Trailer Analysis

Film: Cloverfield

Released: January 2008

Director: Matt Reeves


The trailer for Cloverfield starts with somebody filming a surprise leaving party for a co-worker who is moving away. Friends are wishing him well on camera and the general feel is like a home movie. Next, there is a loud groaning sound which causes everybody to go up to the roof to see if they can find out what it is happening. Suddenly, there are explosions and they are running down the stairs onto the street. The view from the street is chaos with lots of people all trying to find out what is going on whilst running away from explosions. The trailer ends with the head of the Statue of Liberty landing in the middle of the street, setting the film in New York. 


This trailer is very effective in building suspense and leaving the audience with lots of questions. The handheld camera throughout the trailer gives you the impression that the film will be like this throughout, but this doesn't compromise the skill that the trailer is shot with. By using collision cutting, the trailer changes from being comfortable viewing of a leaving party too suddenly, something is happening and along with the characters, the audience are trying to work out what it is that has happened. 


I found this trailer really interesting and I thought that it worked really well as a scene trailer because the plot isn't given away at all but there’s just enough action to make you excited to see the film. However, some people think that doing a scene trailer is too risky because it has to be a really good scene from the film in order to entice the audience in the same way a teaser trailer would. Also, the trailer doesn't really sell the horror genre because it features very few horror conventions other than editing and cinematography techniques.


The average score for this trailer was 8/10 because the building of tension and collision cutting used in the trailer was really effective and makes you want to watch the film to find out what it is that has happened.