Trailer Review: Cloverfield (2008)

The trailer for Cloverfield is a ‘scene’ trailer. It begins with a party happening; everything appears to be running smoothly with the characters completely oblivious to what is to come. Every shot is filmed with a handheld camera, which gives a realistic feel to scenes. Once the lights go out in the room that the party is being held, the lighting changes to low key lighting, indicating a change in the mood of the film, with panic being spread throughout the characters. Once the characters are outside, the handheld camera looks around, and sees a huge ball of fire coming from the top of a group of buildings, causing major panic in everybody. As people start to run, the shots become quicker cut into a fast montage, creating a tense, panic-stricken feel, and enables the viewer to connect with the character’s emotions. The trailer finishes with the head of the Statue of Liberty flying towards the group of people, an iconic symbol of America being destroyed, which is put into the film to cause a reaction from American viewers. The trailer ends on a cliff-hanger, as the trailer doesn’t show what causes the explosions, or what happens to the characters after this scene, which entices the viewer to go and watch the full film. The ending titles of the trailer have a distorted effect added to them, which goes with the feel of a handheld camera. The handheld camera gives a realistic feel to the trailer, as the shots are from somebodies point of view, giving the viewer more of a sense that they are actually there, resulting in them feeling the character’s emotions and getting more involved in the film.