19th Annual Golden Trailer Awards Winners Announced

As covered earlier, the Golden Trailer awards were held last Thursday. The 19th annual event recognized an array of trailers across a variety of categories. 

The biggest winner was Black Panther, which we recognized early on for the prowess it displayed in its trailer music thanks in part to a collaboration with Run the Jewels. 

Stranger Things took home best music and best sound editing for a television series while Westworld garnered best original score. We’ve covered trailers for each of these popular properties as well: we noted that the use of the seminal Michael Jackson hit “Thriller” was exactly the kind of panache the 80s-tinged Stranger Things series needed – a deliberately over-the-top ownership of its retro-cool identity. While not covering the series music specifically, our coverage of the season two trailer highlights the inventiveness of the editors’ use of elements such as orchestrated covers, as heard in the cover version of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” featured in said trailer.

Elsewhere, the award for best horror trailer went to A Quiet Place. As we noted on the blog, its interplay of effects, synthesizers, and a notable absence of sound at places lend greatly to it effectiveness in the horror genre.

The best documentary award went to none other than Won’t You Be My Neighbor, also covered on this very blog. Again, the music – this time, a mix of the classic Mr. Rogers song with a steady crescendo of uplifting orchestral sound – plays a pivotal role in balancing our nostalgia for Fred with a modern sensibility as to how he remains relevant today as a mentor and even as a political figure.

Finally, Best Music goes to none other than “Baby Driver,” which on the blog we noted was almost more notable for its sound effects than it music. However, as the conceit around the film is about Baby’s need for music, the overall conceit as well as its execution coalesce to earn the award.

A complete list of nominees and winners may be found at the Golden Trailer Awards page. 

– Curtis Perry