and audiences worldwide continue to eat it up. And like all trends in cinema, television networks — as well as streaming services, their ostensible future replacements — have followed suit and are now clambering to carve out their own niche cinematic universes. Since 2015, Netflix has produced four original superhero series: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. Following the tested and proven comic book formula (see Avengers and Justice League), it was only a matter of time until the four superheroes would somewhat reluctantly team up to fight for the greater good. Enter obligatory crossover series: The Defenders.

The trailer for The Defenders begins with an eerie high pitch ring of a scraped cymbal. Moments later, this sound is replaced by a four-beat snippet of an immediately recognizable guitar riff, a tease that is gone as quickly as it started, hardly leaving the audience enough time to identify it. As the reverb of the guitar fades, it is replaced by a whirlwind of unintelligible bass swells and tinnitus rings in crescendo and then abruptly cuts away. This use of sound design has become commonplace in trailers as an aural marker to demonstrate intensity and anticipation. This tension is for the highly anticipated moment that the Netflix original series crosses over, as Matthew Murdock (lawyer by day, Daredevil by night) enters an interrogation room uninvited to the aid of Jessica Jones, who is under investigation (for crimes that, based on her character’s history, she has likely committed).

At the 0:27 mark, the Netflix title card appears and a dampened piano plays a faint melody, subtly recognizable as the song teased at the beginning of the trailer, though the intermittent distorted bass swells, atmospheric synth, and extraneous sound design dominate the aural space. At 0:59 the mysterious guitar riff makes its return, and this time a raspy male voice sings “Come” and all of the pieces suddenly fit together. A synthesizer-laden remix of Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” emerges as the four-member roster of The Defenders are introduced one by one. Cobain’s haunting vocals are not set to the iconic guitar riff, but a guttural pedaling bass synth. Between narration, Cobain interjects, “Come as you are, as you were, as I want you to be.” This cut of the remix, however, skips over “As a friend, as a friend” and at 1:29 jumps straight to “As a known enemy…” cutting to the face of an unknown woman. All accompanying sounds cut away at this point to ensure the audience connects the lyrics with the visuals. The trailer uses the music to reveal the season’s presumed villain, a woman named Alexandra played by Sigourney Weaver.

At 1:36, the music cuts back in full swing, providing an epic musical backdrop to a series of intense action sequences. The instrumental section features an electric guitar solo processed through a wah-wah pedal that replicates the original note for note, with a few added embellishments. The trailer ends with a series of added percussion, punctuating the on-screen fight.

Individually flawed as they may be, this unlikely group of heroes will come together as they are on August 18 with no apologies.
 

– Andrew Sproule

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 '80s Edition Ultimate Trailer

As a series that already leans quite heavily on 80s – or is it 70s? – nostalgia (Sony Walkman, anyone?), the pastiche trailer that Marvel posted late last week leans in even further with an official pastiche of the venerated early 80s sitcom television (not unlike that other sitcom about an alien, ALF). On top of the groovy fonts and faux-analogue visual filters, Erwin Lehn’s “Intro Juice” and Werner Tautz’ “How You Doing?” provide a laid-back feel to the campy affair. While the calligraphy of the title cards and the music is distinctively 70s, Marvel insists on calling this an 80s throwback, in keeping with the general 80s vibe of the series. Perhaps they mean early 80s, but I digress.

A laugh track appears at 0:07, perhaps the clearest aural marker of the sitcom genre, clueing in the audio-viewer early on about the parodic nature of the trailer. “Intro Juice,” a distinctively muzak (elevator music) style piece reminiscent of the Price is Right theme tune with upbeat, punchy brass, and steady drums, provides the backdrop to a series of witty banter by Guardians’ main protagonists. A cut to this tune about thirty seconds in both functions as an aural marker that we’re actually watching a comedic trailer, as well as providing a means of transition to the second half of the trailer.

What ensues is smooth, quasi-romantic strings and a more prominent electric bass rhythm alongside the introduction of title cards. When Star-Lord’s father reveals his identity, the music again suddenly cuts out with an audience gasp. The date on the title card again cleverly alludes to the generic conventions of television, suggesting the film is “Premiering May 5th 8PM PST.” While not strictly wrong, the language of a series premiere and a specific time zone, rather than a date, is far more in keeping with advertising for a new television series than it would be for a feature film. More interesting, however, is the decision to include a “television static” sound effect at the end. Like the dial-up tone to access the internet through a modem, the sound is now but a relic of bygone technology, and for many, I suspect, its presence draws out a certain sense of comfort and even nostalgia in the listener.

This is immediately followed by “Thor Meets World,” clearly alluding to 90s sitcom Boy Meets World, which plays for just a few seconds, wherein we see Thor, in full Nordic garb, making a face behind the glass window of a door, clearly vying for the attention of what looks like a classroom – and, surely, the attention of the theatre-goer as well. The music here is more directly humorous that the tracks preceding it, with plucky bass alternating between the root and fifth and staccato flutes providing a coy ambiance that starkly contrasts Thor’s appearance.

While fan-made recut trailers are not difficult to find in the age of YouTube, an official sendup by Marvel itself as part of its promotional campaign is a fresh move for the studio, and one that particularly befits the tongue-firmly-in-cheek, knowingly-wink-to-the-audience universe of Guardians of the Galaxy. The choice of music and aural cues successfully navigate between the parodic generic space of the retro sitcom and the aural cues of the modern trailer, offering the audio-viewer a refreshing change of pace.

 – Curtis Perry

Gears of War

Powerful music is the signature element behind the popular Gears of War trailers. They use music in lieu of dialogue to say what words cannot adequately convey. The trailers effectively use the loaded emotional affect of the music to invite the gamer into the shoes of the protagonist, translating the overwhelming weight of the apocalypse and the despair the protagonist endures despite the increasingly bleak outlook. All four installments of the Gears of War series use uninterrupted music, creating an aural backdrop in the absence of any obvious narrative, leaving the audience to focus on lyrics for context. The Gears of War trailers are surreal, dreamlike sequences to get lost inside, where the music is an integral part of an ultimately incomplete cypher.

The trailer for the first Gears of War game was as memorable as it was ominous, thanks in large part to the foreboding rendition of Tears for Fears’ song “Mad World” by Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules. The cover is a significant departure in tone from the original, doing away with the unmistakeable synths of 1983 in favour of a lonely piano and vocal arrangement. The trailer begins with gentle piano in stark juxtaposition with the onscreen sequence as the protagonist surveys the aftermath of recent carnage. At 0:06 Gary Jules sings “All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces” as the protagonist kneels alone, looking at his reflection in a puddle in a street of decay before turning over a decrepit stone statue of a boy’s face. “No tomorrow, no tomorrow…” echo as the protagonist runs from an unearthly threat, and seconds later at 0:34 Jules sings, “the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had,” prompting the audience’s realization of the relentless struggle that defines life in this apocalypse. The lyrics foreshadow the final shot of the trailer as the survivor escapes from the unsafe streets into an apparently vacant building, only to find he has delivered himself to the monster, “when people run in circles it’s a very very mad world.” Jules repeats “mad world” as the trailer fades to black, leaving the audience hanging on his last words for unsatisfactory closure. A mad world indeed.

The music for the trailer for the second installment of the Gears of War series promises as much hope as the first. The song is appropriately titled “How it Ends” by DeVotchKa. The trailer begins with the protagonist absorbed in thought sitting in solitude under a tree staring longingly at a photograph, leaving the audience to assume that the woman in the photo was someone he loved. The synthesizer plays a 2 note progression that descends stepwise divided in steady eighth notes. At 0:21 the lyrics sing, “they all depend on you” as helicopters appear, leaving the audience to assume that you are their reluctant leader. At 0:27 the lyrics say “you already know how this will end.” The music suggests that the main character believes his fate is inevitable as he climbs into a cockpit to be shuttled deep below the surface towards the fight. These lyrics are repeated until the end of the trailer.

The trailer for Gears of War 3 is accompanied by “Heron Blue”by Sun Kil Moon. Like its predecessors, the trailer uses the instrumental opening of the songs to set the tone, this time with the picked twang of an acoustic guitar as the camera pans across a devastated city turned to ash, littered with bodies of civilians turned to stone. At 0:16 the lyrics sing “Don’t cry my love, don’t cry no more” as the camera zooms on the stone remnants of someone obviously crying before being reduced to rubble. “A city drowning God’s black tears” echoes at 0:36. The trailer fades to black during an instrumental interlude with unsettling dissonance as the protagonist, now joined by his compatriots, face down an impossible host of enemies.

The most recent installment of the Gears of War series marks a return to the trailer world’s penchant for cover songs, this time tackling Simon & Garfunkel’s “Hello Darkness My Old Friend” as covered by Disturbed. The voice of frontman David Draiman eerily sings “Hello darkness my old friend” referring obviously to the dusk of night while simultaneously suggesting the protagonist’s internal struggle. At 0:21 the lyrics sing “because a vision softly creeping.” Here, the music is used to explain the visual elements of the trailer: the audience is privy to reoccurring flashbacks to a peaceful past with the protagonist’s family. The music serves to provide much needed context, thereby mediating otherwise disorienting cinematography. The trailer ends on a terrifying note at 0:46 as the lyrics sing “Within the sound of silence” interrupted halfway through by the screech of an attack.

— Andrew Sproule

The Last Jedi

This week’s pick for trailer music analysis was clear: Disney and Lucasfilm have officially started the hype train for the second entry of Star Wars’ sequel trilogy, The Last Jedi.

A clever shot reveals what looks like a starry space scene set to slow glissando strings, intentionally deceiving the audience before revealing that they are in fact on land. We find Rey on all fours, out of breath, in synch with an orchestral hit at 0:20. The first scene is not unlike how we find rogue Stormtrooper Finn out in the desert in the first trailer for The Force Awakens. The title card for Lucasfilm gently enters and exits at 0:18 as Rey’s theme begins with its soft dyads and mallet percussion. The force theme quickly follows at 0:23, and we finally get to hear Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker once more – a voice off camera simply stating, “breathe.”

This trailer, with music entirely arranged and produced by Frederick Lloyd of Pusher music, focuses on the relationship between Luke and Rey, emphasized musically through the use of Rey’s theme and the Force theme (also known as Binary Sunset), typically most associated with Luke. The two themes are carefully arranged such that one can hear and recognize both in counterpoint. We know that the main musical material is certainly the work of John Williams, but it is unclear whether others have had a hand in the arrangements.

At 0:48 Luke asks, “what do you see?” Rey’s theme comes to the forefront and a montage of scenes updating the audience on what’s generally happening post-Episode VII is accompanied by various sound clips from the past: At 0:46 we hear Leia saying “help me, Obi-Wan”; at 0:51, Darth Vader breathes; at 0:53 Ben Kenobi says “seduced by the dark side”; at 0:59, Yoda says “surrounds us, binds us.”

At 0:52 we hear Kylo Ren’s theme, a harmonic minor melody of unclear tonality that introduces uncertainty. Are we to associate the presence of this theme as a response to Luke’s question? Or, are we to see it as merely an acknowledgement that Kylo Ren is still out there in the world?

At 0:59 the upper register of the strings breaks through with a major chord that, in the context of the immediately preceding minor key, suggests the Lydian mode, sounding bright in both harmony and register. Rey finally responds at 1:04, saying “a balance.”

At 1:13 Luke responds, “it’s so much bigger.” The force theme comes back with a vigorous rhythm backing it as well as an augmented melody, coupled with similarly expansive shots depicting space and land battles, alongside the title card for the release window (“this Christmas”). Insistent brass and leaping arpeggiated strings further intensify the action as we see glimpses of the other main characters of this generation of Star Wars, Poe (running with BB-8) and Finn (still in stasis, healing from the events of Episode VII).

At 1:30 Luke’s voice enters again, saying “I only know one truth,” and the music responds in anticipation, holding on to a prolonged cadential chord, falling out at 1:37 and never actually resolving. In pitch black and without music, Luke says “it’s time for the Jedi to end.”

The music then blares forth again at 1:42 as the main title card zooms into focus and the force theme makes one more appearance in augmented form, and once again ends on the dominant chords, refusing to musically resolve.

There is one last, speculative bit: as the title card for the date fades to black at the end, one does hear choir of low voices, sounding a familiar theme associated with this trilogy’s main villain, Snoke. Is this a coincidence?

Clearly, the two themes we now associate with Luke and Rey aid in the audience’s understanding of their brief dialogue, as well as assist in asking the questions the viewer would want answered by the film itself: is Luke fully with the light side of the force? Who is “the last Jedi?” What is meant by “a balance” in the force?

We will just have to wait to learn – and hear – much more as this trailer campaign continues over the course of 2017.

 — Curtis Perry

Deadpool 2

Everyone’s favourite Merc with a Mouth is back. Clocking in at a lengthy three minutes and forty-one seconds, the Deadpool 2 trailer is really more of a short film – a continuous sequence that is so asinine, so excessively self-aware, and so true to the original material that the trailer could very well serve as the opening scene in the feature film. True to Deadpool form, the music consistently serves as a punchline in jokes so subtle that they are liable to soar above the heads of most movie goers, clever references directed towards the hyper vigilante pop culture connoisseur. For readers who are familiar with Deadpool, it should come as no surprise that this trailer warrants Trailaurality’s first ever “Not Safe For Work” warning: viewer discretion is advised for depictions of violence, strong language, and even a little male nudity.

The trailer opens with the soothing sounds of strings from “A Walk in the Woods” by Marco Beltramias as a man walks down a dark street, accompanied by the urban street sounds of air breaks, a cat’s meow, and the distinct jingle of liquor bottles jostling in the man’s backpack with each subsequent step. The music is a subtle nod to Deadpool’s obsession over Wolverine; audiences may recognize “A Walk in the Woods” from the original soundtrack of The Wolverine (2013), the first of the trilogy starring Hugh Jackman. This is the first of multiple allusions the trailer makes to the shared cinematic universe. The song is replaced by another as Ryan Reynolds’s character stops and removes his earbuds when he sees an elderly man being mugged. The audience gets a glimpse at the vigilante’s musical tastes: “St. Elmo’s Fire”performed by John Parr.

A few expletives later, Wilson leaps into action, sprinting towards a lonely phone booth to change into his Deadpool costume, parodying Clark Kent’s absurd costume changing routine. The trailer emphasizes the Superman lampooning with the music: John William’s Superman March. The music is interrupted by frequent calls for help from the alley, trivializing the heroism that the music was initially intended to instill. The urgency that the music and the sounds of the off-screen violence conveys is further undermined as Deadpool struggles to get dressed into his costume, even stopping to make a frustrated phone call to a man named Laird who usually helps him get dressed in his costume, thereby breaking the fourth wall.

The music cuts abruptly as a gunshot rings out, leaving a void of ominous silence previously occupied by the old man’s screams. Stan Lee makes his compulsory Marvel cameo and Deadpool, recognizing him to be Stan Lee and further breaking the fourth wall, tells the man who penned his character to “zip it.”“St. Elmo’s Fire” returns at the chorus as Deadpool sprints triumphantly towards the alley, only to stop in his tracks, finding the man dead. The song stops with the familiar sound of a record slowing to a halt on a turntable. Deadpool apologizes to the deceased for not arriving sooner and subsequently lays down against him, carrying on a conversation as he eats the man’s discarded groceries. Hans Zimmer’s “You’re So Cool” plays out the scene. Deadpool references Wolverine again, making fun of Hugh Jackman’s Australian accent despite the fact that he usesan American accent in the X-Men franchise.

In all of its ridiculousness, the Deadpool 2 trailer promises a movie that is as over-the-top as its predecessor. The lighthearted R-rated trailer pokes fun at superhero conventions through its exaggerated use of music, using iconic soundtracks and sound design to position itself as a meta-superhero movie. The Deadpool 2 trailer, titled “No Good Deed,” is a basket full of Easter eggs to kick off your long weekend.

– Andrew Sproule

Justice League

This past week, the first official trailer for Justice League was dropped by DC.

As one YouTube commenter put it, “I used to think that people who fight over religions are dumb. Then I saw people fighting over marvel and dc [sic].” Whatever your stance on the issue, it is clear that DC continues to do superhero movie trailers right.

The trailer’s form is a classic three part structure, beginning with an air of mystery, then introducing drama and comedy, and finally focusing on action for a strong finish. As usual for the studio and the trailer houses who work on promoting its films, the use of music in this trailer is top-notch. However, not every news outlet might agree about the bombastic approach director Zack Snyder is clearly going for here. 

The trailer opens on a mysterious blend of brass and strings, with the Warner Bros and DC title cards appearing fairly quickly, at 0:10. Shortly after, atop a a war drum-like rhythm, a voiceover says, “we have to be ready […] there’s an attack coming.” Wonder Woman subsequently replies, tipping the listener off that the original voice was that of Batman, saying “not coming, Bruce… it’s already here,” as the rhythm abruptly ends the first segment of the trailer at 0:30. In terms of sound design, some suspenseful synths take over, adding to the foreboding atmosphere between snippets of dialogue at around 0:35.

At 0:40 to about 1:00 – while characters are introduced – we hear the White Stripes’ early millennium track “The Hardest Button to Button,” obviously edited to loop the riff, only to somewhat jarringly switch to a hard rock cover of The Beatles’ “Come Together,” with all of the obvious significance that title has for a movie comprised of various super heroes, well, coming together to fight evil. The cover is by Justice League composer Junkie XL (aka Tom Holkenborg) and famed guitarist Gary Clark Jr.

An original coda for the “Come Together” riff brings us to a touch of comedic flair as Bruce, responding to Barry Allen (aka The Flash) asking what his super powers are, retorts “I’m rich” circa 1:30. Lyrics for the cover version of “Come Together” enter at 1:35, emphasizing the line “you’ve got to be free,” which likely alludes to the sense of freedom of vigilante heroism that Batman enjoys. The track is augmented by various supporting sound effects such as one at 1:48 as the cast of Justice League is quickly run through.

To ramp up cohesion of the music with the corresponding image, at 1:49 we see a prisoner and his visitor’s hands touching the glass to the beat of the music, and at 1:52 an array of triplets interrupt the groove in perfect sync with a tank’s gun fire. At 2:03 the Justice League title card arrives with one more repetition of the main riff, and a brief cinematic coda closes it out to a general release window of November.

One is reminded of the success that DC had by pairing Bohemian Rhapsody very tightly with the trailer campaign for Suicide Squad. While DC films are popularly and critically considered to be playing second fiddle to Marvel’s powerhouse roster of superhero films, DC continues to show great taste in leveraging choice musical cuts to fit the moods and themes of its cinematic offerings. Expect to hear a lot more of “Come Together” in the ensuing months leading up to Justice League’s release.

– Curtis Perry