2012 teaser trailer analysis

The trailer begins with the production titles Columbia. Accompanying the production titles is eerie sounding background music. We then see the first shot of the Himalayan Mountains where we hear a loud drumming noise at a constant tempo in the background along with the eerie music. The next shot shows a monk running up a mountain towards the temple > The next shows the monk running towards the temple from a different more close up angel the drumming noise is joined by the sound of a bell chiming the two sounds are out of sync so one drum goes and then the bell goes. The next shot shows the monk bursting through ht doors of the temple there is a sense of urgency in the trailer. It then cuts to a shot of another monk sounding the bell that we hear earlier in the trailer however this bell is out of sync with the others making three separate background drumming noises one after the other constantly repeating. You can also see flags in the background that are blowing violently showing there is a lot of wind this is a symbol of things to come.

The screen then fades to black and the text ‘how would the governments of our planet’ it then cuts to another shot of the monk banging the bell and in the background the shot of a mountain, which could be Mount Everest. The screen then cuts to black again and the text ‘prepare six billion people’ appears this is linked to the text seen earlier. This is like the other trailers we have analysed where text is put into the trailer intermittent with shots from the film. The text is normally put in to explain a little more about the trailer. There are more background sounds of about five different drums all out of sync joined by the sound of a symbol at fast pace slowly getting louder and faster building up to a crescendo. There is another shot of the priest from a different angle banging the bell. We have not been shown any other parts of the film and are not sure about what is happening. It then cuts to another piece of text saying ‘the end of the world?’ this piece of text has a question mark on the end symbolising the end of the sentence that has been shown. The music at this point is hectic with lost so different sounds playing it is hard to identify what sounds there are.

There is then a shot of the mountain being covered in water this is showing the end of the world as we can only guess that the entire planet is covered in water. The water is filling over the mountains showing that nothing to tall will stand in its way we then see another shot of the monk looking onto the distance it is obvious he has seen his impending death. The next shot show the temple bathed in water and completely destroyed the music then crescendos and stops as the screen cuts to black again. The text ‘they wouldn’t’ then appears on screen implying that the government’s would not warn the public and it would be a disaster of biblical proportions. There is then a large drum sound and the title 2012 appears on the screen it then fades out and the text ‘find out the truth appears’ the trailer is playing on the concept that the governments of the world would perform a cover-up if they knew that the end of the world was coming.