ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the cinematic trailer, which is designed for and available to view repeatedly via the internet, and in noting the elevation of sound to a formal element in cinematic trailers posits the notion of a 'trailer ear' that relies upon sonic over-determination. It looks at various hypertextual recreations of a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark in the form of video games, film, and television. The book examines the relationship between the sound and music strategies of the 'new' television of the 1950s and that of the 'old' medium of radio broadcasting. It summarizes the insights into screen music and sound that experimental psychological research can generate. The book focuses on the integrated soundtrack and traces the ways in which film soundtracks have destabilized the hierarchies that have hitherto governed their constitutive elements.
