Trailer Analysis: The Girl on the Train

The trailer for the film 'The Girl on the Train' uses the formalistic conventions for a film effectively. One formalistic convention of a film trailer is the use of music. In the trailer the music used was a slowed down version of 'Heartless' by the well-known American recording artist Kanye West. The song was editing in order to emphasise the word 'heartless within the lyric, this could suggest the theme or the kind of personality within the film. The non-diegetic sound was also edited to sound auto-tuned compared to how the original song sounds. The use of this effect on the music allowed it to sound disturbing and kept the trailer its self engaging.

Inter titles are another formalistic convention which is present within the film trailer. At the beginning of trailer the inter titles used had a white background with black font. We are then told, through the inter titles, that 'a women disappeared', this then led to a change in background colour to black, which connotes mystery. Overall the change in colour could link to Todorov's narrative theory as this could suggest that this is where the disruption has taken place.
The trailer ends on a cliffhanger, which creates suspense and makes the audience eager to watch the film. The dull, grey weather and the eerie effect from the train tracks the trailer leaves at the end may also appeal tot he audience. Overall this could foreshadow what the atmosphere and mood could be throughout the film.