Cloverfield (2008) trailer review

NAME OF FILM: Cloverfield

YEAR RELEASED: 2008

GENRE OF TRAILER: Horror

MY MARK AFTER VIEWING: 8/10

What happened within the trailer?

The trailer for Cloverfield starts at a surprise party with a high atmosphere, and suddenly there is a lot of chaos and explosions within the urban environment. We hear a loud groaning sound and everyone goes up to the roof to investigate. The rest of the trailer is little snippets of people trying to figure out what's going on and military action. The trailer ends with the head of the statue of liberty rolling through the streets of New York

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?

The editing of the trailer was very successful and created a bit of a jump scare towards the end of the trailer with the statue of liberty head that creates a loud bang. it used collision cutting which cut from quick, slow and back to quick again as we go from the party to the confusion and then back to the snippets of the action. I'd like to try and capture that same pace within my trailer in order to keep the audience hooked whilst still leaving them wanting more. The trailer used one inter title to establish to the audience that this was a 'real event' and takes the form of a documentary movie, similarly to Blair Witch Project (1999). I liked the music used also which helps to establish atmospheres but is then used to completely throw them off. Firstly we are presented with a typical party setting with some music with a beat but then the bat slowly turns to an ambient but creepy piece of music, you could say that it's almost like a change from a drum beat to a heart beat; which helps to establish the tone of the movie. I like the nice cross between the music to a diegetic heartbeat it flows well.

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful, and would have put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?

I like the trailer which is why the average score was pretty high, however whilst I have a criticism it's probably more of a personal preference. I didn't feel as though there was any detail of the monster at all which I would have liked. I also didn't feel as though I was watching a trailer for a horror movie, but more one about an apocalypse of some description. I'd want to avoid this by including classic horror conventions to firmly establish the genre for my audiences.

What was the trailer’s avg. score in class? Why did it receive that mark?

Average score for the trailer was 8/10 for the use of collision cutting and the overall pacing of the trailer. It also left enough of the narrative a mystery to keep people hooked. The trailer however used very little key horror conventions other than the quick editing and some of the cinematography use, so it didn't really strike me as initial horror.