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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Cloverfield (1-18-08) » Cloverfield: General / Updates
[SPEC] Focusing on what's in the trailers
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Itsumo
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 		 [SPEC] Focusing on what's in the trailers
A rehash and speculation on just what can be gleaned from the trailers
Warning! Longwinded!

Analysis of the Cloverfield trailers and complimentary media, with implications to the monster.

Some of this may not be exactly representative to the final film, as promo clips are constructed a bit creatively at times. For isntance, in some versions a roar is heard with the explosion, at other times it is absent. It could be evidence of late sound mixing into the film, or mixing of the roar into the trailer for excitement. Either way it is important to recognize that what has appeared in the trailers may not represent the final movie, and may indeed be misleading. So take it with a grain of salt but here's the best I could make out from what's at hand.

The incident site
Incident site U.S. 447. This may refer to New York, Manhattan, or Central Park. New York state itself has somehwere around 60 cities so if the site numbers are by city, the scale of the incident is likely nationwide. Entirely possible however that Central Park is Site U.S. 447. Also, with a number like 447, either what happens here has occured near simultaneously elsewhere in many locations (possible but unlikely due to lack of mention in the news report at the party), or the site numbering is not sequential in order of event. That would be similar to the various "areas" that Nevada was divided into by the AEC, and would argue for the possibility that Site U.S. 447 may not be equivalent to all of New York City, but may be a sector of some larger or smaller size on a map, again, possibly refering only to Central Park if the event is not widespread.


First indication
In some trailer versions a Roar, very wheasy, ground shakes, lights flicker coincides with shaking of the building the party is at. The roar has some similarities to sounds made by whales, but the similarity may be superficial.

Quake Magnitude estimation 3.0 to 4.5, as party definitely feels it, but only minor disruption of items in room. This is a very significant earthquake for this region, and would require a great deal of energy if it is far from the building the party is in (the harbor is likely 2 or 3 miles away judging from later shots). This would be on the order of a space/nuclear impact (in which case there would have been a loud explosion) or a seismec event. With the existing evidence most likely a seismec event.

Lights flicker momentarily, could be disruption of the building's power supply, or of elements of the larger power grid.

Car alarms are activated, possibly due to noise, but likely from the groundshake.

Earthquake report: approximately 15 minutes after initial quake? (announcer voice is obscured when listing how many minutes)
New York Harbor (Upper New York Bay) Near the Statue of Liberty
Oil Tanker is capsizing. It would seem that the monster is likely underwater at this point or it would likely have appeared on the news.

On the roof
Probably 15-20 minutes have passed since the initial earthquake judging by the news caster.

Emergency vehicles can be heard from the roof.

Rob looks a bit apprehensive. Is he worried about something in particular? He doesn't admit to any special knowledge later.

Second indication, Roar and Explosion
In some versions, a roar is heard just before the concussion of a blast (about 1-1.5 seconds), indicating that either the roar was closer to the party than the explosion, or the roar began just before the explosion (likely the latter). Perhaps the creature roared because it recognized an attack was being launched against it? Or perhaps the creature initiated an attack, beginning it with a roar (likely the latter in light of the analysis of the explosion). Does anyone recognize the location on the island where the explosion occurs? Looks like it's between buildings.

The explosion is VERY large (bigger than a MOAB impact). Being so large in an urban center it is unlikely a military strike. The explosion appears to happen amongst buildings, but it is unclear if where in relation to the harbor. Either this is some very large storage of energetic materials such as natural gas, explosives/bombs (Brooklyn Navy Yard?) or possibly fuel/oil (but should be a darker and smokier explosion). Unlikely to be a tactical nuclear weapon, as there should have been a noticable white flash.

Multiple flaming objects fly out of the cloud in multiple directions. These objects appear to experience variable combustion / luminosity in flight, indicating that they may be burning unevenly, spinning, or have combustible residue present on them. These objects are burning, leave smoke trails, and flare up on impact. This could be consistent with oil drums launched by an explosion, burning on their way back to the ground, or it could be explosive ordnance such as rocket propellant on fire (but they tend to burn much brighter, and there would likely be many more secondary explosions, all though the explosion is somewhat rumbly/crackley). Most likely a fuel/oil storage location going up all at once. This may not be what the film makers had in mind, and hollywood usually misses the mark in explosion accuracy, but it's the closest what they've given us can be diagnosed to.

It should be noted that the explosion appears to be just a few miles away (1 to 3 perhaps?). The roar is quite distinct even at this range (presuming it is at the same location), so the roar itself is likely as loud/louder than a jet engine, and is probably deafening at close range. This holds for the roar heard earlier during the party, it would have to be VERY loud to have been heard so clearly indoors. Does it seem to vibrate the camera, or is that just the camera man?

On the ground
"We saw it, it's alive, it's huge" is heard in some versions.

The monster would have to be huge indeed to be discernable at the distance the party is from the explosion, but seeing what happens to the statue of liberty, this is a safe bet. The monster must be at the west end of Manhattan at this point (where statue of liberty is, explosion) so it is likely that whatever blew up earlier was in the proximity of Upper New York bay.

Another roar in some versions.

At this point the head of the Statue of Liberty flys in. Clearly the monster is phenomenally strong. Analysis of the movie poster (for what it's worth) appears to indicate a tripple clawed swipe (possibly right claw judging by path through water and the loft on the head) as well as similar tripple clawed (more on possible significance of this later) swipes on buildings at the skyline. Monster would appear to be about as tall as the sky scrapers at the water line, perhaps a little taller (assuming it isn't hunched over).

As people stare at the head, ground shaking occurs and structures less than a mile away begin to colapse causing the crowd to run.

Shelter is sought in a nearby store as dust billows by. Increasingly Loud noises and vibration seem to be indicative of the monster walking nearby.

7 hours later Rob is recording that some thing attacked the city, at this point he seems unclear as to what is going on. Either Rob has been in hiding for that time and has seen nothing interesting, or not a great deal has happened at this point or he would have more to report (likely the former).

Things become unclear from flashes in the remaining trailers. Views of surviors, military/medical facilities etc.

The unhealthy girl
One of their friends appears to be getting increasingly unhealthy, to the point of where someone (presumably she) seems to expand rapidly / explode / mutate while struggling/being restrained by two people in hazmat suits. It is unclear if this is some sort of mutation/transformation ah la Tetsuo Shima in Akira or like John Carpenter's The Thing, or if this is some sort of expanding gas bloating the body, or if this is some organism erupting from her body. Given the symetry in the silloutte, it appears that the chest may have split open (skin would not likely stretch enough to maintain the level of separation in the chest without splitting) and the two halves of the rib cage may have swung open relatively evenly. This would seem to indicate that gaseous expansion is less likely (or the effects guys didn't think too much about it), so we are left with possibilities of some sort of mutation/transformation, or something splitting her chest down the middle (appearantly from the inside).

Additional notes on the girl.

In a series of photos the girl can be seen in varying states of unhealth, seemingly becoming more and more pale, and with blood coming from her mouth, nose and eyes. In addtion the left side of her shirt seems soaked in blood. Possible causes? It could be that she has sustained significant injuries from a fall or impact (or attack), been exposed to a chemical agent such as Sarin, been exposed to/contracted a hemoragic disease, or subject to some unknown factor, anything from mutation to infestation. Certainly her pallor could be explained by any combination of blood-loss / disease.

Given the similarity between her apperance, and the presence of the hazmat suits, she is very likely the one seen expanding in the trailer. Given the above, it is very likely that her condition is not related so much to trauma, chemical agents, or disease, as it is some sort of mutation/transformation or infestation. We won't likely know till we see the movie.

Subway attack? / Mini Monsters?
One other point of interest is that in one photo that has appeared, two characters are seen trying to keep a door closed, terror / exhertion on their faces. The female has scratches on her arm, and I think it may be relevant to note that there are three scratches, in a pattern somewhat similar to the Tripple Clawed marks seen on the Statue of Liberty and the buildings in the movie poster. This would argue for the possibility of at least one minature version of the monster, and would add to the infestation hypothesis for the expanding girl (though still possibly unrelated) which would argue for multiple minature versions of the monster ah la Aliens style. Again, we won't likely know till we see the movie.

Also in one trailer amongst the medical / expanding girl scenes someone announces with alarm "Bite! We've got a Bite!". It's difficult to say if this sound clip occurs anywhere near this footage in the actual movie, but of interest is the following:
Most of the time, a normal animal bite would not cause such a stir. It is possible therefore that the medical staff has seen the relevant bite before, and know it to be a serious / dangerous occurance. Now if Mr. Grumpypants were to bite someone, there would likely be nothing left to inspect or be alarmed about. We can therefore conclude that something small enough to bite a human, allow the human to survive, and cause great worry to medical personnel is at play. The standard concern would be infection. The hazmat suits tend to argue for this, but again we must consider this could end up in mutation/infestation because of the expanding girl sequence.


So in conclusion:
The event appears to start with an unaccountably large siesmec event.
The Monster is likely well taller than the Statue of Liberty and has a likely deafening roar.
The city/military is taken by surprise.
The extent of the incident could be as broad as nationwide, or could be limited to a much smaller area.
It is probable that smaller versions of the monster may exist/be created.
It is possible that humans may be mutated/infested by either something from the Monster or very likely from spawnlings.

Pretty much nothing new there, but in light of several "Spoilers" I've seen lately which may be fanfic or disinformation by JJ's crew (you think none of them are registered here?), I think its relevant to keep in focus what the trailers contain.

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:37 pm
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Slusho Addict
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 		Re: [SPEC] Focusing on what's in the trailers
A rehash and speculation on just what can be gleaned from the trailers
Good summing up of the important stuff Smile

Itsumo wrote:
The female has scratches on her arm, and I think it may be relevant to note that there are three scratches, in a pattern somewhat similar to the Tripple Clawed marks seen on the Statue of Liberty and the buildings in the movie poster..


For some reason I never even connected these things, interesting point.

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:53 pm
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Itsumo
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 		Re: [SPEC] Focusing on what's in the trailers
A rehash and speculation on just what can be gleaned from the trailers
Slusho Addict wrote:

For some reason I never even connected these things, interesting point.


Someone somewhere was arguing for a giant humanoid monster, and I was thinking the pinky claw might be short enough that only the three middle claws engage in the buildings / statue, but then I saw her arm and the similarity just clicked while I was thinking about it. I still don't buy a humanoid monster.

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:00 pm
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wizkey
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 		With all of the talk about the monster 'throwing' the Stautue's head, I never thought that the more realistic thing (taking into account the claw marks on it's face) is that the monster 'swiped' the head clean off.

The wording of the original post has got me thinking that it is more likely that the monster swung it's clawed hands at the statue and knocked it flying like a baseball off of a tee.

This is probably the cause, although a very small detail in the grand scheme, still pretty cool to imagine.

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:23 pm
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Itsumo
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wizkey wrote:
The wording of the original post has got me thinking that it is more likely that the monster swung it's clawed hands at the statue and knocked it flying like a baseball off of a tee.


I guess it becomes a question of Monster psychology. Plucking the head off and hucking it never struck me as a very natural beasty reaction. Giving it a good whack seemed more natural.

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:40 pm
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wizkey wrote:
With all of the talk about the monster 'throwing' the Stautue's head, I never thought that the more realistic thing (taking into account the claw marks on it's face) is that the monster 'swiped' the head clean off.

The wording of the original post has got me thinking that it is more likely that the monster swung it's clawed hands at the statue and knocked it flying like a baseball off of a tee.

This is probably the cause, although a very small detail in the grand scheme, still pretty cool to imagine.



This has been covered in the '450 mph monster' thread, or whatever it's called. It's possible, but would need a very fast monster to get from Liberty to Broadway in 40 seconds, if we're meant to take it that seriously...

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:49 pm
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retina
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 		Re: [SPEC] Focusing on what's in the trailers
A rehash and speculation on just what can be gleaned from the trailers
Quote:
The incident site
Incident site U.S. 447. This may refer to New York, Manhattan, or Central Park. New York state itself has somehwere around 60 cities so if the site numbers are by city, the scale of the incident is likely nationwide. Entirely possible however that Central Park is Site U.S. 447. Also, with a number like 447, either what happens here has occured near simultaneously elsewhere in many locations (possible but unlikely due to lack of mention in the news report at the party), or the site numbering is not sequential in order of event. That would be similar to the various "areas" that Nevada was divided into by the AEC, and would argue for the possibility that Site U.S. 447 may not be equivalent to all of New York City, but may be a sector of some larger or smaller size on a map, again, possibly refering only to Central Park if the event is not widespread.


I always thought that "INCIDENT SITE U.S. 447" meant that the incident was at "SITE U.S. 447", where "SITE U.S. 447" was the ID for Central Park. If it meant that it was one of (at least) 447 incidents, it would have been "INCIDENT 447 -> AREA FORMERLY KNOWN AS CENTRAL PARK", right?

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:59 pm
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Itsumo
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Slusho Addict wrote:
...would need a very fast monster to get from Liberty to Broadway in 40 seconds


True. Not being from New York I couldn't pick out the location of the party in the trailer. If it's more than a few miles from the harbor, the head getting swiped off might present timing difficulties if the monster then shows up quickly. But as you point out, most of the time these things aren't planned/mapped seriously from a physics perspective for movies, focusing instead primarily on the visual impact etc.

PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 12:14 am
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Lambo_Diablo_Svtt
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 		It could have smacked the head once, and then kicked / swiped at it again...

PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 12:26 am
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Saiyan King
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Lambo_Diablo_Svtt wrote:
It could have smacked the head once, and then kicked / swiped at it again...


It looked to me like it had teeth marks in it since the 5 minute preview was released. so im wondering now if it didnt try to eat it, and since it was metal, spit it out, instead of throwing it. A bitch that big could spit that far. Like us with watermelon seeds
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:36 am
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xboyonfirex
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 		I don't see why it couldn't have just grabbed it and threw it.

PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:38 am
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Saiyan King
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xboyonfirex wrote:
I don't see why it couldn't have just grabbed it and threw it.


Im not saying it didnt. we wont know for sure for another three and a half weeks. I just think i see teeth marks in it now. he may have spit it out. or could have chewed it than taken it out and thrown it. Im just wildly speculating over here

And actually, we may not even find out then
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:41 am
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xboyonfirex
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Saiyan King wrote:


Im not saying it didnt. we wont know for sure for another three and a half weeks. I just think i see teeth marks in it now. he may have spit it out. or could have chewed it than taken it out and thrown it. Im just wildly speculating over here

And actually, we may not even find out then


I don't think we'll know either. I mean, chewing and spitting out seems a bit more reasonable than swiping, kicking, round housing it off.

PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:46 am
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Saiyan King
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xboyonfirex wrote:
Saiyan King wrote:


Im not saying it didnt. we wont know for sure for another three and a half weeks. I just think i see teeth marks in it now. he may have spit it out. or could have chewed it than taken it out and thrown it. Im just wildly speculating over here

And actually, we may not even find out then


I don't think we'll know either. I mean, chewing and spitting out seems a bit more reasonable than swiping, kicking, round housing it off.


Yea thats what im saying. To me it seems very reasonable for this monster to come upon the statue , attack it, take a bite to try and eat it, realizes its inedible and takes one big loogie shot straight onto Broadway
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:48 am
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Itsumo
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 		I still think the most purplexing thing in the trailers is the expanding girl. As much as it looks to me she splits down the middle in the front (in order to get the level of separation of chest features), you'd expect to see things flying out of her or dropping to the ground in that case. Very troublesome.

I agree with you guys that there's probably a lot such as what exactly happens to the statue of liberty that won't be revealed in the movie. I just hope JJ and folks take the time to explain things after the film. Director's commentary on DVD is something I'm looking forward to most.

PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 10:58 am
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