Fantasy Trailer Music
Located in 1 route
The magical, mythic branch of trailer scoring for fantasy and adventure campaigns: sweeping orchestral melodies, wordless choir, ethnic winds and strings, harp and bell colours, and heroic percussion evoking dragons, kingdoms and quests. Cues balance wonder and grandeur, moving from delicate, enchanted intros to full-ensemble climaxes rich in soaring themes. Production is lush and cinematic, foregrounding memorable melody and choral awe over aggression. The mood is enchantment, destiny and epic journey.
History
Fantasy trailer music took shape after The Lord of the Rings established the modern epic-fantasy sound, with trailer houses adapting Howard Shore's grandeur into cuttable beds. Two Steps from Hell's fantasy epics, Audiomachine's mythic albums, Future World Music, Globus and E.S. Posthumus supplied the sweeping, choir-laden cues behind Game of Thrones, Hobbit and fantasy-film marketing, while Really Slow Motion and Thomas Bergersen extended the palette. The style became the default voice of fantasy promos and a pillar of the 'epic music' streaming ecosystem.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Mervyn Cooke, A History of Film Music (2008)
- The Cambridge Companion to Film Music (2016)
- Vulture features on epic trailer music