The trailer begins with a sequence of dull clips taken from different angles but same time period. The clips cut to the next clip on the slow beat of piano notes. The piano notes become higher each time. This happens three times before a long note of violin is played. I think the creators started the trailer like this to set the mood and feel for the whole movie. The clips give off a typical ‘gloomy day’ vibe and even though the weather in the clips is sunny, it’s clear that the creators edited the saturation and brightness of them to help make the mood duller. This makes the viewer realise that the movie is probably going to be very dark the whole way through. I believe I would be able to tell this, even if I didn’t know the genre of the movie. Something I also noticed was that the audio from the movie has been muted. This means that we can focus purely on the music. This contributes to the main point of the movie being somewhat gloomy and eery.
I noticed that when the camera introduces us to the small boy, he is happy and smiling, but the mood remains dark. This showed great juxtaposition in the trailer. This makes the viewer confused and intrigued. I personally feel myself questioning the man. A few seconds ago, he seemed like a cheerless character, and now he is joking around with the child and making him laugh? Now I have written that, I’ve realised that I used the term ‘joking around’ which links to the title of the movie. This confirms that the man is the main character of the movie and he is the Joker.
If you listen closely, you can hear a beat when the man plays peekaboo and uncovers his eyes, almost like the creators were trying to make it seem like a mini jump scare. This acts as a warning to the viewer, indicating there will be some jump scares in the movie.
In the second section of the trailer, the creator overlaps audio of a women saying that she has bad news. In the clip that runs directly after it, the man can be seen manically laughing. This makes it seem like he doesn’t care and that he’s relieved to be hearing the bad news, making the woman seem stupid. I think the creators did this to show what is going on in his mind while the woman is talking to him. Which, he clearly appears to be in hysterics about. I may be incorrect, but I’m just stating my assumptions based on what the trailer is showing me.
In the background while all of this is happening, music is continuing to play, gradually building up and becoming more dramatic. This gives off a sinister feel to this section of the trailer which is different to the sadder and gloomier feel to the beginning of the trailer.
In the third section of the trailer, I noticed the continuation of the music hitting beats on certain moments. This happens when the clown can be seen running and hitting his head on the sign. The image changes every time Arthur lists a new point. This makes it seem like what he’s saying is what’s being portrayed in the image. I love how the image changes to Arthur on his last sentence, thus creating a bigger impact, letting the viewer know that what he’s saying is an important point.
The mood in this scene is isolating and passive. This is because the creator has decided to use cooler lighting for this scene. The lighting clearly matches Arthur’s mood perfectly, so I especially enjoyed this detail. The music during this scene is completely stripped back giving off a focused aura. It makes it seem like the creator wanted the viewer to focus purely on Arthur’s expression throughout the scene. Towards the end of the scene the music creeps back up again and hits when it says, ‘Coming This Fall’. This was probably done to create a big impact on the words being displayed on the screen.
