Upload

The coverage of comedy trailers continues for the time being with a new series by Greg Daniels (SNL, The Simpsons, Parks and Recreation, King of the Hill, The Office) for Amazon, Upload.

In these days of quarantine, it feels almost eerily prescient to have a comedy series in some sense emulate a life entirely lived online; the premise here is that your consciousness could be uploaded digitally to avert death.

Talking Heads’ 1980 hit “Days Go By” is the key musical track, not covered or otherwise rearranged, but assiduously spliced and cut to match each scene and moment.

The trailer actually opens on a different musical track, however—a ephemeral cascade of synths on the upper range gently introduces the opening hospital scene. Notice the introduction of firm and solid piano chords around the 0:17 mark, synchronized to some extent with the operator’s countdown and the movement of the uploading machine.

The music stops on the word “upload”, and at 0:21 the first bass note is a glissando downwards, emulating the motion of the image being put into code—here, the music strikingly mimics the animation. The music pauses but for a moment at 0:31 to open the doors to a scenic view and the title card for Daniels. “You may find yourself living in a beautiful house,” David Byrne sings matter-of-factly with, appropriately, a beautiful, immaculately digital house on screen. The music pauses with an additional sound effect at 0:46 in typical comedy trailer fashion; the music itself, repetitive and droning, adds to the sense of suddenness and spontaneity when it gets pulled from the listener’s ear with Cruise delivering the punch line.

Around 0:50 it seems like a new guitar element may have been added, but it could also be that the editors had access to the original track stems, and they foregrounded a particular element. The music pauses again at 1:04 and 1:14 as our protagonist discovers sections of his digital world cordoned off by “in-app purchases” and talking, sentient dogs, respectively giving the one-liner. This recurring device of lifting the veil and reminding the viewer that this is not the normal world, blending the expectations of offline and online life, promises to be a big part of what makes the show work.

The zaniness ramps up with a montage by the 1:20 mark, with the lyrics of the song’s chorus now fully intact; the monotony and tension of Byrne’s voice provides a nice counterpoint to the on-screen digital antics. This reaches a peak with the lyrics “once in a lifetime”, perhaps obliquely referring to the protagonist attempting to walk on water—and then, comedically, utterly failing despite his being shown it is possible.

The trailer rides out with the title card and a final, post-title gag; the music takes a backseat from here on. Ending on the lyric “once in a lifetime” is also evocative of the show’s premise—asking one to consider what a lifetime is. It’s very reminiscent of just-ended The Good Place (Michael Schur).

The use of “Days Go By” for the Upload trailer works on many levels. It’s bound to be recognized by at least part of the target adult audience, it’s an effective fit lyrically (especially as cut and edited), and the music itself is both evocative of an imagined digital afterlife. It also functions as a dreamy, hazy counterpoint to the moments of punctuative comedy in the trailer, which just may get us to temporarily forget out current malaise in the hope for televisual distraction.

— Curtis Perry