Inception film trailer deconstruction

Inception Film Trailer Deconstruction

The trailer opens from a black screen which immediately sets the tone for the trailer because of the darkness of the shot we realise that this isn’t going to be a soft, disney film for example. After this there is a mid shot of Leonardo Di’Caprio which shows us

the lead character straight away. This will excite people because they will recognise Di’Caprio from previous films and want to go and see this film because of him.

After this we see a shot of Di’Caprio spinning the spinning top. This shows us the science fiction part of the film and makes you wonder what it is about and it turns out to be a subtle understanding of the film later on. The producers of the film then appear on a black screen in grey font which again highlights the dark undertone of the film. The three images are also very recognisable which boosts the reputation of the film. The next shot shows two of the lead characters staring up in a close up view. It then cuts to show a POV shot of what they are looking at. At this point, using CGI the long shot shows a wall bending upwards. This again helps the audience understand the genre of the film. The music also rises in volume and tempo at this point.

We then see a shot of a glass of water vibrating which could represent danger ahead. Next there is an over the shoulder shot of a man looking out of a window at a fire on the street and there are explosions and people running away which creates a sense of panic and fear. There is then a shot of a group of people laying in beds wired up to some sort of machine. This shot has a similar feel to The Matrix and may be an intertextual reference to this. This makes the film seem supernatural and the audience will be wondering what is happening to the people which will motivate them to see it. We then see multiple close ups of Di’Caprio and then a mid shot tracking back with him walking towards the camera loading a gun. This sets up the action part of the trailer because all trailers need some sort of action to make them seem exciting and get the viewers heart going. At this point the music gets more intense again and sets up a series of exciting shots which show us some of the action from the film.

There is then a blackout with a film the director directed before appearing. it reads, “From the director of The Dark Knight”. This promotes the film because people will recognise that film and want to see the directors work again because it was such a succesful product. Following this there are several action shots using different CGI for example explosions and shops exploding around the main characters. We then see the names of some of the lead characters. As well as this there is some writing about the films which says ” your mind is the scene of the crime” once again this sets up the genre and tells us that the film is going to be psychological and possibly complex.

There are also several slow motion shots used to possibly play on the theme of the mind which was written before. Then there is a long shot of the main character standing in a room alone when a huge flood of water starts to come in. This could show the isolation of this character which becomes apparent in the whole film but viewers will want to find out when watching the trailer.

Finally the trailer closes with the usual procedures including –

• release date
• Film title
• film website
• Production company logos

Inception Wikipedia (below)

Inception is a 2010 science fiction thriller heist film which was written, co-produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film features several very well-known actors including Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Dileep Rao, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine. DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a corporate spy and thief whose work consists of secretly extracting valuable commercial information from the unconscious minds of his targets while they dream. He is wanted for murder and unable to visit his children, Cobb is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: “Inception”, the implantation of an original idea into a target’s subconscious.

Its official budget was US$160 million, a cost which was split between Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures. Nolan’s reputation and success with The Dark Knight helped secure the film’s $100 million in advertising expenditure, with most of the publicity involving viral marketing. Inception premiered in London on July 8, 2010, and was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters on July 16, 2010. A box office success, Inception has grossed over $800 million worldwide and is thus currently one of the highest-grossing films of all time. The home video market also had strong results, with $68 million in DVD sales. Inception has received wide critical acclaim and numerous critics have praised its originality, cast, score, and visual effects. It won Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Cinematography, and was also nominated for four more: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Art Direction.

Directed by	Christopher Nolan
Produced by	Christopher   Nolan Emma Thomas
Written by	Christopher   Nolan
Starring	Leonardo DiCaprio Ken Watanabe Joseph Gordon-Levitt Marion Cotillard Ellen Page Tom Hardy Dileep Rao Cillian Murphy Tom Berenger Michael Caine
Music by	Hans Zimmer[1]
Cinematography	Wally Pfister
Editing by	Lee Smith
Studio	Legendary   Pictures Syncopy Films
Distributed by	Warner Bros.   Pictures
Release date(s)	July 8, 2010 (2010-07-08) (London premiere) July 16, 2010 (2010-07-16) (United States)
Running time	148 minutes
Country	United States United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$160 million
Box office	$825,532,764

“Wikipedia”

Deconstruction Findings

I am going to talk about what we have found from our deconstructions of films of similar genres to ours and how we will use these in our film. The genre we have chosen is thriller and therefore we deconstructed lot’s of thriller film trailers to try and find the conventions. Here is a list of some of the conventions which we will also use in our film trailer;

• Dark images
• Often fades to black out
• Antagonist
• Protagonist is often not fully shown
• Dark colours / Reds
• Brief insight into the plot
• minor key music
• Music often rises to a climax
• Voiceover / certain lines from the film
• Billing block – information about; cast, director, production company
• Certification
• Release Date

we are also going to sell our film as a film based on a novel. This means that we will have something like “based on the bestselling novel” in the trailer. This adds something different to our film and makes it stand out.

Shutter Island Deconstruction

PLOT

It’s 1954, and up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston’s Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He’s been pushing for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he hasn’t been brought there as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors whose radical treatments range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister. Teddy’s shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous criminals “escape” in the confusion, and the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt everything – his memory, his partner, even his own sanity.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130884/

The film opened #1 at the box office with $41 million, according to studio estimates. The movie gave Scorsese his best box office opening yet. The film remained #1 in its second weekend with $22.2 million.Eventually, the film has grossed $128,012,934 in North America and $166,790,080 in foreign markets, for a total of $294,803,014and became Scorsese’s highest-grossing film worldwide.

Like all genres there are sub genres beneath. For example with a thriller, such as shutter island, there are also other underlying sub genres for example crime thrillers, romance thrillers and so on. I feel that the main target audience for Shutter Island is mainly the 16-25 category however this will overlap into a slightly older audience as well because of the mystery and hidden ending to the film which is something people of all ages will be interested in. The film is rated 15 because of the nudity(non sexual), language, violence and gore, drug use and disturbing scenes. One of these scenes includes a group of childresn corpses lying in the street covered in blood which of course would be disturbing to a young audience.

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$41,062,440 (USA) (21 February 2010) (2991 Screens)

Gross:

$294,804,195 (Worldwide) (10 June 2010)

ADVERTISING

Shutter Island used lots of standard advertsiing in order to promote awareness of the up and coming release of the film. They used billboards, posters and television adverts as standard but also used the main actor Leonardo Di’Caprio to sell the film to their target audience. As Di’Caprio is a very well know and famous actor the fact that he is the main character in the film will obviously inflkuence lot’s of people to go and see it in order to see him. Another similar factor is that it is directed by Martin Scorcese who is another very popular director and his films such as ‘Cape Fear’ and ‘Age of Innocence’ were very succesful. One of the biggest of the initial waves of publicity for the movie came when it was announced that Paramount was moving it from its original October 2009 opening slot to February of 2010. That decision was made, reports said, based on the amount the studio was expecting to lay out for marketing, including a very likely Oscar push, with very little of that being recouped in 2009. This despite the priority being placed on a movie from such a high-profile director and starring such a high-profile actor.That delay, though, allowed Scorcese and the studio to bring the movie to Harry Knowles’ Butt-Numb-a-Thon, a fan-geared screening event he puts together annually and which provided the movie with a nice kick-off in terms of word-of-mouth. The screening at this fan geared event allowed for huge movie fans to see a preview of the film in order to then spread using word of mouth the quality of the film and encourage people to go and see it.This showed due to the huge success on opening weekend as the film went straight to number 1 and grossed $41 million in its opening weekend. And the success continued into week 2 as the film remained number 1 and grossed a further $22 million. Overall this has been Scorceses most successful film yet.How does it begin?The trailer opens with a long shot of a boat coming through the mist which immediately makes you think the film is going to be creepy and quite scary. There is then some speech over the top describing the main location for the film which is Shutter Island. It is then explained that this is an institute for the criminally insane. This has told the audience the main theme for the film already and has given you an idea about what will go on. There are close ups and mid shots of the two main characters and in particular Leonardo Di’Caprio which will help to sell the film because he is a very well known and popular actor.

Text is then used to say “a Martins Scorcese picture”, this will also help to sell the film because he is a well respected director and is also very popular. There is then a very key scene in which they walk up to the gates and someone welcomes them to Shutter Island. They then explain they are federal marshalls which gives you their background and they are made to hand over their guns which is a representation of them handing over their power on this island. The voiceover talks about the island for example “we take only the most dangerous and damaged patients” which again adds to the scare factor.

There is a series of quick cuts using fades to show scenes from around the Island. Almost every transition is a fade to black and i think this works well because it shows the darkness of the film and creates suspense between shots. Sound is used to add to the images such as the screams over the top at 40 seconds in.

What kind of shots are used?

At the very beginning there are lots of long shots to establish the scene and set the tone for the trailer and the film. Further in we see close ups of the characters in order to sell the film to the audience. there is then a larger frange of shots because the trailer is beginning to flow and get into it therefore more shots are needed.

Towards the end the quick fast edit shots create a climax to the trailer, then the scene slows suddenly with the title followed by one more climax with the attack on Di’Caprio.

I like how this shot shows the two main characters facial expressions as well as their situation. It is a mid shot of them as they enter the Shutter Island and you can immediately see the nervous and peculiar look on Di’Caprios face.

This shot introduces the characters and is the first mid shot we see of them after we see the boat going through the mist. It gives an idea of the setting, time period of the film and the two characters. The dialogue also explains who they are and what they are doing here.

This shot shows the fear factor of the film and shows the horror element of it. The shot is of a patient of the island and is a very creepy and strange thing to see in one of the first shots of the Island. This immediately gives us the impression of the seriousness of the film and also illustrates the criminally insane patients who stay on the island.

How is lighting used to create a mood?

The lighting is influential to create a dark tone and the dark rooms with the cells create a very dark atmosphere. As well as this the lighting is used to create shadowing on the antagonists faces in the cells which doesnt let you see the whole of them. Also the man in the chair with the staples in his face is hidden but slightly lit by the fireplace which is a very good example of the spooky lighting.

How is music used?

Music is very important to also impact on the mood of the trailer. The tempo of the music slowly builds throughout the trailer up to the very end when it reaches the climax for the fast shots together. then at the last shot it come son louder than before in order to shock the suddenly calmed audience. This works very well because there is tension and suspense and then calm followed by sudden shock through the attack.

Is there a narrotor?

There is no direct narrtor however dialogue clips from the film are used over the top of the shots to explain whats happening. without these clips the basic storyline wouldnt make sense for exmaple when they explain they are “U.S Marshalls” and when he explains it’s an asylum for the ” criminally insane”.

Is there any text used?

Text is only used to name the director for example and to say the producors so it is not used to narrate at all.

Directed by	Martin Scorcese
Produced by	Martin Scorsese Bradley J. Fischer MikeMedavoyArnold W. Messer
Screenplay by	LaetaKalogridasSteven Knight (uncredited)
Based on	Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Starring	Leonardo DiCaprio Ben Kingsley Mark Ruffalo Michelle Williams Patricia Clarkson Max von Sydow
Cinematography	Robert Richardson
Editing by	Thelma Schoonmaker
Studio	Phoenix Pictures Appian Way Productions Sikelia Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	February 19, 2010
Running time	138 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million
Box office	$294,803,014http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_Island_(film)

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer

The trailer begins with the production companies’ name, and then there is a tracking shot scaling up a building. Immediately there is very dark tone to the trailer creating a sinister atmosphere. The music suggests that something very dramatic is going on. Next “every hero has a journey” appears in text on the screen. This implies that this is the final instalment in this series of films, which the audience already knew. The film is called the Dark Night rises, the dark knight suggests that the “hero” is not always seen as one, and he is not your traditional comic book hero, but he is something more, and has a deeper meaning. The trailer then uses clips from the previous two films, and dialogue from the character that made Batman what he is. These clips show how Batman started his “journey” to remind viewers that this film will revisit a character or part of the plot from the first film in this series. Furthermore as the text “every journey has an end” appears, there are more clips from the previous films, showing Batman’s “journey”.

Next there is a clip of new footage from the Dark Knight rises, in which Commissioner Gordon (head of Gotham police) who is actually Batman’s ally. Gordon is lying on a hospital bed using breathing apparatus and says to Batman, “we were in this together. And then you were gone”. The audience never sees Batman’s face as it is an over the shoulder shot looking at Gordon; however Batman then says “what if he doesn’t exist anymore”. This suggests that in this film, Batman has not been around and must come back and save Gotham. The Christopher Nolan Batman series is renowned for its dark tone, and this is evident in this trailer. Next there is a POV shot of Batman looking at the character Bane, and the camera shakes as he exhales as if he has been drugged. This gives the audience a look at Bane.

Next there is a low angle shot of buildings falling down again showing that something evil or bad is going wrong in Gotham. The camera then tracks forward and it appears that the shape in between the buildings is Batman’s symbol. Batman’s symbol is the only light tone in this shot, showing that although he is a “dark knight”, he is still a hero. Next there is a over shoulder shot of Bane walking towards Batman, and the audience is under the impression that this clip is in the middle of a fight scene as

Batman looks worn out or physically tired. This clip only lasts a couple of seconds and then the text “the epic conclusion to the Dark Knight legend” appears on the screen, telling the audience this will be the last film Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale will be in a Batman film. The text in this film is either black on white or navy on black, this is to show that the film will follow the previous films dark tone, and be about how Batman is a dark knight or hero.

Finally at the end of the trailer we see Batman, stagerring underground in a fistfight but the antagonist is hidden from us. Is it Bane? there is also someone standing behind Batman.

Taken

Taken

Directed By Pierre Morel Edited By
Frederic Thoraval

The first shot that we see is of a
close up of a birthday hat, which the cuts to a shot of a young girl opening
presents. Clearly it is her birthday. The picture from the camera itself is not
100% clear, which would suggest it is the footage from a camcorder, which
someone is watching on television, however we do not know that yet for a fact.

We see excitement on the girls face as
she unwraps a toy horse. We see a woman, obviously the girl’s mother, putting
an arm on the back of the girls chair and say something to her. This is
inaudible to the audience. We also see the steady cam shot tracking backwards.
It is not obvious to the audience, but an assumption could make from this point
that it is the girl’s father, as the mother and her are in shot. Though this is
only an assumption. We see the mother fetch a birthday cake with a candle
saying five, so it is obviously the girl’s fifth birthday. The girl is also
wearing a sparkly tiara, suggesting that the parents of the girl think she is a
princess. Again these are all small elements, which the audience pick up on and
make personal reference to.

We see that the camera is jumping, with
fast cuts of the home made movie, of the girl blowing out the camera. We hear
diogetic sound added as the cuts are made, which sounds something like a knife
is flashed through the air.

After a series of the sounds the camera
cuts to a mid shot of a man sitting up abruptly in the dark. He had obviously
been asleep and the short video that the audience had just seen could be what
he was dreaming about, which would then suggest that he is the father of the
little girl. The camera then cuts to a long shot of him sitting in a chair. We
can make out an object that he is holding in his hand which would be appear to
be some sort of picture frame, but we cannot see an actual photo. We see that
he reaches up and turns a lamp on next to him. We see that on the coffee table
in front of him are tow empty Chinese takeaway boxes, which would suggest that
there is someone else that lives in the house with him and they are not
present, or possibly that he lives along, and has a poor diet, or perhaps that
he is unhappy and turning to unhealthy. All of these ideas are just
possibilities, but they are all things that the audience could be making
reference to. We see that Neeson (the main character and the one in the chair)
takes a while to look at the photograph itself.

The camera then cuts to a mid-shot of
him, where he takes one final look at the photo, and places on the table next
to him on the right under the lamp. We then see a cut to a point of view close
up shot of some instructions laying to the left of him, which he picks up. The
camera then cuts back to the mid-shot of in front of him. He appears to have a
quick glance at them, and then stands up. As he walks off the camera stays
where it is, and as he exists the shot, the image of the photograph is
revealed. It is a picture of an older girl sitting on the horse. This is where
yet again the audience can make a variety of assumptions. The picture we are
seeing now could be of the girl in the footage from earlier. The audience could
also assume that because of the fact he is dreaming about her and looking at
pictures of her that something terrible could of happened to her, in that she
could have died, or be seriously ill. There is obviously the other option of
Neeson and his partner being separated, and he does not see his daughter very
often anymore. There are a Varity of different possibilities, and he audience
will make their own assumptions according to their personal opinions, however
there are slightly more realistic plot ideas in context to what images we have
seen so far.

The camera then cuts to what would
appear to be the next day, as it is daylight. It is an aerial shot of a street
somewhere. The camera tracks left towards the front of a parking space that the
car has pulled into. The car itself is grey, and not one that is particularly
standard, again which leads the audience to assume that either Neeson has not
much money, or he does not want to appear to have flash commercial goods. We
see Neeson getting out of the car and putting a pair of sunglasses on.

The camera then cuts to inside of an
electronics shot. The camera is set up, showing Neeson walking towards the
counter where a man is standing. We then cut to what appears to be a point of
view shot, and we here the man behind the counter asking how Neeson is. Neeson
replies with a smile, suggesting that the two have some sort of prior
friendship, and that it is not their first meeting.

The camera then cuts to an older the
shoulder shot of the salesman asking Neeson if he wants to see it again. Neeson
replies saying, “If you don’t mind”. Clearly the two of them both know what is
being referred to, however the audience does not.

We see a side on mi-shot of the two,
and here the salesperson saying, “If I charged you a dollar for every time you
came into examine it, you would probably own it”. Again the audience can deduce
and relate to several things here. Obviously he has visited the shop several
times before to look at this one item. Which in turn suggest that the is taking
very careful consideration over buying it, suggesting it is of great
importance. We do not know what the object is yet, but we do know that he has
been reading the manual for it at home, which is not something that you would
normally do before buying something, again reinforcing the idea of the
importance of the piece.

We see that he is buying a karaoke
machine. Again the audience here would guess that he is not buying it for
himself, though he may be. The audience assumes that he is buying it for his
daughter, and because of the previous reference to her birthday, the audience
are able to predict that it is her latest birthday.

Obviously there are several enigmas
here for the audience. Some of them link back to the title taken, some concern
the main character, what he is like, and who is daughter is. And all of these
things are created within the first two minutes.

The Lincoln Lawyer

Mick Haller is a defense lawyer who works out of his Lincoln. When a wealthy Realtor is accused of raping a prostitute, Haller is asked to defend him. The man claims that the woman is trying to get some money out of him. But when Haller looks at the evidence against him, he learns that this case might be linked to an old case of his.

Se7en Film Trailer

Seven (stylized in some publications as Se7en) is a 1995 American thriller film, which also contains horror and neo-noir elements, directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It was distributed by New Line Cinemaand stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, R. Lee Ermey, and Kevin Spacey.

David Mills (Pitt) and William Somerset (Freeman) are police detectives working in a crime-filled city, who become deeply involved in a case involving a series of sadistic murders. Each murder corresponds to one of the seven deadly sins: gluttony, envy, lust, pride, sloth, greed and wrath.

Filming took place in Los Angeles, California. The film was released in the United States on September 22, 1995. Grossing $327 million at the box office internationally, Seven was a commercial success, and received very positive reviews from most critics.

For the deconstructions of our trailers we used the questions:

1. How does it begin?
2. What kinds of shots are used?
3. How is lighting used to create mood?
4. How is music/sound (diegetic and non diegetic) used?
5. Is there a narrator
6. Is there any text?

Seven

1. Seven begins with one of the main characters (Brad Pitt) asking the other main character (Morgan Freeman) about his life and asking him if he enjoys what he does in life. When chracters talk this is classed as diegetic sound. It has slow spooky music playing in the playground and then has short snappy shots of important scenes in the film to add intensity. The narrator starts talking 20 seconds into the trailer.

Beginning scene. Brad Pitt talking to Morgan Freeman

2) The trailer is mostly close up shots and mid shots of the characters to show their facial expressions and show how they’re feeling. There is lots of dialogue in the trailor so close ups and mid shots are used effectively to set the dialogue as the most important factor of the trailor. The trailor is very effective in the way it creates suspense by taking quick snappy shots of different scenes. It doesn’t spend more than 5 seconds on a single shot

Close up on Morgan Freeman’s character to show his facial expression

3) Lighting is used effectively in this trailor to create the mood. The whole trailor is dark by using grey and black colours. All the scenes shown in the trailor are either at night or when it is bad weather. Bright lighting is used in the scenes where the characters seem to be happy for example when Brad Pitt is sitting at home with his wife or girlfriend. The dark lighting is used a lot in this trailor because its a thriller. A lot of the film will be set in dark settings to add to the suspense and intensity, because the audience are out of their comfort zone if they cant see everything that is going on. The picture below is an example of the dark lighting being used.

Dark lighting. Suggests depressing atmosphere

4) The music in the trailor is played by a percussion instrument. The music is used to create a spooky atmosphere. As the trailor goes along and the story slowly unfolds what it is about the music speeds up to get the heart going. The music is very good to create the scene for a thriller. There is lots of diegetic sound. Most of it is from the main characters in the film talking about what has happened in the film. Morgan Freeman talks about the seven sins and says that “there will be seven deaths” giving the audience a feel what the film is about.

5) There is a narrator in the film. He gives a slight preview of what will happen in the film. He also tells us who is acting in the film. The narrators voice is very deep, adding to the seriousness of the film, everything he says sounds more intense because of his tone of voice.

6) The only text used in the trailor is the film name at the end and the production company at the start.

Directed by	David Fincher
Produced by	Arnold Kopelson Phyllis Carlyle
Written by	Andrew Kevin Walker
Narrated by	Morgan Freeman
Starring	Brad Pitt Morgan Freeman Gwyneth Paltrow R. Lee Ermey Kevin Spacey
Music by	Howard Shore
Cinematography	Darius Khondji
Editing by	Richard Francis-Bruce
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	September 22, 1995 (1995-09-22)
Running time	128 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million
Box office	$327,311,859http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/

Films to Deconstruct

Today we got together and duiscussed some of our favourite films which we plan to deconstruct as part of our market research and pre production for our thriller film. We all decided that we knew this genre well and all enjoyed lots of films within this genre. There are many different adaptations to Thrillers such as paramornal thrillers, psychological thrillers and crime thrillers for example. We are waiting for a larger survey response before we choose our final plot and create our plot synopsis.

Some of the films which we have decided to deconstruct include ;

We will look at all of the trailers for these films and then  analyse the conventions of them all and what we can depict from them for our film. We will also look into the popularity of the film in terms of what it grossed, and how they went about marketing their films.

Deconstructions

For our de-construction s we will be watching lots of different trailers to start with and analyse them in terms of the four micro elements. We will look at all different genres and then once we are happy with our survey response we will begin to analyse films of those specific genres to help us with the production of ours.