AV Trailer breakdown: logan

Please note: Playback speed and quality may effect appearance of timing.

AV Trailer breakdown Disclaimer:

This trailer is property of 20th Century Fox. The trailer is not edited in any way, it has simply been color-marked for audiovisual content. This project is academic, as a part of a digital media PhD.

Notes:

1) Audio elements were analyzed and marked with NO VIDEO accompanying it.

2) Video elements were analyzed and marked with NO AUDIO accompanying it.

3) All markers were placed by hand. Several passes were made in order to attempt accuracy, but I am not a machine and things are only so perfect.

Summary:

This was an exercise in identifying aural and visual rhythms and techniques in cutting a trailer. I was interested in finding out how many of the cues I identified in the separate categories would line up, and if certain patterns, techniques, or characteristics would emerge.

Logan was chosen as the trailer for three reasons:

1) I had never heard the song used before, and felt I would be less biased in that regard. Furthermore, there seemed to be sound effects added “to” the music in the trailer, which was very interesting to me (I marked these out before listening to the original audio track; they are in fact added in on the trailer)

2) I really loved the trailer. To me, it had an amazing flow and cadence to it, and moved me emotionally even before I had seen the movie.

3) Turns out I really liked the movie, too. I knew I’d be able to watch the trailer many times without getting burned out.

Breakdown of Markers:

Audio is on the bottom, Video is on the top

Blue: Music Rhythm - represents the general beat. does not endeavor to notate or reflect notation, simply represents the general pulse of the music.

Grey: Extra-Musical Emphasis - Effects, often that engage the musical aesthetic of the song (added drum sounds, for example) and sit somewhere between music and sound effect. These sounds would not likely be present in the film (unlike regular sound effects, represented in white).

White: Sound Effects - SFX that are (so far as I know) included in the film itself.

Pink: Cuts - Markers at the beginning of each cut to a new scene.

Green: Visual Impacts or Cues: I noticed a lot of directed eye glares, so markers were placed for them. I also indicated moments when objects or people hit the ground, throw a particularly directed punch, when moving objects coming to sudden halts, and other things of that nature. 

Additional and Technical Notes

All markers are 10 frames in length. Because many things happen simultaneously and very quickly, the markers are sometimes placed at the beginning of an event (as in the case of visual cuts), and sometimes placed so that the marker is centered with the point of impact or action (so, extending 4-5 frames before and 4-5 frames after). In order to keep things less cluttered, markers do not extend the entire duration of the event (for example, a long sound effect is only indicated by its onset).