David Fincher’s 2010 film The Social Network is notorious for many aspects. Since its release almost a decade ago, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg continue to remain scrutinized by the public eye. With that said, one unexpected aspect of the film that has been widely acclaimed is its trailer, with many calling it the ‘one of the greatest movie trailers ever made,’ largely due to its use of music. The trailer ingeniously features a choral cover of Radiohead’s 1993 track, Creep. I will discuss two key aspects of the music which contribute to the trailer’s success. Firstly, its use of a choral cover accompanied by piano evokes a ghostly, chilling effect that has accumulated wide speculation. Moreover, the clever mapping of Creep‘s lyricism to the messages behind the film accentuate the intrigue behind the Social Network.
The trailer is set to a piano and choral rendition of Radiohead’s Creep, covered by Belgian girls choir, Scala & Kolancy Brothers. The chorus sings monophonically, accompanied by a softly playing piano, as the trailer flips through images from various unnamed people’s Facebook profiles. The photos are not unlike any we would normally see on our own Facebook timelines – yet the monophonic unison of voices in the background evoke an eerie effect, perhaps as if some unidentified force is watching from behind. There is also something to be said about the conscious decision to cover Radiohead’s song in a manner that scales it back, from a rock song to a much more primitive style – reminiscent to the plainchants that we listened to earlier in the first half of the term in MUSC 326A. Visually, the trailer depicts an incredibly modern, advanced piece of technology – and the juxtaposition of this visual element with a more archaic aural background further evokes an unsettling feeling in the viewer. Moreover, the chorus seems to embody the invisible audience that is ceaselessly present in a real social network.
Another key feature of the background music in The Social Network‘s trailer is its lyricism. Although the lyrics clearly were not written for the film, the trailer expertly matches the lyrics with visual elements of the trailer that truly capture the ‘creepiness’ of social media. For example, we see a close up on a computer screen, on Facebook, as a mouse clicks the ‘Add as Friend’ button while the chorus sings the lines:
I wanna have control
We also see images of a man smiling, flexing his muscles, as well as a photo of a woman at the beach in a bathing suit – similar to those we might often see on our own social media channels today. As we see the images, the chorus sings:
I want a perfect body, I want a perfect soul
… which seems to nod to the hyper-fixation on perfection, particularly with body image, that many strive for on social media.
As the trailer progresses, we see clips from the actual film depicting Mark Zuckerberg and other characters. As plot events in the trailer intensify, the chorus breaks into homophonic chant – which heightens the emotion expressed visually in the trailer. Both visually and aurally, the experience intensifies – truly capturing the chaos in the plot-line.
In essence, The Social Network‘s trailer is truly captivating whether you’ve seen the film or not – and its ingenious use of music is equally, if not more significant, than its visual counterpart.