Final Fantasy IX trailer analysis

[02.01.00] » Your shot-by-shot guide to the characters, locations, FMV sequences, and summons of the Final Fantasy IX trailer.

   So you've seen the Final Fantasy IX trailer -- but did you spot every character and CG scene? We've put together a shot-by-shot description of the trailer to help viewers keep track of the fast-paced action, and also to serve as a guide for readers without the bandwidth to download the movie in the first place.

   Please note that this description represents our best guess as to what happens in each shot. We don't make any guarantee that this information is correct (especially in the case of Zotan's gender); if you disagree, then feel free to write your own analysis.

1. Initial logo. More on this later.

FMV footage. Placeholder Background music is FF VIII's SeeD anthem

2. Rain pours down in front of a dark building. The building has a large green archway in front of it.
3. Zooming on a large mansion with mist swirling around it.
4. A huge black boat crosses the frame from left to right. The boat looks like some sort of "building-at-sea"; it could actually be the mansion from the previous shot.
5. Brief shot of a black, 2001-style monolith against a dark sky. Two moons, one white and one red, are visible in the background.
6. Fly-by of a city at night. Lots of tall buildings.
7. A black mage is crouching. We see shadows of several people walking by him; when they have passed, the black mage ("T.B.M." for short) stands and looks up at the camera. He spins around in a circle.
8. Rear shot of a wooden airship flying towards a distant tower. The tower has some sort of eye-shaped window in it, possibly a clock. There appears to be a town below the tower. Several flying objects are moving around in the background here; they are presumably also airships.
9. Close-up of an airship's propellers.
10. A humanoid figure on a horse appears silhouetted against a whiteish-red background.
11. Another close-up of airship propellers, but from a different angle. This seems to be a different airship; it's bigger and more elaborate.
12. Smoke and flames trail from the side of a green airship.
13. A swarm of blue creatures (dragons?) fly by the screen.
14. Stationary shot of a wide-open circular construct with an open top. A huge statue is stationed against the back wall.
15. A shadow falls over an intricate stone floor. The camera pans slowly upward to show the feet of someone (presumably a villain) in black armor and a cape entering the shot.
16. A close-up of the figure from shot #10. He looks very stern and foreboding, plus he's wearing black clothes and has a horned helmet. Is it Odin? It looks a bit too evil to be him...
17. Distant shot of the foliage-covered top of a large tree rising above the clouds. Did the Mana Tree sneak into a Final Fantasy game?
18. A purple-skinned woman rises in front of a temple-like building. She's wearing a white dress and has short purple wings.
19. A shot of the aforementioned temple from afar.
20. A close-up of the airship flying through the town from shot #6.
21. Pan out to show a lot of super-deformed people cheering as the temple-like building is raised into the air. Fireworks are going off. (This whole temple sequence seems a lot like the witch parade from FF VIII.)
22. A really cool shot here. A black, winged demon is hovering in the foreground. In the background is a HUGE black version of Alexander (the call spell from FF6-8) with angelic green wings; he looks like he's about ready to fight the demon. There's a full moon hanging directly over Alexander.
23. Close-up of a dragon trashing about.
24. Alexander spreads his angel wings.
25. Shot looking up at Alexander as he towers over the viewer and prepares to attack. This looks a lot like Alexander's standard summon animation, just in FMV. (Note that this isn't the first time Alexander appeared in FMV; he delivers the final blow to Kefka in the Anthology CG ending to FF6.)
26. A big orange eye opens, surrounded by green skin.
27. Another shot of Alexander; this time showing his onion domes.
28. It's the town square from the black mage shot again. The shadow of an airship passes overhead; people are staring up at it.

Gameplay footage begins; music changes to the FF VIII battle theme

29. A player-controlled airship flying on the world map, with a white castle visible in the lower-right corner. The airship looks a lot like the ones in FF VI; it's sort of blimp-like. (The world map itself isn't very different from 7's or 8's).
30. Gameplay footage. The main character, Zotan -- a blonde, cat-tailed guy in blue shorts and a black top -- is running along a series of green rock platforms inside a cave. The cave backgrounds looks very similar to the caves in Mt. Nibel in FF VII. (Note: Zotan's gender is still in dispute, but we believe that the character is male.)
31. Some sort of huge steam-powered machine is running in a room. Two indistinct white figures jump down one-by-one into the room from a hole in the ceiling, and run off. Then Zotan jumps down and follows them.
32. Zotan and the black mage are running to the left on a walkway, with a large crowd watching them from behind a railing. After Zotan leaves the screen, T.B.M. trips and falls, and Zotan doubles back. Someone in the crowd named Puck speaks.
33. Zotan and T.B.M. are standing in an icy forest, with a wooden series of stairs leading up the base of a huge tree. Zotan says something, then runs off, and the mage follows him. (Note that the dialog boxes point to the speaker; a "main series" FF first.) As they leave, we can see that there were two other characters in the background; a dragon on the left and a person in purple clothing on the right.
34. Zotan runs up a spiral staircase in a stone tower. Through arched windows, we can see the moon in the background.

More FMV shots: aerial battle

35. Close-up of several "cannons" mounted on the sides of a tower. Each cannon fires in turn, releasing a huge hookshot and causing the screen to shake.
36. The hookshots, now purple, stream towards a black building in the distance. The building could be the temple-like edifice being raised earlier in the trailer.
37. The hookshots shatter a window.
38. A different set of cannons, these smaller and wider, and mounted on a white fort. The cannons aim up into the blue sky, then fire.
39. A green airship is hit in the side by cannon fire.
40. Explosions and other random special effects. A castle tower seems to fall; and then the black mage gets hit by something.
41. A huge swarm of bluish-white dragons fills a dark sky. Red beams are being shot up into the air, hitting some of the dragons and knocking them out of the air. A yellow dragon swoops towards the camera.
42. Another explosion.

Back to gameplay shots

43. Zotan runs through a neon green crystalline forest that looks somewhat similar to the Shingo Forest in Star Ocean 2.
44. Side view of a white palace-type building with purple roofs. A clock is embedded in the wall over the main gateway. Somebody jumps off one of the towers; the camera pans down to show him / her landing on a balcony. The "somebody" appears to be the rat character shown in the design documents; he's dark-colored, has a pointy blue hat, a tail, and a pointy nose.
45. Inside a small room with a wooden floor and a number of windows -- this could be part of an airship. The black mage is standing in the doorway; Zotan is hanging by his tail from the ceiling. Another, green-robed, wizard named Steiner (he appears to be the green wizard seen in the design sketches) is walking towards the black mage, until Zotan swings down between them. Steiner hops up and down and shouts something as Zotan leaps down and lands at the bottom of the frame.
46. On the deck of a stereotypical airship; Steiner is standing at a table. Zotan walks across the deck.

A bit more FMV....

47. Close-up of Zotan climbing down a rope, apparently out of an airship. Zotan leaps off the bottom, lands on something solid, and puts one hand on his hip.
48. Three characters are running down a forest path, towards the camera. The left one is a tall creature; the middle one is a medium-sized black haired-girl; and the right one is a short character in a robe that covers his whole body (it's not the black mage, who has a separate hat). It's not clear what happens next, but it appears that a swarm of crab-like monsters rush into the path, cutting off the chase.
49. A quick series of cuts through Zotan running through the forest, obviously fleeing from something -- either the crab monsters or the three characters in the previous shot. He hurdles a few branches in his path.
50. Close-up of somebody, probably one of the three people from shot #47. He's wearing a black helmet and a brown shirt (we can't see his legs) and has a black bandolier across his chest. One of the crab monster is attacking him from behind; the guy's struggling, but is eventually pulled backwards by the crab monster. The camera quickly pans out as the guy is carried away; the guy looks upwards and we get a very brief glimpse of his face.

Battle footage begins

51. The start of a call spell. A dragon-like creature is charging up a purple energy blast in its mouth. It looks a bit like Bahamut, but there's another, different summon later on that clearly is Bahamut -- either this is someone new, or there's more than one form of Bahamut (as there was in FF VII).
52. The black mage in battle in a grassy field (the background looks just like the grass background in VIII). The camera pans around T.B.M. as he casts a spell.
53. A comet falls on some enemies and explodes.
54. In a forest clearing; it again just looks like VIII's forest clearing (these may be placeholder backgrounds, or Square may simply be re-using backgrounds to save time). Zotan attacks an enemy with some sort of dashing slash special attack; it causes a green flash when it hits.
55. The real Bahamut. The camera pans backwards as he appears in the sky, giving off purple waves of energy and purple lightning.
56. Ramuh's back!! He's not actually visible in this shot, but this appears to be part of his summon, as he calls a beam of yellow light down upon a monster.
57. A close-up of some sort of black lizard-monster spewing fire; this appears to be FMV and not in-game footage.
58. The fire is shown dispersing and enveloping an island.
59. Lots and lots of fire.
60. The start of Diablos' summon; he appears in the sky, then there's a close-up of his head.
61. Winds swirl, and then Ramuh appears in the midst of them, holding his staff aloft. The "new" Ramuh has angelic wings, but otherwise looks like the "classic" Ramuh of the FFs of yore.
62. The sea. There is an explosion, and a winged creature rushes directly into the camera.
63. Leviathan's summon. The "camera" is sucked into a spiraling blue vortex, which fills with water. Leviathan, looking similar to his FF VIII incarnation, appears and swims down the vortex.

Closing scenes -- FMV

64. A city at night, lit by a few glowing windows. A red fireball flies the skyline and crashes into the distant parts of the city, causing an explosion.
65. This sets off a fire that tears through the city.
66. A black-winged creature (probably a dragon) flies towards the camera, surrounded by blue energy beams.
67. The energy fills the screen, then the camera pans out to show a dragon hovering in the air, surrounded by the beams.
68. A mushroom cloud.
69. A mysterious artifact lies on a tiled flood, in the rain. The tiles resemble those seen in shots #2 and #16.
70. Zotan is seen kneeling, holding the artifact. He hangs his head.
71. Another close-up of the artifact, now in Zotan's hand.
72. Zotan's hand is seen reaching up towards a bright light that fills the screen. There is a brief flicker of a dragon flying.
73. The Final Fantasy IX logo appears again. The obligatory decoration in the background of the logo is clearly the artifact that Zotan was holding.