Coronavirus Trailers

Since Coronavirus has captured the world’s attention, it stands to reason that there would be multiple documentary-style investigative pieces and explainers that attempt to inform or persuade the public. This simultaneously offers a chance to see how the trailers for these piece use music and sound—using pitch make the pitch.

Pandemic: The Coronavirus Movie

This trailer was put out by Living Waters, an evangelical Christian organization. It largely consists of a serious of media clips paired with action-oriented library music, with frenetic strings clearly designed to induce fear and paranoia. The music gets even more frenetic as a couple of title cards suggest a religious connection: “Who would have believed it... those who know their Bible”. It's not unsurprising that a trailer for a documentary film on Coronavirus might use panic-inducing music to accompany it, nor that those who hold a particular ideological or religious point of view might want to rationalize the situation within it. 

Coronavirus, Explained

This Netflix special, produced in associated with Vox Media, opts for a remarkably different tone with its use of music. Pizzicato strings paired with light glockenspiel convey a sense of curiousness and almost whimsicality as we see Bill Gates calmly explaining some of the intricacies of the unfolding pandemic. Minor chords cascade down as the trailer continues to focus on, as the title promises, explaining what is known about the virus from a scientific perspective. A piano on the lower end provides a way of elegantly signalling a close to the trailer through the musical arrangement. As a whole, it provides a somber yet almost strangely reassuring contrast to the fear-based argument the previous trailer makes, while creating desire for the Netflix show.

Hospital Special: Fighting Covid-19

This very short trailer uses Massive Attack’s “Paradise Circus”, and its tone, with uplifting strings and clapping, seems to focus on and underscore the narrative of the heroism of frontline workers, which is obviously the focus of this BBC special. 

As people and organizations respond to the pandemic in different ways and produce media with different end goals, the musical choices for their trailers illustrate these differing intentions and their means for pursuing them well. Whether the videos instil fear, hope, or calmness, a comparison of these approaches to documenting Coronavirus lets one hear how trailer music is particularly effective at setting a particular tone. 

— Curtis Perry