Can Video Game Trailers Ever Be Art?

          The camera pans out to reveal the lifeless face of a little girl staring back at us.  In the background, slightly out of focus, we see a man on fire, flailing his limbs in what is likely a combination of the human body’s natural response to being set ablaze and his fruitless attempts to extinguish the flames.  Behind him, we see a man swinging a baseball bat at unidentified assailants.  Thus begins the official trailer for Deep Silver’s upcoming zombie survival game Dead Island.  As Giles Lamb’s haunting score progresses, we realize that the action is occurring along two timelines: the reverse-chronological action of the little girl’s final moments and the linear progression of events leading to the pivotal moment where the two intersect.  When juxtaposed alongside the strictly chronological version of the trailer we see the importance of both editing and music in creating atmosphere and emotional resonance.  The exact same footage of events is cut together in different ways to produce two different sets of emotional responses from viewers.  In the reverse trailer, the mournful violin sets the stage for unavoidable tragedy in the face of insurmountable odds, and it ends with the father and daughter pulling away from one another.  In the linear trailer, the music suggests something altogether different.  When we reach the crucial moment where the father reaches for his daughter in slow motion and lifts her in his arms the music seems, if not hopeful, at least comforting.  When the father grabs hold of his daughter at 0:59 the music accentuates the emotion across his face, which seems to be saying: It’s going to be all right. Daddy’s here now.  I’ve got you.”