Film Trailer Research: Inception

Objective:
To identify the codes and conventions commonly used in teaser trailers which promote films within the genres of thriller and action.

Case Study:
Inception by Christopher Nolan (2010)



This trailer much like Shutter Island uses percussion instruments that gradually plays at a faster pace to build and keep tension. Again the first speech we hear is that of Leonardo DiCaprio, first off firmly establishing an audience of his mass fan base. The character is firmly established as a 'Security Officer' of some sort by both Leonardo's speech talking about security of dreams and also through the dress codes. He is smartly dressed in a black suit. This use of a suit con-notates importance and authority giving the character dominance within the frame and the trailer. The use of of a gun also gives an idea of power aswell as a sense of rogueness as we are unsure if the character is infact 'good' or 'bad'. This idea of dominance is also reinforced through the framing of the shots with DiCaprio being placed in the left third of the screen as this is where the eye is first drawn too as we read in this direction. His voice is also echoed and made a lot louder than other voices in the trailer.

We also can establish that there is a feel of secrecy and an underlying story as Leonardo shows on the screen a flash reel of the action packed life and job he leads when the female lead character asks him what work placement he has to offer her. This fast action packed jumpy sequence of shots mirrors the fast pace of the music and also builds tension for the viewer creating an air of excitement, keeping the thriller genre dominant within the trailer. As the music becomes more and more tense with drum base and more percussion instruments being added the shots interchange as the beats are dropped, the shots themselves becoming ever more unusual relying on CGI effects to create the dramatic images of the 'dream world' where buildings can fold and people freeze in mid air, defying gravity itself, keeping the enigma strongly flowing. The teaser trailer relies on a more conventional structure, jumping forward to shots of action and tension, enthralling the audience and making the viewer curious to find out more, hence the name teaser trailer.

I think that this trailer has a few faults in that we don't establish any of the characters names other than 'Mr Cobb' who is played by DiCaprio, however this is the most important character and therefore may be the only name that the audience need to associate with the film. The scene setting is also quite uncertain in the first few shots. From the yellow taxi's we can establish that the main setting is in New York City as the use of the iconic yellow cab is world known as the symbol of the City. However the other shots of the beaches and snow topped mountains and avalanches creates a sense of confusion and an abstract feel to the film. This use of various contrasting locations is acceptable however if they are used as part of the dream worlds created by DiCaprio, as anything is possible in a dream and the viewer can therefore relate to this, through the experience of their own abstract and unusual dreams, which tend to jump from place to place in erratic movements.

Six different locations across the world were used in the filming of 'Inception', beginning in Tokyo and ending in Canada. The budget for the film was around $160 million which was so high due to the dramatic and epic special effects required with the use of CGI filming which is a specialised skill. There was also an additional $100 million secured purely on advertising, showing that a lot of money went into the promotion of this film, including this action packed teaser trailer. A viral marketing campaign was used to raise awareness of the film in the spring of 2010 and was sent out to various companies containing bizarre images and text all related to the concept of inception. As the months went on the viral marketing grew across all kinds of media texts as posters, adverts, phone applications and strange websites were released and became more visible. In June 2010 a behind the scenes featurette was released on Yahoo!! Movies in HD.

All of these media texts drew massive attention to the film creating a mass awareness world wide, creating hype and mystery, making people itching to find out more and therefore when the film was officially released in cinemas on July 8 2010, there was an explosion of interest due to the massive hype that had been created. Overall this film produced a gross profit of $755,151,00 world wide and is said to be the third best film ever made by many critics, clearly showing that the promotion of this film was a massive success as the genre and hype was established early on and flourished with the media attention.

The trailer also uses the music to converge with the credits and lines of texts used to give information about director, actors and other information. With the movement of the text fitting in with the harsh beat of the non diegetic sounds. The mention of a previous successful film by the same director; 'The Dark Knight' (A Batman film) immediately gives the viewers an underlying knowledge of the quality of films produced by this Director and therefore makes them feel more impressed and the want to see the film is raised due to their knowledge of the Directors previous success.

Overall i think that this teaser trailer is so successful because it creates such an enigma from the beginning by keeping much of the story line hidden contrasting to showing so many scenes of action and tension. This makes the viewer want to find out the plot as to why so many locations are shown and to why so much action and unexplainable events are going on within the film.