... Meh. Much prefer the ODST induction/training as far as showing origins go.
I think they tried to cram too much into this. Should have focused on one thing instead of the clusterfuck memory probe.
I can see what they were trying to convey, but maybe it would have been better as separate trailers. As I saw it, there were two main things going on here. One was the main women in his life leading to something about Cortana, and second was his training that led him to this point.
I would have done it like this (mostly different
) :
Trailer A: John’s memory of abduction/induction/training while fighting prometheans
John is fighting the Prometheans (as above). He’s running towards something. He gets thrown into that wall (as above) and blacks out.
Upon “waking” we see little John and Halsey meeting for the first time. The coin toss, "Eagle!" scene from Fall of Reach. Make sure we can hear the clink of the metal ringing. End it with him catching the coin. Hold that shot.
Cut to a hand reaching out quickly to grab onto a rope. Do a quick camera change to the obstacle training course with the bell at the end. Fans should see the number designations (on the shirts) of John (117), Kelly (087), and Sam (034) as a group doing various things (other kids too) - there are quick cuts to emphasize the difficult nature of the race. Last bit is a shot of the bell on its own. The rope moves and the bell is rung once. The rope is left to swing. Hold that shot.
Now, zoom out of the bell, and we see a minefield being set off with John (in-armour) running towards the bell. There’s the Pelican bearing down on him and it fires the missile. Have Cortana echo her FoR lines. Slo-mo as John deflects the missile with his arm. There’s the explosion, but now there’s a glitchy black out with Cortana lines echoing.
And of course, that leads back to him waking up fighting the Prometheans again. Finish off the trailer with John reaching the giant sphere (there’s that poster they showed before). Something is about to happen (ominous sound/visual effect). Cut to black. Sound the ringing of the bell from his training course as the Halo 4 title appears.
----
This is all about John reaching out for the next level, to take fate into his own hands. Each scene is connected beginning & end, each time he has won, but then is reaching for a higher goal the next time.
Trailer B: John's relationship with a mother/protector figure leading up to "there's something clearly wrong".
Start the trailer with Forward Unto Dawn powered down. Pan over to the obviously occupied cryotube. During the slow camera pan, we hear a faint version of
Cortana's last line from Halo 3 with a slight echo. Perhaps have a second woman's voice saying the same thing but sadder.
It goes quiet as the camera stops beside the tube.
Switch to the beach scene. It's obviously a dream. Was the second voice this woman? His real mother? Halsey's younger voice?
Wtf knows.
Old Halsey (in a lab coat) then overwrites the first person, and the scene switches to putting Mark V on for the first time (Fall of Reach) with echoed quotes from the book in the background as she walks up to him.
Then the Cortana image overwrites Halsey. This image transition blitz continues far longer as we hear additional quotation of her insane mutterings from Halo 3. There's some more glitch/noise sounds, and then signalling the end of that sequence is her shouting "John!" with the fade-out echo.
Cut to black. When the echo stops, dramatic stomp sound.
When it's quiet again, we then hear,
John's last line from Halo 3. Insert Halo 4 title (and maybe the classic Halo monk chant or some gloomier rendition
).
---------------
Basically, a dream sequence between H3/H4. It focuses on the women in his life who served as motherly or protective figures. And 3 seemed to be it, or at least, there are 3 inflection points as I see it - the last memory of the woman before he was kidnapped, the last encounter with Halsey as Reach fell, and what he has seen of Cortana after rescuing her and before being put into stasis. If you think about it, there's no actual closure each time (especially if you think of the first person as his real mother). "Wake me, when you need me," gives John that chance. Halo 4 is going to be about John and Cortana.
I really liked the idea of Cortana's image overwriting the early memory of this woman (whom I think is supposed to be young Halsey pre-induction. It could be the real mother, up to the viewer). It's confusion.
I need to sleep.
