The Catch-Up: Recent Trailer Releases for December 2021

While we do try to cover most every major trailer release week by week as they premiere, there will always be a few that escape notice. As we approach the holidays, here are a few write-ups about music and sound in trailer releases worth catching up on or looking forward to.

Encanto

Disney’s latest foray into animation is set in the mountains of Colombia and focus on a family, the Madrigals (a musical name), imbued with magic. With new music by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, Moana), it’s unsurprising to see music factoring heavily into this trailer as well. From the outset, the house’s magic is conveyed with moving architecture synched to the music, such as the bricks flaying out to the piano line at 0:14, or the floor tiles-as-percussion a moment later. As a light-hearted piece, Encanto’s trailer also borrows heavily from standard comedy trailer conventions, such as having the music dramatically stop at 0:28 to deliver a visual punchline, or at 1:16 with a self-conscious aside. The musical arrangement builds from here, adding in vocals, a rousing violin element, and orchestral percussion accents. Even so, again at 1:36 the music stops to deliver another punchline–never allowing itself to become overly serious. Encanto is now in theatres.

Hawkeye

A very Marvel edition of Die Hard? Hawkeye fully leans into its holiday release window with a New York decked with boughs of holly. The first twenty seconds or so are decidedly grim, however, with atmospheric pedal tones humming in the background as Barton discovers that someone may be posing as the vigilante assassin he has since retired, Ronin. At 0:33, we hear Andy Williams’ familiar voice in “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”—also used in the trailer for Krampus--albeit absent any other instrumentation. At 0:38 some now cliché percussive hits match the action; this is contrasted in the arrangement but some pitched percussion on the upper range. Notice especially how at 0:48 when the arrow hits the bell, the song begins in earnest. The audio bridge carrying over Clint’s call to his wife comedically juxtaposes the molotov cocktail, and he tries to coat his antics in euphemisms (“things have gotten… more complicated”). Gun shots and other sonic action accentuates and blends into the musical score, such as the syncopated hits at 1:11. Overall, it’s a blend that prioritizes fun over intrigue and danger—suitably, making for little debate that this is a holiday title. Hawkeye is out now on Disney Plus.

Stranger Things 4

Finally, the next instalment of Stranger Things is due mid-2022; for now, we have this teaser trailer that foregrounds a change of scenery form Indiana to California, and the song choice isn’t shy about it. What sounds at first listen like The Beach Boys turns out to be Jeremiah Burnham’s 2014 release “A Place in California”. Things reach an unexpected (albeit, for the franchise, perhaps expected) blackout and sudden cut in the music at 0:47 as Eleven proclaims—in stark juxtaposition—that she “will have the best spring break ever”. This is followed by a montage that swiftly confirms the opposite. As a roughly minute-long teaser, it’s effective, centering around a single, dramatic cut as the inflection point from anticipation to excitement.

— Curtis Perry