This new installment in the Hunger Games franchise takes audiences back over 60 years following the story of a young Coriolanus Snow, as he navigates through the newly developing society of the Capitol post-war. The opening shot introduces us into what I believe is, The Academy, a school for the Capitol wealthy where Snow is trying to recover his family name from becoming poverty stricken. If you look closely behind you will see landscape shots of the Capitol that reveal several buildings are being rebuilt presumably after becoming ruined in the conflict of warfare. The shot then showcases visuals of Viola Davis as, Dr. Gaul, a menacing looking character brought to life through incredible costume design and acting.
The trailer then introduces us to Dean Casca Highbottom, the unintentional creator of the Hunger Games as he downs some type of liquid in a style similar to that of Haymitch’s self medicating. He begins to explain how for the 10th Annual Hunger Games, there would be a change that incorporated Academy students being assigned and selected to mentor a specific district tribute. As we know Lucy Gray Baird is the tribute for Snow, the trailer of course pans to our beloved, Rachel Zegler, who graces her presence both to the Capitol audiences and us with a dipped bow almost identical to that of Katniss in Catching Fire.
Shots of the tributes along with Lucy Gray Baird then follow as they are transported from the Districts to the Capitol after the 10th reaping, to which we see the initial connection between Snow and Lucy as he offers her a rose and implies he will protect her from the Capitol and games. Lucy makes it known to Snow in this short interaction that if he wants to take care of her, he should start by believing she has the capability to become the lone victor at the end.
As the preparation for the games begin in the trailer, we are given wide view shots of the academy mentors preparing for watching and sponsoring their tributes, with Lucky Flickerman who is coined as the first Host of the Hunger Games beginning the countdown. We are then given aerial outside views of what I believe to be the coliseum arena, a Capitol event center that was a prime target for rebel bombings during and following the war.
The overhead countdown continues playing from Flickerman, as the shots pan behind Lucy Gray in the arena which is then show from an aerial view that suggests the new debris from the recent bombing to the arena made a cornucopia shape in the center that also similarly parallels the ones seen in the 74th and 75th Hunger Games, likely as an homage to the originals.
As the trailer progresses from here, we see action from the arena that shows the new sponsorship drones of the time, as well as the tunnels that were opened to access for the tributes as a result of the bombing right before the games. During these scenes we hear Dr. Gaul overhead as she describes the idea of becoming predator vs prey, the conversation that was likely had between her and Snow after she sent Snow into the arena who was then attacked by tributes after retrieving, Sejanus Plinth, a mentor who went into the arena to become a martyr following the death of his own tribute.
We are then given some incredible visuals of the Capitol flag in the arena being torn down, then transitioning to Snow and Lucy in the woods as she implies the notion of choosing between the good and evil within yourself. During these overhead statements from Lucy, we are also given shots of what I assume to be Sejanus going into the arena on that first night, with Snow following behind implying under Lucy’s dialogue that he had to choose between good and evil within himself that night as a means of surviving the attacks of the tributes by fighting back.
Dean Casca Highbottom is then shown telling Snow how he hears the sound of Snow falling, or in other words, the reminder to Coriolanus of his family’s situation to ultimately trigger Snow. This could be an indication of Snow’s desire to do anything to get out of the current decline of his family name, conflicted by the new love he is forming for his own tribute Lucy. The trailer then shows the love connection between the two through more scenes as Snow continues to observe her precariously, contradicted between his emotions of Lucy and strategy to succeed with the Capitol. We are then given a conversation between Tigris (the perfect casting of Hunter Schafer for the role), and Snow where she tries to explain how winning is not the end all be all, to which Snow replies and insists that it is, revealing the true intent of his character’s development throughout the story.
From here, there is a short cut to the scene where Dr. Gaul makes Snow’s mentoring acquaintance, Clemensia Dovecote, and himself stick their hands into a pit of modified snakes to retrieve a proposal for the games they were both supposed to complete. Since Clemensia was unable to fulfill this duty because of her own internal conflict, Snow completed the proposal that included the idea for sponsorships and betting in the games, elements that would become huge parts of the games in later years obviously. As we know from the books, the snakes detect what scents were actually on the proposal, so this would be the scene where Clemensia is bit as she didn’t have her scent on the proposal. Viola Davis portrays Dr. Gaul as so menacing in this scene and every other in the trailer.
After this shot, there is an original line from the book represented through Sejanus as he throws the chair screaming, “You’re monsters, all of you!” after presumably seeing what the Capitol did to his tribute Marcus in the arena, after he attempted to escape in the recent bombing at the arena before the games. More shots of Snow and the old Capitol follow, which looks so beautiful and has a unique sense of style that still aligns with the Capitol we see in the original Hunger Games stories.
The final verse of this trailer is executed so perfectly as we hear the original voice of President Snow from Donald Sutherland saying the line he gave to Katniss in Mockingjay which was, “… it’s the things we love most, that destroy us…” Followed by another look of young Snow observing Lucy ultimately suggesting the conflict he will face choosing between his own love for another human being, or his revitalized success in his family name within the Capitol.
Final Thoughts
This trailer was everything and more. We got to see a majority of the main characters that take influence to the plot development, and it was especially interesting to see how they casted and portrayed these individuals with their voicing and differing visual styles. I absolutely love Viola as Dr. Gaul, and Hunter as Tigris, and I think the choice for Peter Dinklage as the Dean is so well done relating to the attributes of the character in the book. Of course Tom Bylth captures the younger version I would expect to see from Snow, and it makes me that much more excited to see how accurately this movie portrays the important elements of this novel we have grown to love. I also was very impressed with the Capitol and arena shots, as I wasn’t expecting those so early on given that the initial Catching Fire trailers didn’t show the arena until a few months before the movie was released. The new logo for the movie is also incredibly beautiful as it shows the imminent connection and conflict between Songbirds and Snakes, as an indication of the main storyline between the character of Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray Baird. Below are some of my other favorite stills from the trailer, and I can’t wait to see more as we inch closer to the release date of November 17 for, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
