Trailer Analysis #2: Inception

Inception is an upcoming American science fiction film written, produced and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, along with Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy,Tom Berenger and Michael Caine.  The film follows an agent named Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) who can drug up tycoons and enter their minds to find out their secrets and strategies. Cobb then uses the secrets to sell to the highest competing bidder. However, the mind is a volatile place, where places can rearrange and people can have power much stronger than in reality, and the complications of the mind can create dreamscapes that can end in mere seconds, trapping the agents with them.



As with Shutter Island, it is apparent from the first viewing of this trailer which genre it fits into.  The dramatic music which slowly builds up to a climax at the end paired with the slow scenes to start and then short scenes to end show that this film is a thriller.  The slow scenes at the start, with the voice-over, help to explain the basic plot of the film, but it it not explained thoroughly, presumably to give the viewer a taste of what the film is like with the hope that they will want to see more.  The film is officially categorised as a sci-fi thriller and the sci-fi elements show through in several strange scenes in which physics is seemingly defied, such as the scene where the ground starts to lift up and flip over like a wave:

And when the water in the glass moves:

The characters in the film are also briefly shown.  Leonardo DiCaprio is the main actor in the film (again, as with Shutter Island, he is used to draw in potential viewers who would be happy to see a film just because he is in it) and is shown to to be the protagonist who is trying to steal an 'idea'.  

DiCapro's name is clearly shown on one of the title screen. The director Christopher Nolan, who is popular because of his success with The Dark Night, is also mentioned.  As is the fact that he directed The Dark Night.  This is another case of star theory where people will be draw to see the film because he is the director and they have enjoyed his past work.

The music used in the trailer is a dramatic score in which booming sound effect happen when the scenes change.  The score really helps to show the genre of the film and sets the mood well.  The trailer ends with the stylised title screen which is then followed by a billing block: