The Girl on the Train (2016): Trailer Analysis

The trailer begins with a close-up of a woman (Emily Blunt), who the audience can assume is the main character. This makes her seem important to the film as she is the first thing the audience see and the first character the audience are able to make judgement on. The equilibrium phase of the narrative shows the perfect life of the couple, with a particular focus on the woman. In this short moment, there are a lot of medium shots of the woman showing parts of her life so the audience are able to see her as a character to focus on. 

The equilibrium is quickly disrupted by the news that the woman went missing. From this point on, the trailer is fast paced with very frequent cuts.  This creates a sense of fear and confusion in the audience and entices them to keep watching and go and see the film. Throughout the trailer there is upbeat but futuristic music playing alongside a single piano note. This creates a scary and intense feeling for the audience. This highlights the fact that the film is a thriller. 

The recognition and repair phases show that the woman at the beginning try to help find the missing woman - and also show her to be more involved in the woman going missing than originally thought. This begins a montage of clips that cut very fast between them. This speeds up the pace even more and adds to the fear and tension already building in the trailer. The music gets even more intense and louder throughout the trailer until it finally cuts out at the end and is replaced by screaming sounds. This plays whilst a close-up of Emily Blunt's character cuts to a medium shot of the missing woman and then back to a long shot of Emily Blunt's character at the train station. This scares the audience as it is unexpected at the end of the trailer. 

The audience are left asking many questions after the trailer is finished. For example, the audience don't know what actually happened to the woman, or if she was actually killed and the audience are left wondering why the is woman 'afraid of herself' if she didn't kill her. These questions will encourage the audience to go and see the film as they will want to find out what happens and how the film ends.