When you watch a movie trailer, do you listen to the music?
If you thought the average Hollywood studio just used the film soundtrack for trailers, think again. A good trailer is a “two minute advertisement” and a trailer score has to suit that marketing promo. The action and dialogue might become the core part of the trailer, but the pacing and conveyed emotions are often dictated by the music
What is the importance of music in a trailer?
What does it add in terms of enticing the viewers? The music chosen for a trailer, along with visuals edited together, form an important basis for branding the film’s identity. However, unlike the visual component, the music accompanying the picture can originate from any source, and very rarely is drawn from the film’s soundtrack. Music is integral in creating the aural impression the producers wish to convey to a potentially paying audience. In the space of two minutes, the music interacts with the visuals to create an advertisement style that reaches out to the intended demographic. With the popularity of fast-cutting, MTV-style editing most prevalent in trailers today, it is crucially important for the music to be able to support and sustain the energy presented in the visuals. For example, in presenting the next summer blockbuster, because there is not much time to “set up” a music track, trailer producers usually gravitate towards either fast-paced, explosive action cues, or huge sounding epic orchestral cues that caste the subject matter in a heroic light.For a romantic comedy, the music chosen will usually instantly convey the “two people from different backgrounds in conflict then coming together” formula with either a light orchestral track or a catchy and evocative pop song. Often times, several TV spots will be produced for a film, each utilizing different styles of music to reach a different demographic, i.e. the male under 25 crowd by using a power metal track, or the female audience by accenting the relationship between the two main characters. For each targeted demographic, the music alters the face of the visuals and presents the film in a different, marketable way.
The recent hot trend is what is called “hybrid”. This incorporates cinematic elements such as orchestra and choir, along with contemporary electronic arrangements found in modern rock, techno and urban music. The reason is that this still identifies the film as a uniquely cinematic experience worth seeing in the theater, yet shows that it is hip, cool and trendy. This is especially true for the more action-packed, CGI effects driven films.Big name bands are always sought after for use in a film’s marketing materials, and the cost of licensing many bands has gone down over the past two years, in concert with the sales declines on the retail record side. Usually, but not always, if a band song is used in the film, the producers will seek the right to utilize the material in the marketing campaign. Trailers are advertising, and famous songs and bands are always in demand in order to tie in a familiarity for the audience, and also to kind of deceive the viewer into thinking they will hear that song in the film.