My research question deals with the movie trailer for I Am Legend, starring Will Smith. Though it was originally a novel published during the 1950s, it has been transformed into sound and video. As explained in my Response Paper 1.4, “I am going to be researching the question of how, in I Am Legend, the power of voice-over-narration has the ability to expose the shifting tones of the trailer as well as correlate with the shifting imagery. This is an important question because it allows the audience to understand how voice-over-narration can draw attention to the shifts in tone. By effectively conveying the tone, the trailer can appeal directly to the targeted audience and fulfill its purpose of promoting the film.”

This is important in the big picture because by being able to manipulate sound to shift the tone and mood of a film, one can effectively target any audience. This is an economic point of view which allows money to be generated. The new sound-script would be targeting an audience who is into science-fiction and action. I believe that I could make this trailer, although effective already, even more powerful. A sense of mystery could be vamped up, while at the same time, portions of the trailer could have a sense of serenity and peacefulness. I want to prove that sound and voice-over-narration has the ability to fully shift the mood and feeling of video just by slight changes.

This research question and claim is reasonable and risky because it does make sense when you think about it. Sound is a powerful tool, which if harnessed correctly, can yield results which are desired. Shifting tones can be somewhat difficult to do just by having the voice-over-narration shifted. To clearly hear a difference in mood during the beginning, middle, and end of the trailer, much of the sound-script must be altered in a perfect way to match up visually with the scenes.

The stakes are economic and financial, which is why it is so important. The new sound-script could create tones which appeal to a wider audience which draws in more people to see the film. Is it possible to make the tones shift from a somber tone to a happy and cheerful tone just by changing the audio? Perhaps a complete change of the sound-script to create a feeling of delight could be done. This would be quite difficult with the current visuals, but it can be done. Though, the question here would be, how effective would this new sound-script be in drawing in the audience? Creating all these changes to the sound can potentially make the success of the film great, or greatly diminish.

Erik Davis states in “Acoustic Cyberspace”that “‘Atmosphere’ might be a good way to describe this aspect: sound produces atmosphere, almost in the way that incense—which registers with yet another sense—can do. Sound and smell carry vectors of mood and affect which change the qualitative organization of space, unfolding a different logic with a space’s range of potentials.” The tone can easily shift the film’s atmosphere just by adjusting what is played through the speakers. That is why this question is so important. How does the voice-over-narration and sound expose the shifting tones of the trailer? By means of words, music, or both? Can words be just as effective as the music playing? What connotations come from the diction of the trailer?