The first image seen is an establishing shot, which shows the cityscape, including many high rise office buildings. From this you can see that the film is set in an American city, and hints of the film’s narrative are given through the helicopter. The helicopter flying over the city suggests future scenes in which the city is having to be surveyed for any unusual things, typical of action films, which is one genre of this hybrid film. The shot suggests that action will occur, as from research we have found most action movies tend to occur in large cities.
In between each clip of the film text, on a black background, fades in. The text itself gives the impression that the film is sci-fi due to the font and glow. The text is in a font that looks like the font used in computer coding, which creates the image of a sci-fi film as this genre tends to use a lot of computer based technology, both in the mise en scene of the films and in the production/editing. The green glow around the text adds to the effect created by the font type and creates a continuous feel from the opening title throughout the trailer. Green is a colour often associated with sci-fi films, and by putting the glow around the computer text it creates the impression that the film is going to be very technology based. The glow seems to be more effective than if they used plain green text as it adds a more eerie feel to the text as it fades out from the white text to the background. By using the more complex colouring, it creates the impression that the film will be based around advanced technology and thoughts. The text seems to directly address the audience, which immediately engages us into the film and makes us want to watch the trailer.
The music is another element of the film trailer which adds to the overall sci-fi/action feel to the film. The background music at the start is very slow paced, with a strong beat, which immediately gets your heart racing. The music here only uses two instruments, creating a very dramatic score, which is typical of sci-fi films, where dramatic elements are used in conjunction with the science to create an engaging film.
The music is disturbed at 0.35 seconds into the trailer during a crescendo. The interruption is caused by a series of ‘beeps’, similar to that of computers. This gives the sense that the genre is sci-fi as it builds on typical conventions that have been seen in the first part of the trailer. The dying computer sound helps to create the sense that the film is not taking place in the real world, and rather in a parallel world to our own. The sound gives this impression as it symbolises the death of the ‘normal’ looking scenes, to replace them with scenes of high technology and special effects. The main character is shown at the point, using a crane shot and series of white flashes which were edited into the trailer. Neo, the name we find later is for this character, is someone that the target audience can relate to as he is a male in his 20’s. By using him as the main character, it satisfies the audience need according to Blumler and Katz of identification, where we can see ourselves in the characters. This makes the audience want to watch the film even more in order to see if this character will in fact be identifiable and make the decisions we would make. The shot shows the character waking up and in shock at his surrounding, which gives the impression that this is the beginning of the true story to the film. Just after this shot, text showing the words ‘as a slave!’ appears. This engages the audience as they want to find out why the character is a slave, a key element to the storyline.
After this the music begins with a single beat held until the music fully begins with heavy beats. This adds pace to the film and gives the feeling that the film will be full of intriguing scenes. Dialogue follows, using shot reverse shots between the main character and another, asking him ‘have you ever had a dream Neo, that you're so sure was real...what if you were unable to wake from that dream?’. This dialogue adds a sense of mystery to the trailer, and creates the same intrigue that the text does. It suggests that the main character is in two worlds, the normal one, which was seen with the establishing shot, and the parallel world, which follows on. During the pause between the dialogue we see a series of shots from the clip, all showing the large amount of special effects used. The effects should make the story seem unrealistic, but instead continue the sense of verisimilitude that was created at the beginning. Special effects are typical conventions of sci-fi films, and the use of them in the trailer helps us to recognise that this is the genre. A lot of close up shots are used on computer screens, which give the impression that the film is going to focus highly of new technology, another convention of sci-fi films
Other instruments are slowly added into the music to create a score similar to other sci-fi films such as War of the Worlds, where a lot of stings and synthesised beats are used. The shots cut very quickly from this point on in the trailer, which make it hard to establish a real storyline. This is also shown by the fact we seem to be unclear as to who the real villain is. One potential villain says that ‘human beings are a disease’, which would give the impression that he is the alien race, and therefore the villain. However, the use of so many special effects and makeup, along with the element of a parallel world make it hard to distinguish if the story is humans vs aliens, or whether all the characters are non human. The difficulty in establishing a storyline is mainly due to the fact that most trailers are not in chronological order, and are instead a series of snapshots showing the best parts of the film. This technique is particularly effective in the Matrix trailer as it makes you question all that is being said, and encourages you to want to find out and therefore see the film. The sci-fi elements to the film also compliment the discontinuous editing, as this genre is all about tapping into your own imagination and trying to find answers to questions which are unknown.
The music changes again at 2.09 minutes into the trailer, with a slight pause that is parallel to the scene shown. At this points we start so see the extent of the special effects that have been used in the film.Bullet time is used here, which is where the scene is almost detached from the time and space of the camera, with this film being one of the first to use this now common technique. The music continues whilst the image is still frozen, which creates a very odd feeling for the viewer. It makes the audience detach themselves from the trailer to their thoughts, therefore engaging the audience. The frozen image quickly goes back to real time, which can disorientate us as viewers, but also helps to emphasise the special effects used, especially the bullet time.
After this the music becomes more action/adventure based, but is also quieter so we can hear the other sound effects that are used. The new music builds up to a climax, and ends in a similar way to the first set of action/adventure genre music- with the sound of a computer. Instead of the dying sound previously used, this uses that of computer coding, which gives the impression that the elements seen in the film will continue and the way of living in this parallel world is the way to make the world work, as coding is a way to make software on computers work. The computer sounds again add to the effect that this is a sci-fi genre as it gives the sense of advanced technology. The text ‘The matrix’ appears on screen, in the same font and colour scheme as that in the beginning. This reminds the audience that the film is predominantly sci-fi, which is needed after the scenes showing conventions of action films. By using this same theme, it adds continuity to the trailer, which makes it look professional and something of a high quality, appealing to the audience even more.
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