The trailer opens with the distributor’s title in this case it was ‘Warner brothers’ instead of the title being the same in every film distributed by that studio, the title changes for each film. In this case there was a sound bridge of the non-diegetic music in the film starting during the title connecting the two and creating atmosphere and mood before we have even seen any of the trailer.
The first shot we see is an establishing long shot of the earth from out of space denoting the setting of the film. The shot is accompanied by the off screen diegetic voice over of a male saying ‘Beautiful isn’t it?’ referring to the views we as the audience are seeing possibly indicating that the establishing shot we are currently viewing is a point of view shot from one of the characters. The diegetic voice over becomes clear as a conversation between astronauts when we hear both a male and a female voice engaging in conversation. As this is a conversation it is most likely spoken language taken from the film and used in this context to create narrative exposition for the trailer. There is no narration of the trailer leaving it fairly ambiguous. This could follow Roland Barthes’ theory that trailers can be open or closed and have either little or a lot of room for interpretation from the audience. With narrative exposition only being created by the dialogue between the characters, the trailer is open to interpretation from the audience, creating enigma and suspense therefore persuading the audience to go and watch the whole film. The context of what is happening is further clarified by long shots and medium-close up shots on both the male and female astronauts. A common convention of trailers that is also seen in this one is the use of title plates between shots, alongside sections of dialogue from the film to create narrative exposition.
The entire trailer is set in space allowing for post modernism as the genre is sci-fi and futuristic. This follows Jean Baudrillard’s theory of the power of the representations of pre-modern, modern and post modern worlds. With advanced use of CGI and special effects the trailer producers have been able to create a realistic post modern setting for the film. The non-diegetic music featured in the trailer is soft orchestral music featuring pianos and string instruments, connoting a relaxed and optimistic atmosphere. The music continues throughout the trailer while the current state of equilibrium remains until a sudden change in events where the disruption occurs in the film’s sequence in compliance with ‘Tzvetan Todorov’s’ theory of film conventions. The trailer follows Todorov’s theory except for it does not include the stage where the new equilibrium or ‘resolution’ is achieved as it is important that the trailer ends on a suspense creating enigma for the viewer. At the point of the disruption, the non-diegetic music stops and more diegetic sounds start to come in. The disruption in this case is that there is an explosion at the space station and the astronauts are blown out into space. The shots of the explosion are accompanied by loud diegetic sounds of loud bangs, screams and scraping sounds as the space craft is torn apart. The panicked atmosphere is reinforced by the exaggerated diegetic sound of the female astronaut hyperventilating. The male astronaut remains calm attempting to give the stranded female advice.
This establishes the female astronaut as the weaker female character or typical ‘Damsel in distress’ who needs saving by the protagonist who’s identity is not made clear in the trailer. As the female astronaut is blown out into space there are mixtures of shots such as tracking shots and point of view shots connoting the dizziness the character is feeling as she spins off out into space. The diegetic voices of the characters continue as the female astronaut continues to shout ‘What do I do?’ This further connotes her weakness and instability. The title plates return with titles ‘never’ ‘let’ and ‘go’. The pace of the trailer continues to increase as the disaster unfurls. At this point the title plates start to show the producers with titles such as ‘from the producers of’ when audiences read these titles and see films that they have already seen and liked , they will be more inclined to go and watch this film, knowing that it was created by producers that have already produced films they have enjoyed. With the genre of the film being Sci-fi evidently it includes a lot of CGI and special effects, including large explosions and shots of the astronauts spinning around in settings that clearly could not be created without the aid of computer generated imagery.
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