http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PreviewsPulse

For added atmosphere, play the music from this trailer while reading on.

Trailers love to play up excitement and mystery, and as of The New '10s, one favorite way to do this by tickling the ears with an unusual sound. One of these sounds is the Previews Pulse. It is often created by an instrument known as a blaster beam which creates a single chord which ends up sounding technological and mysterious. Other methods are through mixing several instruments, usually bass, or altering the sound of a horn.

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These "pulses" are used in trailers to create a feeling of sudden tension, similar to a Scare Chord, but are rarely used in the movie itself, as it may be distracting. A trailer that uses them is often made up of rapidly cut snippets, with the chord announcing with each new scene.

Not to be confused with Heartbeat Soundtrack, another common trailer trope.

Examples

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Anime

The score of Princess Mononoke begins with two reverb-heavy pulses from a massive taiko drum.

Film

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Live Action TV

The pulses signal the end of the peacefulness in Terra Nova.

the end of the peacefulness in Terra Nova. In a 10 O'Clock Live segment on the media's treatment of the Japan earthquake in 2011 showed Sky News doing this with a preview for its upcoming coverage, accidentally underlining their own tastelessness in dramatizing a real disaster in such a way when it was immediately followed by a trailer for Game of Thrones that used exactly the same style.

Music

Video Games

Web Animation