Blog Post #11 - Case Study: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 | Official Trailer

 Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a Comedy Action-Adventure film released in December 2024 which, as of writing this, is the most recent movie in a trilogy of films, centered around the character Sonic the Hedgehog. This trailer was released just under 4 months before the film was released, and it's purpose was to bring attention to the movie, and to inform the audience on the topic, and narrative of the movie. The purpose for researching this trailer is because it is a comedy film, such as mine will be, this will help me to further understand comedy in movies.



This trailer opens with short, rapidly changing clips of Sonic, the protagonist of the story running around happily. This array of shots helps to give the audience a feel for the movie's comedic and fast nature, and Sonic as a character's agility, and lighthearted nature.

Along with the visuals, the audio of this sequence helps to give the events of the scenes more weight, featuring dramatic score, sound effects such as Sonic's actions of boosting and jumping, and vocals, which give context to the scenes. The two voices in this sequence are that of Tom; who is a character from the previous two movies who acts as Sonic's father figure; and Sonic, who taunts those around him, adding to the comedic influence of the movie.

Sonic, in the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 trailer, 0:14

Shadow the Hedgehog (0:25)


The next sequence of the trailer develops the main plot of the film, and introduces the antagonists of the film: Shadow the Hedgehog and Gerald Robotnik. It opens with a continuation of the dramatic, bass-heavy score from the previous sequence, which helps the trailer to build a fearful, and dangerous emotion in the audience. It starts in a prison, where close-up shots are used to put emphasis on certain actions, in order to build anticipation in the audience. This scene introduces one of the antagonists, Shadow the Hedgehog, who is represented as a dangerous person, using close-up shots, dramatic score, dark, red lighting, large explosion effects, and discordant sound effects. 

Shadow, in the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 trailer, 0:24

Team Sonic vs. Shadow (0:50)

The next scene of the trailer features Sonic and his two partners Tails and Knuckles on the street of a city, looking up at Shadow. The placement of Shadow above the other three signifies his position as a more power figure looming over them, adding to Shadow's powerful presence. Knuckles and Sonic's interactions in this scene help to lighten the mood a bit, adding a comedic presence to the intense sequence. 

A fight then ensues between the two groups. A two-shot of Knuckles and Shadow in the air helps to show the two's body languages, of which Shadow has a bold, and confident body language, while upon seeing Shadow, Knuckles has a confused and worried body language, piercing through his aggressive personality previously shown. The constant positioning of Shadow in the air, above the other three helps to show his abilities and his authority over them. Sound effects used to represent Shadow's "Air Shoes" helps to convince the audience of the things that are happening on-screen. Special Effects of small explosions are used to put impact on Shadow's actions, such as him slamming Sonic against the road. 

The score changes to a dramatic orchestral rendition of the song from the level "Green Hill Zone Act 1" from the original Sonic the Hedgehog video game, which helps to build a sense of familiarity in the scene but also raise a feeling of anticipation. 

The Anticipation Increases


The next sequence starts with rapid shots of different locations, and asynchronous audio of Sonic speaking on how Shadow is "too powerful", which places further emphasis on Shadow's actions in the trailer, amping them up. These shots also feature Sonic with a serious, and angry body language, showing him being placed at odds against his peers.

Sonic and Tails, in the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 trailer


A transition to a scene showing Robotnik, a previous antagonist behaving in an out-of-character way helps to re-introduce a comedic presence into the trailer, lightening the tone a bit. Throughout this scene, there are a few bits of serious dialogue that help to carry the serious tone from previous scenes to the next sequence, while keeping this one more light-hearted. 

Sonic vs. Shadow (2:20)

The score switches melodies during this scene to match the melody of the song "Live & Learn", the theme song of the game from which this film is based off of, Sonic Adventure 2. The reuse of this melody helps to build excitement in fans who are aware of this transition, and to raise a dramatic feeling in all audience members who view this. The trailer also closes off with a release date featuring this dramatic score. 

"Live and Learn" by Crush 40, from Sonic Adventure 2

This sequence starts off with Shadow doing various things, such as causing a city to go dark, and attacking Sonic, the protagonist. These shots help to further sell to the audience Shadow's dangerous and dark nature. A close-up of shadow with angry body language further shows his serious and angry nature, further shown with low-pitched score backing him up. Sonic's body language and voice in these shots implies that Shadow has done something harsh or damaging to him, or something dear to Sonic, setting up anticipation to find out what he has done in the film.

Conclusion

This trailer uses many various techniques including lighting, angles, and noise to show the audience the dangerous and dark nature of its antagonists, priming the audience to watch the film. This trailer also uses quick jokes in-between the serious moments to not overwhelm the audience, keeping a somewhat light-hearted tone throughout most of it. This use of comedic affect throughout also helps to merge its two moods throughout, and make it seem natural.

I plan to incorporate some of the lighting, and framing techniques I have observed in this trailer in order to fit more things into my project into a shorter amount of time. The key techniques I would like to incorporate are the framing of powerful figures to be higher, and weaker figures to be lower, warmer lighting to build a fearful atmosphere, and quick switching scenes to show multiple events.

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