2. Plot Summary
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is
presumed dead after a fierce storm and is left behind by his crew.
But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on
the hostile planet. With only short supplies, he must draw upon his
ingenuity, wit and spirit to survive and find a way to signal to Earth
that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of
international scientists work tirelessly to bring "the Martian" home,
while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible,
rescue mission.
Click HERE to go to the official teaser trailer
3. Genre
The teaser trailer clearly indicates that this film is a science fiction film as there is a
lot of phenomena, a Martian and another planet involved.
The picture below shows a deserted and isolated Martian landscape. The colours
used are orange as this is the colour of Mars. The trailer keeps to the orange
colour theme throughout the trailer, thus creating continuity
There is also evidence of high tech computers that NASA use, indicating further
that the genre is science fiction.
4. At the very beginning of the trailer, the first thing we see is an
establishing shot of NASA.
This immediately tells the audience that the film is going to
have science involve and possible space. This is the first clue
the audience is given to find out what genre it is.
5. The music and soundtracks from the film are an important aspect to include in the trailer
as it can create a certain atmosphere for the audience.
At the start of the trailer there is a slow paced, gentle and soft non-diegetic music. During
this music, there is also a voiceover from the main character, Mark Watney.
He begins by saying “Every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out”.
As Mark continues to speak there is then another piece of music added to this. This is
more loud and dramatic and it slowly builds up until the music comes to a sudden stops
and the screen goes black.
Sound
Whilst Mark is speaking, there
are slow cuts of fade in’s and
out’s, showing the landscape
of Mars and also lots of
different people’s facial
expression.
6. After the voiceover of Mark finishes and the music comes to a stop there is a
black screen. This is immediately followed by shots of the 2 production/
distribution companies, 20th Century Fox and Scott Free. This is shown to
inform the audience who the production companies are. This can also better
encourage the audience to watch the film because if they have enjoyed films in
the past, produced by 20th Century Fox, they may feel more convinced that
this film is going to be really good. It can also suggest to the audience that the
films budget is big as they can afford big production companies. Therefore it is
important to include these in the trailer. By including these shots, this trailer is
sticking to the conventions of a film trailer.
Production Companies
7. Concurrently, there is another voiceover from the character Teddy
Sanders. He explains that NASA has detected a storm on Mars,
causing the Martian team to abort the mission. However, “during the
evacuation, astronaut Mark Watney was killed”.
This is when the audience pay more attention to the film as a bad
situation has arisen. This is also when there is more action and drama
included in the film trailer – thus drawing in the audience.
8. Whilst the audience listens to the voiceover of Teddy, we are shown quick
clips of the film showing the astronaut team surrounded in the storm and
then evacuating. We also see Mark, on his own, in the middle of the storm
who is left behind. This can suggest to the audience that Mark is actually not
dead – just stranded. This creates tension within the audience as he is
isolated on another planet.
Whilst the audience listens to Teddy’s voiceover, the music is dramatic and
loud. There is also some ambient sound, such as the storm swirling about
and the spaceship flying away from Mars. This ambient sound can create
that sense of realism for the audience and therefore believe the situation
more, making the audience captivated by the trailer.
9. As soon as Teddy starts to explain that Mark Watney was killed, the voiceover stops and we actually
see him speaking to a crowd of people.
In the top picture, we are able to see Teddy Sanders standing up in front of everybody. He is wearing
a formal suit and tie, he is in the middle of the frame and it looks like he may be on a stand. All of
which suggests that he is an important man and is probably high up in the hierarchy at NASA.
The mise en scene shows a very grey background. This suggests that this is a work place
environment and everything is very serious as to what they do and say.
In the bottom picture the
audience is able to see a vast
amount of people listening to
Teddy. Most of whom are
probably reporters/ journalists.
The wide shot allows the
audience to be able to see
just how many people are
gathered there so that they
can listen to Teddy’s speech
and find out what has happen
to the astronaut team.
Mise–en scene
10. After Teddy finishes speaking, the
screen quickly goes black again and
then suddenly we see Mark Watney
lying on the sand.
There is then a jump cut to a close up
shot of Mark’s face. As he wakes up he
gasps for air and sounds quite panic –
stricken.
The music here is tense and loud, but
then echoes out as Mark wakes up.
When Mark is shown to be alive this
really grabs the audiences attention as
he is now stranded and all alone which
therefore presents a big dilemma for
Mark. This therefore intrigues the
audience as they are keen to see what
happens to him and how/if he gets back
home.
11. Next, there is another black screen, which slowly fades into a text saying “Based on the best
selling novel”.
The text is the same colour, font and size as when the title of the film appears. Behind the
text is space, with a few stars to emphasis that it is in fact space. A part of Mars is also
shown, which is underneath the text, again which is what they used for when they show the
title of the film, thus creating continuity. They have included stars and Mars in this shot to
reinforce that the film is a science fiction film.
These words are simplistic but powerful as it captures the audiences attention. At this point in
the trailer the audience is exactly 1 minute in. This means that the audience is already
engaged in the trailer. So, by putting the text in at the moment the audience will remember
the text – which reinforces how great a film it is, thus encouraging them to watch the film.
Narrative Text
12. From the moment the text appears, the music changes to slow paced,
orchestral music. It also gets more dramatic at this point in the trailer.
There is also another voiceover from Mark who is actually speaking to a
web cam “for the record”.
He explains that “This is Mark Watney, and I’m still alive, obviously”.
The shot is a point of view shot from the web cam and so Mark is looking
directly at the audience, thus it is like he is talking to them which engages
the audience more. This is therefore a very effective method to use.
13. Mark Watney continues to speak with a voiceover. Meanwhile the
audience is shown parts of the film.
The dramatic, orchestral music is still playing in the background, with
Mark saying “I have no way to contact NASA or my crewmates”. He
finishes off by saying “I’m left with only one option, I’m gunna have to
science the s**t out of this”.
At this point, the voiceover stops and the music gets louder. This really
draws in the audience more as they are now more focused as to what is
happening in the shots, and not what is being said. To further draw in the
audience, there is more action involved at this point in the trailer.
14. The voiceover of Mark then starts again. He explains how he is going to have
to try and grow food and that he needs to try and contact NASA.
During this voiceover, the audience see a few quick clips from the film of Mark
trying to grow food. The mis en scene in these shots shows the audience
where he is working and shows Watney hatching a plan to grow his own food
by converting the floor of the research station into a field.
We also see another Martian landmark, this reminds the audience that Mark is
stranded on Mars, all on his own where nothing grows.
Mise-en Scene
15. When NASA receive a message from Mark saying “are you receiving me”
there are reaction shots from other characters, which allows us to see how
happy but shocked they are as they’ve just realised that Mark Watney is still
alive.
Mark’s team then send him a message saying “ We’re coming for you
Watney”, at which point we see a reaction shot of Mark cheering.
This gets the audience excited as they know that there is going to be a very
dangerous mission to save Mark which is going to involve a lot of action
and drama which is what the audience want.
16. After this there is another black screen, which slowly fades into a text
saying “From director Ridley Scott”.
Again, the text is the same colour (white with a black background), font
and size and there are a few stars behind the text. A part of Mars is again
shown, which is underneath the text, thus keeping that continuity.
These words can really capture the audiences attention because many
people are a fan of Ridley Scott’s work and so this can pull in more
customers to watch the film.
Narrative Text
17. As the text fades out, the next shot / clip fades in. This shot shows a wide shot, which
reveals where Mark is now living. The mis en scene shows the space shuttle, which is
presumable where Mark sleeps.
As you can see, the space is quite confined and restricted. However, since Mark is the
only one in there he is likely to be feeling very isolated and alone and so suddenly this
little space can feel massive as it is empty and no one else is there.
This is backed up by the mid shot of Mark that we then see, who looks tired and lonely.
The lighting in this shot allows us to see only half of his face, whilst the other half is
hidden in the dark and shadow. This can symbolize the fact that Mark is slowly giving
up on hope and that he may never be able to get back home. This allows the audience
to see a different side to Mark, showing that there is more to his character.
Whilst the audience see
these fast paced clips, there
is a voiceover from a
character, Melissa Lewis
who is a member of Mark’s
team from NASA. She says
“We left him behind. Lets go
get our boy”.
18. Melissa continues to speak with a voiceover whilst the audience see the next few, fast
paced clips. She explains that NASA rejected this rescue mission. So for these group
of people ( Marks team) to ignore this and go anyway is very risky and dangerous.
This is emphasised when Melissa repeatedly says “if we mess up….. we die”.
During this voiceover the clips show all sorts of action, including floating in space and
powerful explosions that throws Mark several metres back.
The music here is, again, very dramatic and loud.
By including this in the trailer it keeps the audience interested in watching it as there is
always more action introduced during the trailer, suggesting that this film is going to be
full of action and drama. Therefore this film trailer sticks to the genre codes and
conventions.
19. Next, there is another piece of text shown on the screen. This time it says the name of the
main actor who plays Mark, “Matt Damon”.
This name caption is not only used to introduce the actor to the audience but to also be
used as a promotional method.
By adding in Matt Damon’s name the audience may be better persuaded to watch the film,
either because they are a fan of Matt Damon’s work or they admire him as an actor.
Furthermore, because Matt Damon is a very famous actor, not only will this draw in a
bigger audience, but this also suggests to the audience that they have a big budget for the
film as they are able to afford famous actors and therefore they are able to have bigger
explosions, more gadgets and an overall better film, thus encouraging the audience to
watch the film.
Name Captions
20. After the audience has seen the name caption of Matt Damon, there is
then a quick shot of Marks wife and child and then a reaction shot of
Mark to see him facial expression.
The audience then starts to see Mark’s team getting in the spacecraft
and there is a lot of action involved in this scene. The editing here is
very fast paced as the action in the film at this point is dramatic, intense
and fast.
By making the editing fast paced, this film follows the genre conventions
of a film trailer.
Editing
21. As these fast paced clips continue the music gets more and more dramatic.
Then, another voiceover from Mark starts. He says that “I guarantee you, that at some
point, everything is going to go south on you. And you’re going to say this is it. This is how I
end”.
This suggest to the audience that there are going to be times when everything goes wrong
and they don’t know if they are going to make it. This really builds up the suspense and
excitement for the audience.
As Mark is saying this, there are a lot of fast paced clips, showing anger, sadness and
frustration in the character’s facial expressions. This can really draw in the audiences
attention and can also make the audience feel sympathetic to Mark as he is trying so hard
to get back home but isn’t succeeding.
22. • We then return to Teddy Sanders, who was speaking to a crowd of people.
• In this part of the clip one of the audience members asks “Is it possible he is
still alive”.
• We then get a mid shot of Teddy who then looks down in sorrow and misery.
These are the last words the audience is left with for the trailer and so it
ends on a cliff hanger question, thus drawing in the audiences attention.
There is no music
here, which allows
the audience to
really focus on the
question and
Teddy’s reaction to
it.
Therefore this trailer
sticks to the
conventions of a
typical trailer.
23. • The title of the film then appears, which is at the end of the trailer. The title is at
the very end because the audience will watch the trailer and will be drawn in by
the film and then by showing the title at the end the audience are much more
likely to remember it than if it were showed at the beginning.
• The title is show in capitals, with the colour of the text being black instead of
white, making the film feel more dark. The text appears slowly onto the screen
and below the text is a 3d image of Mars.
Title of Film
