Zola

In what is most like the first film adapted from a Twitter thread, it’s more than apt that it should start with the sound of a mobile notification; that innocent-sounding, two-ding bell is both complemented and juxtaposed by a woman calmly gliding around a pole. The story—or, as famously known on Twitter, #TheStory—is based on a 148-tweet thread from 2015 by Aziah “Zola” Wells, detailing a _Pulp Fiction_esque story that’s at first about a stripper, and goes far deeper than anyone could have imagined.

The first song, about twenty seconds in, is 1960 track “Because Of My Friend”, an early R&B track by the Clickettes. Likely chosen for its innocuous nature as well as its aesthetic—the colour grading of the trailer does remind of other 60s throwback films, although clearly this story takes place in the present day—at 0:28 it’s suddenly cut off, and there’s a clever switchover not only between the lighting and scene, but also the music, with the previous mobile notification sounds acting as sort of catalyst. The new track is Mykki Blanco’s “My Nene”, a 2016 rap track. Clearly, it’s an exercise in compare and contrast meant to emphasise the layers and complexity successively revealed, not unlike the source material’s Twitter thread.

The trailer subtly breaks the fourth wall at 0:52, visibly rewinding pieces of footage while the narrator intones, “from here on out… watch every move.” This segues to a sequence emphasizing sounds above all. The sounds of money being handled, the clack of lips, a slap to the face, long nails rattling against a window, and more coincide with some decidedly spooky sound design in the soundtrack that one might expect to hear in a horror trailer instead. Here, there’s effective juxtaposition again, with the image of a goldfish at 1:02 synched to the sound of a Twitter notification. It reminds us of course of the film’s source material, but it also underscores the disconnect between the often simple and spartan presentation of life on social media as compared to life offline. To underscore that point, the first critic’s card, from Variety, at 1:14 calls it “a visionary tale of the digital age”.

Other modern niceties of trailer music editing appear, such as the triplets at 1:23 and dramatic pauses in the music at 1:24 and 1:43, and 2:01 to make room for one-liners. The build up for the final one-liner combines the steady upwards glissando that features in thriller trailers with the steady beat of “My Nene” to help emphasize the building drama. Notably, at 2:12 yet another Twitter notification sound ends the trailer. Clearly, the editors at leaning into the sound as a memorable one. This is both because millions of people ought to be very familiar with it, as a branded sound, but also of course because a major draw for the film is how it was conceived as a social media phenomenon.

Having first premiered at Sundance in January 2020, Zola arrives in theatres this summer.

— Curtis Perry