Inception

The trailer

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DwuVKfjctk&feature=player_embedded

• The reason I like this trailer is because it follows many of the conventions of a typical teaser trailer.

This trailer for inception starts with an altered Warner Bros. logo. The way they have altered this is inside the Large ‘WB’ they have put a sky line. This will intrigue audiences as they will not understand why the sky line has been placed inside it. Also by keeping the rest of the screen plain black it makes sure that all the focus is on the logo

The screen then replaces the logo with Christopher Nolan, this is effective as it instantly gives the audience a feel to what the film could be like as Christopher Nolan is a well known name. It also keeps the plain black background again making sure all the focus is on Nolan’s name.

It then cuts to the shot of a weight spinning, the effect this has on the audience is that it keeps them in the dark on what the story is about and makes them wonder why this would be an important element within the film. It watches this spin for 4 seconds and it goes from keeping it spinning to also it falling onto the surface again keeps this as a key point as it spends a lot of time on the one object, without explaining the reasoning it has.

The clip again then cuts back to the plain black screen with a small amount of text on it, this again it to reiterate who the film is from and engage a core target audience; those that are fans of either comic book films or fans of Christopher Nolan. I feel thatthrough the use of always leaving the background black it creates the sense of mystery as during these clips we find nothing outabout the film itself.

This is a birds eye view shot of a busy city, this shot is now beginning to give the audience a vague idea of what could be going on as it now gives them a location for the film, one that the audience can assume is the main location and would play a key part inthe film. The shot is around 2 seconds long, and tracks along the city making it feel as though the viewers are on board with the characters whilst they are following someone.

We then cut to medium close up of Leonardo DiCaprio sat in some sort of vehicle which from the man in the background we can infer it isn’t a normal form of transportation. The look on DiCaprio’s face indicates to the audience that something very dramatic has just happened or is happening and he has been witness to it. Also by showing a shot of DiCaprio it instantly shows the audience the star persona in the film.

We then cut to a shot of another character being dragged off, it also shows that he isn’t putting up much of a struggle whichindicates that he might not fully aware of what is going on and happening to him. This shot again shows the location of the film as it has high sky scrapers in the background indicating again that the main location is in a busy city. Also as this shot goes on the music in the background begins to build up indicating to the audience that this is a pivotal moment within the film.

Once again we go back to the black background with a small amount of text on the screen. This once again keeps the whole teaser trailer feeling all linked in together. Also this stats who the star persona in the film is as it is the first actors name mentioned; and the only other name mentioned before this is the directors name. By having a short 1 second clip in-between the shot of DiCaprio and his name it also shows the audience that even though he is the key actor in the film the whole film isn’t just all about him.

The next shot we go to a faded in 3 second long shot of a glass, the reason of the shot of the glass is so long is because the water isn’t just straight across in the glass as it would be in normality but instead it has a tilt to it and is in the glass diagonally. It then starts to bubble more furiously as the music in the background becomes more and more dramatic.

We then cut back to writing only this time it isn’t on a plain black background, this time it is on a science-fiction style building background; we get the sci-fi feeling from the colours used which is black and green. The shot lasts 2 seconds and unlike the other texts shown on screen it doesn’t zoom into the writing instead the writing moves within the building work and also begins to tilt like the water glass was, making the audience realise that this film isn’t going to be straight forward. Also the words ‘Your Mind’ tell the audience that they will feel part of the film and also there will be physiological features to the film

We go back to a second shot of Leonardo DiCaprio; this time the lighting is very dark creating a moody, mysterious feel to it. Also his face is the only thing in focus; again telling the audience he is of high importance in this film; however this time it gives an impression that he is in the middle of a crisis as he has an intensely serious look on his face.

We once again switch back to having just text on the screen, this one again isn’t like the earlier ones as it is on the building style background. The effect this has is that it makes it clear that this time it follows on from the earlier shot saying ‘Your mind’. The effect of having the serious close up shot of DiCaprio demonstrates that the physiological story line will focus around DiCaprio. During the 3 seconds whilst this text is on the screen it moves around the buildings at quite a fast pace; also as the text the music starts to change by having an extra layer over the top, creating the effect that there is more than one layer to this film

The next shots we jump to are of two characters in a corridor, and specifically what looks like a hotel corridor. Even thought these 2 shots are only 2 seconds long, 1 second per shot, there is a lot of action shown to be going on. This action is the two of them running towards each other; the reason the audience are able to tell that this is a tense fast paced moment is because it once again the music in the background has sped up and also there is another layer put over the top. The other reason these two shotsare highly effective on captivating the audience is because the hotel corridor isn’t straight and they are shown to be to running slanted across the corridor instead of straight and also as their weight is being based on the walls as apposed to the floor.

We jump to a 1 second clip of one of the characters crashed in a bath tub; the reason the audience is able to tell he has crashed is due to the fact all the water is being thrown all over the place and because he is still in a suit. This makes the audience question why has he crashed into the bath whilst still in a suit.