Inception teaser trailer

Before the trailer starts, a green 'preview' screen is shown with a US approved stamp for audiences to watch the trailer. This is typical for american films.

• A black screen appears with the Warner Brothers company logo on it in a silver metallic colour. This against the black background suggests that the film will contain sinister elements. As the camera zooms in, inside the logo is what looks to be that of a city, with grey block buildings taking the shape of the W and B for Warner Brothers. The colour of the letters is slightly reflective, with an almost metal aesthetic quality to it, giving the impression of something quite emotionless and cold.


• Non diegetic music can be heard as the logo is zoomed in on, it isn't any recognisable music but a sound that is used to build tension from the very start.


• The shot goes to black - continuing the dark and sinister theme.


• What appears to be the directors name 'Christopher Nolan' is shown in the same silver/grey typography as the production/distribution company logo. As with the logo before, the title is zoomed into, until it slowly fades out. The non diegetic music continues, gradually getting louder.


• The black screen fades in to show a metallic spin top , on what appears to be a marble surface. the focus is on the spin top although the reason for this is not clear. off focus colours are in the background, with a contrast between the dark background and the white reflective surface.


• As the spin top spins round, the music coincides really effectively, with the high and low sounds imitating the rotations of the spin top. Towards the end of the shot the spin top slows down.


• The black background is shown again with 'The Director of Dark Knight' in once again the metallic silver typography. The name Christopher Nolan is meant to be applied to this. The typography of the titles is zoomed into, as the music gradually begins to get louder.


• Quite a loud boom sound is heard when an aerial long shot of a city and its buildings appears. After each shot fades the music correlates against the film shot with a higher pitch in the sound thats been used.


• The aerial shot over the city shows cars and forms of transport to be moving along a large road showing aspects of the city as it moves across.


• It then cuts to a medium shot of Leonardo Dicaprio who looks to be inside some sort of helicopter or aeroplane, connoting that the view just seen is from his point of view. The fact the camera focuses on him shows that he will play a main part in the film and the worried expression portrays a turn of events and coincides with the dark theme already shown of the film.


• The shot then sharply cuts to the outside of the helicopter again from Dicaprio's point of view, where a man can be seen being dragged along by two other men, with the landscape of the city buildings in the background, telling the audience they have landed on a building helicopter pad. The shot then fades to black, almost as if Dicaprio is blinking or sleeping, suggesting a dream like end to what has just been witnessed.


• A black screen with 'leonardo Dicaprio' is shown in bold block letters but in the same font as the other credits and same colour.


• It fades to a close up shot of a glass of water on a wooden table, however the water is tilted in the glass which automatically gives the audience the impression that there is something unrealistic/unique going on, making it different to other films. What looks to be artifical light is seen and tension keeps building due to the music becoming louder and more course. The water begins to shake and ripples appear.


• The next shot quickly cuts to a dark street of buildings, which the audience can tell is CGI (computer genereate image) due to the unreal quality it has to it as it contains the same metallic colour that has been seen throughout the trailer, and the cleanliness and emotionlessness of the street supports the theme of the film.


• The words 'Your mind' appear in the centre of the screen infront of the cgi street that we can see.


• The camera starts to tilt as it travels down the street suggesting a lack of direction and creating confusion in some aspects, as do the words.


• The shot fades to black.


• A meduim/close up shot of Leonardo Dicaprio is shown, supporting the fact that he is important to the plot, the nighttime series of shots connote there is no safety and suggests that no one is safe.


• 'Is the scene of the crime' appears and travels down and around the side of a cgi building as it follows on from the previous words, creating a postmodernist edge to the film as what appears to be real actually may not be.


• A low angle shot of two men in what could be seen as a hotel corridor is shown, as there is an elevator in the background and rows of doors on either side. One man adopts a crouching position as another man (perhaps staff off the hotel as what he is wearing looks like a consierge uniform) lunges towards him.


• The camera switches to an over the shoulder shot of the crouching man, where his fate of escaping is left hanging as the camera then cuts to another shot. All the while the music gets louder.


• A meduim close up shot of a man in a suit emerging from under water in a bath tub is shown, the water droplets create an effective look.


• The shot then cuts back to the two men in corridor who have lunged towards each other in what could be considered a 'Matrix' style fighting position as they are in mid air which in reality would be unrealistic and in-attemptable.


• An extreme close up of part of a clock appears as the clock reaches the 12/60 hand.


• The evens in the corridor continue in the matrix style shots although they are sped up and shown by various titled low angle shots.


• A meduim shot of again Leonardo Dicaprio shows him suddenly waking up, suggesting that what we as an audience are seeing is just in his head.


• The camera then travels up a large reflective shiny building and a zoomed out aerial shot shows a maze like area where the film title of 'Inception' appears in black letters. The music has quitened down and the shot draws to a close with a black background with 'Summer 2010' appearing in silver metallic letters.