Why Percy Jackson and the Olympians is such a great trailer.

The teaser trailer for Percy Jackson and the Olympians is one of my favourite trailers of all time. It was made to promote a movie that is going to come out late 2023 – Early 2024 and this trailer has built my anticipation to watch the film. I had high expectations for the trailer, and they absolutely shattered my expectations as it has great cinematography, great use of props, beautiful set design, brilliant costume design and a great soundtrack

In the opening of the trailer at 0.03 – 0.15, we are greeted with a close shot of the main character looking down at a clipboard. We are made aware that this person is Percy Jackson from the non-diegetic narration. This scene is here to give a brief introduction to the main character as they should be the first ones introduced. The “close up” shot was used to make sure that we know for a fact that this is the main character. The actor in this scene, looks very confident and slightly confused. There is a slowed down version of the song Riptide by Vance Joy, which gives a slow start into the trailer so then it can surprise us later with a more intense soundtrack in the background of the shot which is non diegetic as we would soon learn that the first scene is based in a museum. In the exact same scene, we can also see a clipboard which also gives us a quick sense of curiosity because we are wondering what is on the clipboard. Our attention is drawn towards the clipboard as it takes up a hefty amount of the screen in the scene and it is a very bright colour. This increases the audience retention of the trailer directly from the beginning. A few seconds later, we see Percy Jackson outside

In this scene right after the first at 0.16, we can see Percy Jackson standing outside of the museum in which he was. A frame later, we see another close up shot onto his hand which has an object shaking very intensely which must indicate that this certain object must be important. This gives us the exact same feeling as seeing the clipboard does, it increases our intrigue because we are wondering, why the object is shaking and by placing this scene directly after a retention building clip, it continues to help build the retention of the film trailer. A few seconds later in the next scene we can see a group of students which are standing around and in the middle of them we see what seems to be a teacher. The shot is focused on the teacher which must indicate that either something is to happen to the teacher, or the teacher will do something. So, this scene is giving us a slight bit of tension because we end up being confused about why the teacher is shown in the first place. Shortly after, we get to see the main setting of the movie.

In the next scene at 0.51, we get a full wide shot of a camp. In this camp, the kids are wearing orange shirts. We also see a signpost which says “Demeter” and “Hephaestus” on it. This is here just to give the people who are fans of the series something to show that the movie has any relation to Greek mythology as Demeter (Also known as the goddess of harvest) is a Greek goddess whilst Hephaestus is the Greek god of artisans, metal work and Volcanoes. This scene establishes the main setting of the movie's beginning. It was placed there to give us an insight into where the characters will reside in the beginning of the movie. We can assume that this scene will occur in the beginning of the movie because we see other settings towards the end of the trailer meaning that in theoretical chronology, the camp will be at the beginning of the movie.

In the scene shortly after, we see a close up shot of a woman with no prior context. The scene’s setting seems to be in a forest, and we see a group of people. The woman in the middle seems to be wearing armour and a helmet, along with the orange uniform of the camp underneath it. The helmet and armour are an orange tint which must mean that they are very shiny and bronze. The orange uniform indirectly explains to us that everyone wearing it is part of the camp. The other people in the shot, seem to be warriors of some sort which makes us think about why they are dressed like warriors. The epic heroic music in the background continues and along with it we can hear a battle cry coming from the people on the screen which is diegetic.

In the next scene, we can see the 2 boys on the right of the screen and another man far in the distance on the left. They seem to be in some sort of open area with monoliths that have a very eerie blue colour to them. We also see some sort of throne which makes us think about whether the man in the back a deity is. This scene makes us wonder what kind of adventures the boys are going on. It’s a wide shot with a very large focus on the area not filled with anything whilst the boys stand to the side, out of focus. The trailer uses that unfilled area to introduce a new setting and character. In this scene, the music seems to fade a little bit whilst Chiron say the master bolt has been stolen. The master bolt being stolen creates intrigue for the rest of the story by building up a goal for the main characters to accomplish.

In the 6 ^th   and final scene. We can see the actor for Percy Jackson standing in the middle of a very dark forest holding a light sword. we can hear the pen being unsheathed into a sword which has shown itself to be a diegetic object. This happens right after the big man bull kills Percy’s mother. This scene is here to make us wonder about how Percy Jackson got a sword and if he will be able to kill the big bull man without it killing him first. The sword in the scene is very juxtaposed with the background due to it being orange on the very dark blue background. The environment of the scene makes me think that its around 11pm and it just rained as the atmosphere looks moist. The same heroic music from the other scenes can be heard in this scene as well.

This iteration in the percy jackson series, in my opinion, is the best one so far. The trailer has had great music choice, very realistic looking props, and very well made scene designs along with amazing actors who fit the roles perfectly and carry the story. My only concern about this movie is the chronology of the events in correlation to the original novel. But other than that, the trailer looks amazing 😻.