Summary: Murder On The Orient Express

When your Heart Skips a Beat

“If there was a murder, there was a murderer. The murderer is with us and every one of you is a suspect”. This quote from the trailer initiates a curiosity and eagerness in the audience to solve the mystery. Although intriguing, without the- camera and sound effects, this quote would not generate such a thrilling feeling. All mystery movies have some traits in common, for example the trailer always entices the viewer with suspense; this is displayed many different ways including rapid shots, instrumental riffs, and camera shots. The trailer for the upcoming film Murder on the Orient Express manipulates the audience's senses by integrating suspenseful music to create a tense feeling and utilizes a dolly to capture

In this trailer, a combination of diegetic and non diegetic sounds are used to create a suspenseful, spine chilling feeling. During the first 25 seconds, diegetic sounds of the train are used to set the tone, establishing a personal connection, as if the viewer were present. At 34 seconds a slow non diegetic sound lightly plays in the background mimicking an increasing heartbeat that leads up to a loud riff to display a turn of events. A very loud scream and screeching of train wheels follows; this begins to shape the overall tone as suspenseful. This use of an increasing beat reappears again in combination with the musical track. As seen in figure 1, there is a rapid use of shots to create the sensation of panic and alarms the audience something awful may happen, The second significant unveiling of information at 37 seconds is preceded by a loud drop in the beat to accentuate the plot twist. This combination of sounds puts the viewer on edge, instilling a frightening feeling. In figure 2, the man depicted is revealed to be the greatest detective in the world, and suggests he is the one behind the camera conducting the investigation. Non diegetic noises such as these are very commonly found among horror, thriller, and mystery trailers. By including these heart stopping beats, the viewer will experience consternation and the building of tension with small heartbeat

What makes this trailer unique is a long shot using a dolly to introduce every character and their role. As the camera slowly moves its way through the train aisle, it turns slightly, aiming the camera at each character. Next to every individual is a subscript that provides insight into who they are, for example, the assistant, the governess, the missionary, and the widow. By shooting it from a standing eye level, this lasting camera shot is designed to make the audience feel as if they were there. With using these specific techniques, the trailer reveals enough information to compel the audience to be inquisitive, but a purposefully inadequate amount to avoid exposing the entire film. The clip below in figure 3 showcases the camera angle and shots mentioned earlier that create an unprecedented visual approach to unveil characters. As the camera pans back and forth slowly, the focus lands on each character who make direct eye contact with the camera to simulate eye contact in real life. This is an additional way this shot makes the trail personalized for the audience, putting them in this scene as they would experience it if they were actually there. This manner of providing information is exclusive to this trailer and is used to capture the audience’s