Final Teaser Analysis

The trailer begins by presenting the production company of the movie, ‘Warner Bros. Picture’ logo, in time with a non dietetic heavy beat of a drum.  By first establishing the studios of the film, the audience are reassured that the following film will follow the high standards of the company, acting as a form of a stamp of approval. So from the very beginning of the trailer, the audience are settled and have great expectations. The logo itself has been edited as the outline appears to be filled in with high raised building, representing a city. The camera then zooms into this logo suggesting that the upcoming film is one the studio is most proud of, within the heart of the company as well as being centred in an urban environment.  This then gradually dissolves out to reveal the text ‘from Christopher Nolan ’ again in time with a drum beat, through listing director of the production the expectation of quality is maintained in the viewers minds.

Alongside the heavy beat as the trailer edits from scene to scene and echoing throughout sinister music is played, at this point it is very minor, only consisting of a screech of a violin. This immediately establishes the genre of thriller, and tension is being built from the very beginning of the trailer. This opening scene fades in and consists of a close up shot of a spinning top spinning unbalances on a table top. This suggest that within the film not all will run as expected and there could possibly represent an imbalance between good and evil. The camera then quickly edits before we see the spinning top land giving no clues to the outcome of this imbalance. ‘From the directors of the Dark Knight’, is shown over a black background. The Dark Knight is one of the most recent and most popular of thrillers so again just increasing the expectations of this film even greater. As the trailer straight cuts to the next scene, a more thunderous sound effect is used as we are revealed to a bird’s eye view of a city location through a helicopter shot. This city may relate to the logo earlier in the trailer suggesting that this is where the centre of upcoming event is likely to occur.

The camera then straight cuts to reveal a mid shot of the main character. In time with this, the sinister music becomes more dominant and at a lower tone. This suggests that this character is one who will encounter or be the main source of disruption within the film. The next scene is very short and consists of a character being taken away by two male character wearing black suits. It is also raining, following pathetic phallic is the character scrounges to escape. This then dissolves out and the text ‘Leonardo Dicaprio’ is shown for a shot period. This is a world famous actor known by most, so by displaying his name it attracts fans of his previous films to the movie, widening the potential target audience. The next scene is very brief where we see a half full glass of water of a table surface. However, unexpectedly the water surface is not level or settled, this is the audience first encounter with unexplainable causes and leads suspicion to how this is happening, enticing the audience deeper into the trailer.  

It then straight cuts to reveal a street view level camera shot as the camera tracks through an urban street slowly canting horizontally, seeming to follow the text ‘your mind’. This now suggests that rather then looking at the city from above we are now in the depth of the coming events. Low key lighting is used to create this sense of fear of the unknown. The camera gradually canting along with ‘your mind’ suggests that what you would first think or expect will be turned on its head. The scene then slowly fades exposing the main character once more as he turns to face the camera in this low key lighting. In this shot of the character we can see in the background, a city environment possibly suggesting that it is this character that is causing the unexplainable events. The camera then straight cuts back to the street view only this time, the camera tracks from a horizontal canted angle running alongside the side of a large city building following the text ‘is the scene of the crime’. This following the prior text featured suggests that the film revolves around power of the mind.

Still the music is building and the rhythmic thunderous strikes as edits are becoming louder and louder bringing even greater anxiety to the audience, preparing them for what’s next. We are then introduced to a new location within a hotel where two characters seems to be struggling for balance in attempt to run towards each other. This can be related to the previous scene of the glass of water as although their surrounding seems normal, there actions indicate an unmanageable and unpredictable environment. It then straight cuts to show the main character gasping for a breath as he pulls himself out of a bath. A slow motion effect is used here to allow the audience to configure just what is happening. We can see that the character is wearing a suit placing further questions into the minds of the viewers. Then it suddenly straight cutting back to the previous scene within the hotel where the two characters are now floating in mid air and grapple each other. This may represent the struggle and fight between good and evil within the film, as well as emphasising this paranormal imbalance. The trailer then briefly edits to a close up of a watch where time seems to be moving at a faster rate then expected. This gives the impression that the good are running out of time. It then instantly cuts back to the fight where they are now falling from ceiling to floor stilled grappled followed through a tilt shot. Then, editing to a canted angle where one of the character holds onto the wall while the other appears to be falling. This shift in gravitation may suggest the possibility of a new world, or a disruption in the equilibrium of our world. The next straight cut reveals us again to the main character, but this time it is as though he has woken up. This proposes that the mind weapon mentioned earlier in the trailer is his and he is the cause of such explainable events, or even that this is all the witnessing of a dream.  Throughout this final section edits became much faster and music becomes even more sinister along with the recurring beat getting louder and faster. All this techniques overwhelm the audience, emphasising the fast paced impression the trailer puts across.

The trailer then again straight cuts to a close up of an urban building in low key lighting to then track really fast up the sky scraper and continues to zoom away until this city landscape spells out the title ‘Inception’. This then looks to represent a maze, suggesting that it will be no easy path and that every move may be a wrong one. The text ‘Summer 2010’ is then featured over a black background, this advertisement of the film release time gives the audience something to look forward to. This is then followed by listing of actors, cast and production companies.