RESEARCH: Soundtracks on Film Trailers

Soundtracks really help set the atmosphere and the plot of films, without them, trailers can be pretty bland, not exciting and they can sometimes be confusing.

This is the film trailer to Silent Hill: Revelation 3D. It is the sequel to the very successful 2006 Canadian horror film 'Silent Hill'. Without the sound, the trailer has no atmosphere. In terms of the visuals, the film has all the aspects of horror films, dark lighting, people running, screaming or looking scared, blood, scary creatures/monsters and the text that appears also helps show that it is a horror film. For example, it says that the film is released on Halloween. Traditionally, films that are released on Halloween are normally horror films. Yet, even with all of these visual aids to help with the atmosphere, the only thing that really gives the film trailer the scary, dramatic and horrifying atmosphere is the soundtrack. In the beginning, it shows our main female character talking about how she's been to five schools since she was eleven. During this, we are hearing a single piano which has connotations of loneliness and sadness. However, during the rest of the trailer, there are a lot of sounds which are typical of horror films. The sound of knives slashing something are enhanced for extra effect but knives are associated with death, we hear church bells which although they normally have a positive atmosphere in our everyday real life, they have a creepy, strange atmosphere in the scenario our main character is in. She's in a misty, foggy area and the woman she is talking to looks strange as well. Everything is quiet and all you can hear is the church bells which again suggest something bad is about to happen. There's a lot of screaming which again helps back up the idea that this is the trailer for a horror film because screaming is associated with terror and death. The speech used also is a massive help for us to realise that this is a horror film. The main character talks about people being "after her" and how she needs to find her father. She also screams a lot and tells someone to go to Hell who replies "We're already here.". If that speech wasn't there, we wouldn't really have any idea of what's going on or get an idea of what the plot is about, so without the non-diegetic sound and the diegetic sound, we lose all of the scary atmosphere we are looking for in horror films and trailers.