George Brinan A2 Media
Candidate No. 8149
Analysis of "Edge of Tomorrow"
Analysis
"Edge of Tomorrow" is a science fiction film that was released in May of 2014. It is set in the near future where an alien race has invaded the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world. Tom Cruise plays an officer who has never been in combat when he is placed into an aparent suicide mission. Killed within minutes, he now finds himself in a time loop-forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying repeatedly.
The opening shot in the trailer is the picture on the right. This shot shows the publishers of
thefilm who in this case are "Warner Bros." The purpose of this shot is to establish
popularity, a well known publisher such as "Warner Bros." are more likely to attract
audiences than those that areless popular. This establishing shot is common with a lot of
trailers in order to establish brand loyalty. In this trailer the clip is roughly 3 seconds
long and then leads into a similar shot of another film production company called
"Village Roadshow Pictures". As they are not of the same calibur as "Warner Bros." they are
shown after and for a smaller amount of time.
Through a fade to back transition we are transported to what appears to be a hospital and the camera pans to the left onto a man lying on a bed, we are only given a brief glimpse but it is enough time to recognise that it is a hospital setting. At this time there is a slow violin soundtrack playing of just one note, the music emulates confusion and suggests that the person on the bed has been unconsious for a large amount of time. We also here the first piece of dialogue in the trailer with the line "What I am about to tell you sounds crazy" followed by "but you have to listen to me" this indicates the main storyline revolves around this person's story and something they have experienced. The camera is blurred while he lies in the bed again indicating the sense of confusion that he is suffereing from. Throughout the hospital scene movements are all slow and the scene is lit by artificial lights which enhance this effect.
The music then changes and we hear lyrics in a robotic style voice that usher the words "This is not the end" at this time through the use of a fade transition we are taken outside to the coastline where several hundred futuristic aircraft are flying out to sea. This suggests that some sort of war or battle is about to occur involving thousands of soldiers. As you can see in this clip special effects are used in order to make the aircraft look realistic but we are still able to tell they are not real. The lighting has changed from artificial to natural as this scene takes place during the day and in an outside setting. The amount of aircraft set quite an ominous tone as they fly towards an empty landscape in their hundreds.
Through the use of a cut we are taken inside one of the aircraft and we see the floor beneath the camera open up, looking down on the landscape below. At this point the sharp violins have returned and the lyrical music has gone, indicating something dramatic is about to occur. The camera, on a dolly, moves down the ship and we see lines of what appear to be soldiers in armour suits. At this point the violins have reached their peak of both pitch and volume again implying something important is about to unfold. As the camera pans down the line it stops on a close up of one soldier in particular in a panicked state. There is then a whipping noise as he becomes more aggitated and bright lights begin to illuminate his face before the camera cuts and all music and sound stops.
A sound bridge is used after the previous scene ends and we hear the voice of a man saying "you see this isn't the first time". This reveals some of the main plot of him being stuck in an infinite time loop where he constantly repeats the same memory. At this point, 30 seconds into the trailer, very little action has taken place. The trailer rather sets the scene in the early stages, whilst dropping hints to the main plot of the film this is common in several trailers so as not to spoil the film and releasing all the best bits in the trailer.
After the sequence of no action there is a short five or six second segment of pure action. In this short clip there are 5 different shots that are all seperated by a sequence of fast cuts. The main sound throughout this sequence is that of an alarm that is apparent troughout the five shots. Special effects are used in order to show the fire and bullets on the ground. An over the shoulder shot shows us the damage done to the ship from an apparent missile and we see sparks and fire tearing the craft apart. Then a close up sees the soldier drop from his harness before falling to the ground avoiding a series of bullets and missiles. As soon as he hits the floor a cut takes us to an apparent flashback where the soldier is being readied for war. This short sequence of action entices the audience into the film at may cause them to watch the rest of the trailer and eventually the film.
After this action sequence the sound dies down and the soldier is back at the military base and we are back to violins and slow dialogue between the soldier and his military advisor. At the base the atmosphere is much less tense and more relaxed. With the camera in shallow focus we see soldiers getting ready in the background whilst the main character is foregrounded whilst recieving his orders. This implies that the soldier played by Tom Cruise is the main character who the story is based around whilst the other soldiers live normal military lives.
The trailer then cuts back to the battlefield where we see Cruise just avoid being crushed by a falling aircraft. We do not hear the sounds on the battlefield all we hear is the same lyrical music we heard earlier in the trailer that says "this is not the end". This is a common non-diegetic sound in the trailer and is played 4 times during the two and a half minute clip.
The CGI used to present the battle between humans and an alien race is complex and detailed, making the aliens seem realistic. We see intense battles between soldiers and the aliens at a fast pace. Although we don't hear any of the sound effects of the battlefield the audience is able to feel what is happening due to incredible cgi and editing. The pace of the cuts adds tension to the scene as we are unsure what is going to happen next. The most dramatic shot of this scene is the female charachter jumping into the gaping tentacles of one of these aliens. This shot on the left is filmed with a low angle in order to make the female character seem more heroic and have more power than the aliens do. There is one final shot of her as she seems to be distressed, at this point the only sound is a sharp ringing to mimic the sound of a bomb striking the ground close by. The camera filter has been blurred to enhance the sense of confusion. The main focus is on her whilst she is foregrounded in the shot, meanwhile the battle continues behind her. This shot strikes fear into the audience as the slow pace of this shot, would usually suggest that she is about to get seriously injured if not die.
It takes a whole minute for us to see the other main character in the trailer. She is also a soldier,and the first thing we hear her say is "come find me when you wake up" before both of them are apparently killed in a firey explosion. Her statement seems to suggest that she knows what is going on with Tom and maybe knows how to stop it from occuring. The next shot is Tom waking up back at the military base and the camera zooms in on a poster with the other main character in her armour posing on the battlefield. The music has now introduced percussion instruments to add more drama to the scene. Drums are a common feature in action films as they make the film seem more intense and an "in your face" style.
In this image on the right is the text used to promote the film. As you can see the text is in a sans-serif font on a background based around science fiction. The green colours indicate the nature of the film as being an alien film, due to the fact that green is commonly associated with aliens or space. The text is loctaed in the centre of the screen and is floating on a bed of green light. Although the text does not take up the whole frame it is big enough to allow the audience to read and understand.
A fade transition takes us into a medium shot of Tom walking into what appears to be a military practice area. He enters the room in slow motion which gives him some sort of status, as he enters, that comes with being filmed in slow motion. This effect is common in action films and can also be used to raise the dramatic tension in a scene. Shot reverse shot is used as Tom speaks to the female militant who seems to be teaching him how to stop him repeating the same memory. Shallow focus is used in this scene and we see some sort of electrical training device in the background that is moving rapidly but is also made using special effects.
The next ten seconds of the trailer follow Tom and his female compatriate as she trains him in overcoming this mysterious force placed upon him. It constantly switches between them being at the facility and them being on the battlefield confronting the alien forces. We see a close up of Tom as he tries to outrun a fiery explosionracing towards him. The shot is one of power and intense fear as we see his facial expression with gritted teeth as he tries despreately to outrun his imminent death. The camera is handheld at one stage as he runs across the battlefield in a blaze of bullets and explosions. The music has become much louder now and the drums are more apparent as the audience begins to realise that he is attempting a suicide mission.
Through a series of cuts there is a change in scene as the two appear in London. At this stage there is no battle occuring and instead it focuses on the training. We see the two involved in an intense car chase to escape armed guards and soldiers. A series of rapid cuts give the car chase some momentum and add tension to the scene. As the car tries to escape we are unsure whether they will be successful in escaping. The shot on the left is that of the car chase as the car escapes through a small gap surrounded by an array of bullets. A tracking shot is used as we see the car narrowly avoid driving straight into the wall.
The final thing we see in the film is the titles that reveal when the film is being released and the title of the film. Also we see the main characters names and their promoted social media sites. This is a common feature in nearly all trailers regardless of their genre, as it is used to make the audience remeber the name of the film and allows them to plan a visit to the cinema to watch it.