This trailer for the film Inception follows conventions of teaser trailers by not revealing much about the plot. It shows altered logos, shots of Leonardo DiCaprio with intense facial expressions, and scenes of characters running in impossible ways through a hotel corridor. These mysterious images are accompanied by a dramatic score that builds intrigue without explanation. The trailer establishes the film's complex psychological themes, urban setting, and involvement of star Leonardo DiCaprio and director Christopher Nolan without giving away the storyline.

1. Inception

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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 that through the use of always leaving the background black it creates the sense of mystery as during these clips we find nothing out about the film itself.

7. 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 in the 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.

8. 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.

9. 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 which indicates 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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 shots are 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.

16. 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.

17. We then jump back to the shot of the two men in the corridor, this again shows the audience that this film isn’t highly realistic as the two characters jump towards each other from two completely different starting points, including the angles their bodies are, and also that once they meet and grab each other in the air their bodies bend up towards the ceiling.

18. The teaser then cuts to a extreme close up of a watch face, it makes a point to the audience that the speed in which time passes isn’t the same as in real life. This is shown by 2 seconds going past whilst the shot was only on the screen for 1 second.

19. We jump back to the two men in the corridor again and once more are shown this shot for 2 seconds; the first second is of the two characters crashing onto the ceiling; it then jumps to a shot of one of the men falling whilst the other is still able to hold onto the side. This once more shows the audience that this isn’t a film based in reality as the man is falling with the carpet on the left hand side of him, and the one that has managed to hold had done so from holding onto wall where there is a corner in the corridor.

20. In this second long clip we see DiCaprio sat on a train and all of a sudden waking up with a shock. This will attract audiences in as each time we have seen DiCaprio we see him with a different expression on his face yet not one of these facial expressions are calm; making the audience want to know what it is that he is involved with.

21. The trailer then cuts to a shot of a building with a busy reflection of building lights reflected in the widows. The shot spends 7 seconds scaling the side of the building and showing the busy skyline of the city. This again tells the audience that the location of the film is in a busy city. As the sky is dark and the buildings are all brightly lit up it gives the audience the idea that the city is New York.

22. From where the we see the first reflection of the buildings in the window it takes 12 seconds, a large proportion of the trailer going from scaling the building to having a birds eye view of the title of the film. As the shot scales the building the music gets louder, however it seems to not be as layered as earlier on during the trailer. The way the title has been written will intrigue the audience as rather than having the text just written on, the title is cut out from the rest of the background. By them using a maze as the rest of the background it makes the audience want to know more about the storyline of the film as it indicates that it is a complex film. As this shot ends the music fades out as well.

23. We then cut back once more to text on the screen; this time we go back to the original ideas for text. The plain black background with text on it. The main difference between this text screen and the two from the beginning is that the length of time has doubled from roughly 2 seconds to 4. The effect of this is that it makes it clear that this text is highly important; this is due to the fact that it is the release date and they wouldn’t want to run the risk of the audience not having time to register when the film comes out. Also the music starts loudly as we first see the text and as we zoom in slightly on the text the music dies down again.

24. With this text it goes back to being just two seconds long. This is due to this being more to do with just companies involved in the making of the film; and then a list of the ‘known’ names in the film. Once again the music starts with a loud bang and fades down; the effect this is happening is that it creates a fast pace even with text being shown, giving the audience the idea that the film will be fast paced.

25. This is the last shot of the trailer and it gives the last bits of information on who worked on the film in the sense of of the production stages e.g. the writing, composing and producing. The reason I feel they have saved this part for last is that it mentioned the people that most audiences don’t necessarily consider whilst watching a film. Also They have included all three of the production companies used in making this film where as the first shot only includes Warner Bros. Also like they showed the Warner logo at the beginning this time they have showed Syncopy in the same fashion, showing it as a maze. This time round though we understand why it is shown in the form as we have seen that the title of the film.The use of keeping all the text excluding the title in the same silver writing keeps the trailer feeling all connected.

26. This trailer sticks to conventions by not giving away much of the storyline whilst making the audience want to know what is going therefore making the go watch it in the cinema. It is also quite conventional in the fact that it shows the star persona within the film, DiCaprio.Also it hints at the genre for the film but doesn’t make it obvious to the viewer.However it doesn’t stick to all the conventions of a trailer by including no speech in it only music. Also the music used is just a score therefore again not including any words in it.