A Helpful Reminder About the 'Skyfall' Teaser Trailer

By: Greg Payne



I've probably dedicated far too many words to the Skyfall teaser trailer that dropped late last month already, but I've got a few more for you. Two recent posts were committed to the Skyfall trailer, in which I laid out some of my theories and thoughts on what might be happening in certain scenes. You can find Part One here, and Part Two here.

I watched the trailer again, several times, after I wrote those two entries, and then something I already knew re-dawned on me. The scenes we see in these trailers aren't the full scenes we'll see in a movie. The editing in a trailer is often different, in order to produce a desired effect sooner, because there's only so much time it has to get its point across to us.

For example, the interrogation scene witnessed at the beginning of the trailer seems like it's pretty important to the overall plot of the film. Why else would Sam Mendes and co. choose it as the lead-in for the very first trailer, the very first opportunity to show off footage from the film? But does anyone honestly think it lasts a mere 28 seconds, as it does in the trailer (interspersed with other tidbits from the film, sure)? Of course not. We're probably looking at a scene that will last anywhere from three to five minutes during the actual film.

So, I suppose what I'm aiming to do here is not throw out any more crazy theories about what might be happening in that scene, but instead offer a reminder that we're not seeing the full scene, as it's meant to be seen.

The initial back-and-forth we see in the trailer might not even be the correct order of the dialogue in the film. The interrogator might not lead with "Country," nor might he follow it with, "Gun." And on top of that, what prompts Bond to finally leave the room? Surely him saying, "Done," in response to, "Skyfall," isn't cue for him to get up and lumber out. There has to be another exchange of some kind there. Perhaps the interrogator presses further on the "Skyfall" prompt and Bond announces he's done answering questions. Or, maybe the interrogator simply dismisses Bond after seeing him hesitate to answer when first pressed with "Skyfall," realizing that Bond's lack of a poker face (a mean feat, considering Bond's skills with the cards) has provided all of the information he needs.

So, as was so often reiterated in the original Transformers, there's more than meets the eye with this trailer, and all trailers for that matter. I fully expect this scene to be tense and somewhat shocking within the context of the entire film, and while the trailer offered a nice tease (it accomplished its mission as the teaser trailer), it by no means represents the whole scene the way Mendes and his staff crafted it to fit into the overall narrative. It's still enjoyable, but there is much more joy to be had with it when it and the rest of Skyfall lands in theaters in the United States on November 9th.