Deconstruction of Cloverfield Teaser Trailer by Hollie-Jade Higgins

Cloverfield 2 Teaser Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXWZS2MrdO8


Cloverfield 2 teaser trailer cleverly entwines clips from the movie with on screen writing that are used together to tell the story. The opening of the trailer starts with a black screen with letters flying in from the left and right to form “IT CAME WITHOUT WARNING” a sans-serif white capital font is used. The writing is distorted when it is appearing on the screen. The music has a drum beat with stringed instruments; this creates a calm feeling with added suspense.
A medium close up of a male character is shown using a hand held camera style, the character then goes on to give a small insight into the film “My name is Robert Hawkins, approximately 7 hours ago something attacked the city” as Robert is narrating the story, a shaky low angle shot reveals the destruction of New York City, quickly returning back to the same shot of Robert, this tells viewers that Robert is a key character in the film, as the screen cuts to black and in the same way as before letters appear on the screen… “IT KILLED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.” ‘It’ adds a sense of mystery to the audience ‘without prejudice’ tells the audience that whatever ‘it’ is ruthless; this adds a feeling of fear.
A series of flashes teamed with the sound of thunder end with an interesting close up showing a dead person. This is once again followed up with a black screen and words; “WE THREW EVERYTHING WE HAD AT IT”- once again ‘it’, this is then followed with a build up in the music as the sound of explosions intensifies and a shaky camera shows the destruction that is New York City, with the armed forces shouting and running through bellowing smoke and an army tank- this reiterates the enormity of the situation
The black screen and writing returns “VICTORY WAS OURS” this is followed with a high angle shot panning from left to right looking down from the sky scrapers down at the monster; which appears to be in pain, the characters can be heard shouting in despair. This gives the viewer hope that the people will defeat the monster; a celebration that is not long lived when the screen goes to black with the words “OR SO WE THOUGHT.” The words are almost playing a psychological game with the viewer’s minds. As the screen returns to black there is whispering in the background as the title of the film “CLOVERFIELD 2” appears and disappears from our screen as “COMING SOON” appears and finally disappears into black.
Throughout the trailer music and exaggerated sounds are used to build up an atmosphere and urgency to the film. The end of the trailer leaves the enigma code of if the characters survive and if the creature is defeated or not. The trailer is evenly paced with a slower pace when the writing is on the screen and a faster pace when the action from the film is being shown. The trailer tells the viewer that there is a lot of action in this film and the hand held style of filming gives a more authentic feel.