Film trailer breakdown

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The trailer opens (after the productions studios) to a moon like rock flying into Venus. Which then breaks apart and is destroyed. There is a cold sound which plays as the screen fades to white that echoes the coldness of space. Straight away, the Sci fi genre’s conventions are adhered to, being set in space.

Transcript of Film trailer breakdown

The trailer opens (after the productions studios) to a moon like rock flying into Venus. Which then breaks apart and is destroyed. There is a cold sound which plays as the screen fades to white that echoes the coldness of space. Straight away, the Sci fi genre’s conventions are adhered to, being set in space.

The text appears, which uses the same font and colour as the main titles. They zoom towards the camera in a space like place where the little yellow dots are reminiscent of stars. This is very fitting with the genre and story of the film.

The first character to appear in the trailer is the antagonist. Walking towards the camera, he uses rather futuristic technology which makes a screen appear in front of his eyes. The audience at this point don’t know who the character is, or when the film is set which make the audience curious and more likely to watch on.

Next, we see the character apparently typing on some device, followed by a beam shooting into the sky from it causing him to be blown back with a loud shooting sound. This is another example of the futuristic alien technology being used, which again makes the audience wonder what year the film is set. This then sets up an enigma making the audience question what the beam does.

Then, the beam is seen to shoot into space and surrounding the moon. This causes it to then come towards the earth. At this point, the audience then make a connection between the beginning of the trailer (the moon hitting into Venus) and the character and so realise that he is in fact the antagonist.

Another character, who is later revealed to be the protagonist, is then shown walking around outside a school, which hints towards his younger age. As he turns around, he sees how the moon is incredibly large, reacting astounded. Being set at a school shows how he was enjoying a normal day that the audience could relate to, while this potentially earth destroying event occurs.

The character then is seen firing a gun in a concrete area. The audience doesn’t know who he is or who he is shooting at, but can guess. The audience may also realise the time setting of the film now, seeing as the weapon he uses is very modern, as opposed to futuristic. Levi Strauss’ binary opposites can be seen here, with the protagonist using weapons like guns while the alien uses no weapon but just his own power. Their clothes also differ greatly which adds to these differences, which then make it evident that conflict would occur between the two characters, especially after the previous scene where the protagonist is introduced.

These are examples of the character’s abilities, which then strengthen the fact that the character is not a human but an alien. Being able to create a force field to stop bullets and to heal himself show this. This holds many similarities with the Terminator films, who is also seen as unstoppable.

The main titles are shown on top of a moon like surface which links to the story. The Instigation title will be reused on all 3 of the media formats, so to link them together easier. The lights shining on the title represent light overcoming darkness, a common theme in Sci fi films. Included on the last title is the date of release ( which shows a vague date as the trailer is a teaser rather than theatrical) as well as the website for the film and the ‘hashtag’ for the film. Using these helps spread the word of the film as people online can see them to find out more and tell others too. This also links to the target audience of younger adults who use these websites more.