Analysis of Alice in Wonderland teaser trailer

This is the new film from Tim Burton, it is his adaptation of the classic "Alice In Wonderland". It is a surreal, fantasy-based tale starring Johnny Depp.

We begin following a girl's feet as she runs through a wood, this is followed by a mid-shot of the girl that fades in then out again. She is wearing all white signifying that she is pure and good. Next is a long-shot of the girl running through the shot through trees. This first scene is set up with string music to portray it as a happy scene, but as the next shot of her is a low-angle shot from inside a tree as she falls in it the music changes to being fast-paced and frantic. This is followed by titles reading "From director Tim Burton" in playful script and fades out to action-style music as we have shot through the eyes of the girl as she falls into the tree. We see the light fading and then it cuts to a shot from below her and then back into her eyes as strange object such as lamps and tables start to fly past her. This is the first inclination that it is a fantasy film, and she then lands with a thud on a marble floor, not what you'd expect to be at the bottom of a tree. The next shot is of a bottle in the foreground and the girl out of focus in the background, this links the two together and the next shot is a close-up of her drinking the contents of the bottle. As the music reaches a climax she begins to shrink through her dress into a dream world with larger than life objects littering the surroundings, including a gigantic swan and flowers. The music is now somewhat dreamy and as it fades into a shot of two characters being escorted by a rabbit and a dragon the voice over begins with "Like no place on earth" we then see the girl standing on a huge balcony with another woman. As this fades out we a greeted by a huge cat's head floating through a forest and then smiling as it reaches the foreground, this shows that not everything is as it seems and the voice over then says "A land full of wonder". As the next shot wipes in we see a man dressed in black holding a map which automatically makes the audience think he is a bad guy but the voice over contradicts the Mise-En-Scene by it saying "Mystery" meaning that things aren't as usual and he might not be bad after all. With the music now reaching a second climax the shot fades to a girl with a gigantically over-sized head pushing open two massive doors to reveal a group of strange looking people, with this the voice over says "danger" and the mood of the scene darkens as we now see a huge creature baring its teeth from a low-angle shot. We then see the effect this has as we go to a close-up of the main character being blown backwards by the force of the creature. This is followed by a shot of two men who are escorting the girl being taken by an eagle swooping down and plucking them from the ground. As the girl looks up the next shot fades in and the voice over says "Some say, in order to survive it you'd have to be as mad as a hatter" this is proceeded by a shot of a hat on the floor being picked up by a man. The camera then pans up to see his face and as it does so the voice over continues with "Which luckily I am" and with this a title appears with the name Johnny Depp on, he is an established actor so this helps to bring in a larger audience. As this title fades out we are met with a montage of this character walking across a table full of cutlery. He then greets the other main character, the girl, with "Alice, your terribly late you know, naughty" as he stands over her. As the music builds to a crescendo we see the male character throw his hat at the camera and as he does so the title of the film appears "Alice In Wonderland" with a playful laugh in the background. We then see the culprit of the laugh, the male character, followed by a crash of symbols and flashing to a rabbit wearing a jacket pulling out a clock from his pocket with the sound of the clock ticking amplified to create speed. The next shot is of a title saying "You've got a very important date" with the clock still ticking in the background to create a link to the action as the date appears "March 5th, 2010" with the cat's head from earlier in the trailer re-appearing as his eyes replace the 0's in 2010. As this fades out the final shot fades in with the male character throwing two scrolls into the air with characters flying from it to appear as "Go through the looking glass in Imax 3D" followed by the credits.

Fans of Tim Burton will not be disappointed by this trailer as it contains all of his trademarks, its surreal nature with an uplifting storyline and playful characters. This teaser trailer has the perfect balance between enticing the audience but not giving away too much of the storyline in the process.