The Soundtrack of the Sinister Trailer

Abstract

In this article, I analyse the soundtrack of the green band trailer for Sinister (Scott Derrickson, 2012), combining quantitative methods to analyse the soundtrack with formal analysis. I show that, even though Sinister is a narrative about a demon who lives in images, the horror in the soundtrack of this trailer is articulated through the sound design. I describe the structure of the soundtrack and analyse the distribution and organisation of dialogue, the use of different types of sound effects to create a connection between the viewer and the characters onscreen, as well as the use of specific localised sound events to organise attention and to frighten the viewer. I identify two features not previously discussed in relation to quantitative analysis of film soundtracks: an affective event based on reactions to a stimulus and the presence of nonlinear features in the sound envelopes of localised affective events. The sound design of this trailer is consistent with the principles of contemporary sound design in horror cinema, but also demonstrates some variation in its use of sound as a paratext to its parent film.

Computational Analysis of a Horror Film Trailer Soundtrack

“…Brotto (2013, 155) observed that computational methods for exploring film style lacked a method for analyzing sound. Despite an abundance of freely available audio analysis tools developed in the fields of bioacoustics, soundscape ecology, and computational music analysis, few (Ma et al 2021;Moncrieff, Dorai, and Venkatesh 2002;Pfeiffer and Srinivasan 2002;Redfern 2020aRedfern , 2020bRedfern , 2021 have attempted to apply these technologies to the analysis of motion picture soundtracks.…”