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2012 Trailer The purpose of the film trailer 2012 is to advertise the film and increase the margin of potentional viewers thus increasing profit margins. The film is generally directed at men who are usually associated with liking action movies and this is a action film. Although the film has a few genre’s mixed in the prominent genre is definitely action as it has a lot of montage clips showing buildings falling down mass destruction overall apocalyptic situations. This film is ground-breaking as it features a lot of things people have never done before in a film i. e.
Monumental buildings crashing down and being destroyed, entire countries capsizing, meteors crashing down onto a motor home with half of it being destroyed. This particular montage creates a want-to-see effect as it looks epic. Another want-to-see effect is at the start of the film trailer when copy says “Mankind’s Earliest civilisation” “Warned us” this particular copy makes the audience wonder what they warned us about. “This day would come. ” The image used at this point is of a solar eclipse which could be an emphasis like saying all-hope-is gone – light is fading- God has deserted you ??? We are forsaken.
The copy fades and shows a clip of birds flying away/deserting us. The next clip is of a news broadcast with journalist diegetic sound “The Mayan calender which predicts the end of time. ” In the broadcast it starts with a clip of a Mayan temple and then it moves onto a picture of a mass suicide at the base of the temple; the shot ends and has a brief white noise sound the effect this has is like turning on a TV or turning it off. The next shot is a video of a mob pushing over a police car in the middle of a crowded town, it then shows the Statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro crashing down as if saying “God has deserted you. This is one of the ground-breaking clips in the movie which creates a want-to-see effect the diegetic sound at this point is saying “to occur on the 21st of December this year. ” The montage at this point is news channels being switched over and all showing the same sort of clips ??? chaos. The shot ends like someone is turning off a TV. It then shows a particular scene in the movie of the protagonist saying “What’re the odds? ” The effect of this is that the audience questions what happens next and what happens next is the protagonists sun looking up into he sky and then shows a clip of the protagonist looking up (close shot) It then shows meteors crashing down all around the motor home they carry on the the road with a near miss of a meteor crashing close to the motor home, the camera pans away to show a shot of the motor home being hit and taking out half the motor home. After this scene a montage of mass destruction shots start playing, at the start of the montage it has a surge of earth like a tidal wave going down a road this is shown by a Medium long shot almost as if you were spectating it. The next clip is of a pile up of cars trying to get away from the impending doom.
The bridge collapses under the weight and the ground gives way underneath it causing a nearby parking lot to also fall down. The shot after the next is another iconic part of the film as it shows the great cathedral in Rome falling down and crushing hundreds of people, Similarly another iconic part is the statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro falling down. A lot of this is linked to religion. After this scene more copy comes up “From Roland Emmerich” Roland Emmerich is the USP of this movie as he directed ‘Independence day’ and ‘The Day After Tomorrow’.
This scene shows of a destroyed city with many cracks running deep inside it. (very long shot) it shows a aeroplane flying across it, The next shot is of the supposedly President at that time broadcasting his “Final message” across many displays in the city. After this shot is the aeroplane with the protagonists inside it flying away from a earth surge. The next Is of the protagonists wife holding her child close to her and covering her eyes from the mass destruction befalling them.
This would affect the audience and make them feel sorry for them because they have lost everything, the shot is a medium close shot the make the audience feel as if they are witnessing the event. The montage clip after this is of Eastern civilisations moving there belongings to an encampment or somewhere safer then where they are, this would make the audience want to know where they are going and maybe even create a want to see effect because of the audience would be wondering what they’re running away from ??? Besides the obvious ??? The world imploding.
The shot following is of the city inflamed and basically destroyed. It’s a extreme long shot to make the audience feel as if they are witnessing it. This part of the trailer is of the ships mentioned in one of the clips for housing the worlds “Important People” one of the clips in the montage shows a group of people in suits with briefcases running onto a ferry type platform. Some of the storyline picked up from the trailer in various sections is that the government is building ships to protect certain members of the world; Celebrities, Politicians, Presidents so on and so forth.
The government has eligibly been building these ships for years in secret. After this montage it shows a clip of the protagonists riding out a aeroplane in a Jag (Corporate endorsement making you want to buy the product the car) as the plane is about to come to a soft landing. The next montage is of MORE chaos and apocalyptic situations i. e. more buildings falling down more cracks in the ground. The copy that follows these shots is “The end” “Is only the beginning” This creates a want to see effect as the audience will be wondering what happens at the end of the film.
The next montage is focused mainly on the protagonists with a mix of medium long shots and long shots. A more significant shot in this is of the protagonists kissing, This would make the audience feel emotionally attached to them (The Aww effect. ) The final clip is one of the most ground-breaking and iconic scenes in the entire trailer, at the beginning it’s of a ship capsizing on a tidal wave and crushing the white house, the funny thing is that the ship has “John F. Kennedy” written on it ??? A president of America. Ironic. This concludes my analysis of the 2012 film trailer.