How is "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Trailer Effective?

‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ trailer can be considered successful due to its effectiveness and the impact it has on its audience. The trailer creates an enigma, as it reveals very little of the plot, thus drawing the audience in.  This convention is presented through the profusion of different locations viewed in the trailer, displayed through the use of fast cutting, as it allows the audience to see a variety of different sequences in the film, but the sequences being too short for the audience to know exactly what is happening.

The trailer can also be considered successful due to the suspense it creates through the use of the non-diegetic soundtrack, which is used throughout. The soundtrack used is very upbeat, fast and dramatic, and is synchronous to the editing. This adds to the overall suspense and tension of the trailer because it makes it seem more fast-paced, and makes the audience wonder what will happen next. The heavy metal soundtrack used also allows the audience to recognize the genre of the film, as the song combined with the fast paced editing, connotes mystery and ambiguity.

A Point Of View shot is used at the beginning of the trailer as the camera moves around the corner displaying an extreme long shot of the road covered in snow.  This type of shot can be considered effective as it allows the audience to see exactly what the character is seeing from their POV, as well as highlighting the importance of the snow covered road, and the building at the end of the road. This is further conveyed through the use of editing and the shots used, as throughout the trailer, the camera shots are getting closer and closer towards the building, despite all the other shots in the trailer being anachronic, as they are not in chronological order. This makes the audience question why the building, and the road towards the building is being repeatedly shown in the trailer, and why it is significant, therefore creating enigma, meaning the audience will want to watch the film, thus making it a successful trailer.

There are a variety of contrasting shots used in the trailer. For example the snow-covered road, where the predominant colour is white, is juxtaposed by the car chase scene where the predominant colour is black. This gives the film trailer a very dark appearance, displaying the genre of the film. The colours also match the typography of the trailer, as the writing is white on a black background. The font used may be seen by the audience to be mysterious, as the typography has ‘scratches’ or ‘cracks’ on the letters, which can connote, pain or suffering, also matching the genre of the film, which is a mystery, thriller.