Why deconstructing a mashup? Because these videos are often perceived as a random mess of pretty images from movie trailers. While that’s absolutely true, there’s an opportunity to explore themes and also pay a few obscure tributes to elements that don’t belong in the video itself but that are generally widespread within pop culture. Sometimes, a collection of random but visually stunning sequences can unite to create its own experience. 6 minutes and 46 seconds… Like Pokemon, let’s see if you were able to catch them all!

“There’s a storm coming…”  warns Selina Kyle. A dark superhero quote and a reference to a trailer from another dark superhero film that used Pruit Igoe to great effect: heavy shots of rain while Rorschach walks around town in the 2009 Zack Snyder film Watchmen. (see trailer here:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB3AxenYAyU

A little silent lightning from Once Upon a Time in Anatolia - which flashes lights on the same musical cue from which Rorschach checks out his gadget wall to a flashing effect in the Watchmen trailer. I am toying with your subconscious - studio marketing style - so you don’t remember you already liked my video before (just kidding)…

“You were made…” Wasn’t the human race made by black goo drinking, not so nice when you talk to them engineers in Prometheus? No one better than Loki from The Avengers as our narrator to remind us of that.

“…to be ruled.” A superb view of a dystopian South Korea of the future in Cloud Atlas - Neo-Seoul to be precise - where fabricants like Sonmi-451 were literally made… to be ruled.

A little teenage fangirl stalks Twilight idol Robert Pattinson but there’s a twist: she’s also a vampire. The nightclub setting behind her creates an unexpected bridge between Cosmopolis and Hotel Transylvania.

A little segment about conformity narrated by yours truly, Max Von Sydow. Conformity of human behavior comes in many forms. I touch upon corporate, then government (seen pic above), then beauty, then hop we move into Antiviral by Brandon Cronenberg which should be regarded as the pinnacle of such sentiment.

Cute girls usually don’t do drugs. This one does! The nightmare of pessimistic imagery from 2012 movies goes medical now. The logical transition for the longest time was that Antiviral boy injects the syringe and Beyond the Black Rainbow girl starts buzzing. I made a last minute choice to separate the two. Bad break-up.

A doctor in Perfect Sense warns us all that “There’s over a hundred reported cases in England, France, Italy, Spain.” Cue in obvious shots of movies that took place in those countries. Skyfall, The Intouchables, To Rome With Love, and REC 3: Genesis as a convenient gateway into my little horror tribute.

As the music starts to descend deeper and deeper to the lowest possible pitch, I wanted to give a small nod to my favorite interpretation of the devil in movies, which is a creature you do not see. “You silver-tongued devil, you” can be heard by Christoph Waltz as we finally get a glimpse of the shadowy figure. I suspect that Sam Mendes is likely a fan of Polanski horror flicks.

Let’s get this party started! Bring on the Capitol, the Volturi, the Moon Nazis and the Cabin in the Woods. ‘Dystopialooza’ officially kicks off with this moving shot from a small Norwegian film called Flukt. It has a very good premise that introduces the segment perfectly (see trailer here): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ozf407ofbY

“5… 4… 3… 2… 1…” There’s a nice sound effect when the Moon Nazi Troops from Iron Sky all stomp their feet at the same time which is a tribute to Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie. One of the most effective movie trailers of the past few years in my opinion since it captures that tension of being trapped and attempting to take down a dangerous empire (see trailer here) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBxK3frsbxA

Just the idea of characters from different films turning their heads while someone uses an intercom is pretty cool. But we saw many titles in 2012 that dealt with life-threatening building isolation. The Raid and Dredd 3D drew the most comparisons, but try also Asylum Blackout which features two prison cooks trapped with convicted murderers during a massive thunderstorm (see trailer here): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyFfJkKyJeo

So many abandoned properties in a single year! Citadel, Chernobyl Diaries, Grave Encounters 2 all make an appearance. Nice full circle connection that Philip Glass titled his piece Pruit Igoe as this bit focused on a documentary about the failed St.Louis housing project of the same name. A heartbreaking look at poverty.

That leads us to Koyaanisqatsi, the sublime 1982 mashup of beautiful urban imagery. Philip Glass composed this very music for the film itself, which featured aerial shots of the Pruitt-Igoe building complex (see clip here): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opqn-w_4DgA

But I thought you were referencing Grand Theft Auto and/or Samsara, no? Well, not quite. Both Grand Theft Auto IV and Samsara were referencing Koyaanisqatsi and I was using their content to reference it too. That makes my mashup of a copy of a copy. Make sure to watch the great web series “Everything is a Remix” and click on this link for the original Koyaanisqatsi trailer. Skip to 1:12 and I promise everything will make sense! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jM2WA2WbDc

Now we’re going all Grand Theft Auto in style, because there’s nothing better in that game than having dozens of cops following you through the city. Maybe Christopher Nolan is a fan of Rockstar Games and he’s not telling us. Make sure to watch the Pruit Igoe GTA IV trailer to see how this all ties together with the previous segment (see trailer here): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M80K51DosFo

“That girl does not leave… this city!” Chris Sarandon really nailed that line in the action movie Safe. The last image of Part one, however, belongs to Starry, Starry Night and it’s a perfect way to conclude on a high note. Nothing scarier than darkness paired with the idea that someone who’s coming for you just turned the lights off.

This is a nice segment at the end of the Project X trailer that serves as a warning for what Part 2 of the mashup is going to feel like: immature, obnoxious, explosive and over-the-top.

Three movies with the exact same color palette merge into what looks like a single scene: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, John Carter and Wrath of the Titans. Looks pretty seamless when you connect them all.

Everyone keeps saying Liam Neeson is always “such a bad-ass” so I decided to give him an opponent of his own size. Beauuuurrrhh!!!

Even though I never got around to it, I always wanted to create a mashup that would literally play out like a live action version of the game Mouse Trap by only using various clips from movies. Never got around to it but this little segment here comes pretty close to what it would look like. Here’s the commercial for Mouse Trap in case you’re from another planet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dJr2SdyLGk

Ving Rhames, with eyes looking for revenge, utters the most memorable quote of 2012: “Bring me my legs.” I connected it with Django Unchained right before it. Not race-related but rather for the “I don’t give a sh*t, you are about to face my wrath” Pulp Fiction attitude being in full display.

The sound effect here wasn’t from Wreck-It-Ralph, but rather from 90’s classic Mario Kart 64. I just thought it added to the nostalgic throwback of the film itself. The sound pops up when you press start on the opening menu. Gotta love the good old days, right? (see clip here): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybA-qNouiRI

A bike accident… A motorcycle accident… and a car accident. All within 2 and a half seconds. Trailer mashups are so much fun!

Apologies to fans of Spielberg’s Lincoln but that transition, along with the inclusion of the line “Hoooow dare youuuu?” really cracked me up.

This MMA fighter (featured here in the Kevin James comedy Here Comes The Boom) is named Krzysztof Soszynski or K-SOS. One of his friends who trains with him saw this mashup on Mashable and sent it over to him. He was so proud to be featured that he posted it on his fan page saying “I made it in the movie mashup guys!” Fun anecdote :)

There’s no way I was going to dedicate a complete segment to celebrate bad behavior and immaturity but fail to include this memorable scene from the highest grossing comedy of 2012.

“Adult supervision is required.” says a giddy Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained. That was the perfect way to end this segment to me because it’s so juvenile to get excited about movies just because of MPAA ratings. Remember when you were a pre-teen and you got excited about NC-17 ratings? That’s what Part 2 of the mashup was all about. The thrill of doing stuff we shouldn’t be doing because it pumps our hearts with adrenaline.

Thanks to a generous budget and a decidedly inspired director (lol), Snow White and the Huntsman gave us some seriously beautiful shots to gaze upon. My goal was to reproduce what a live-action version of The Legend of Zelda would feel like (even for a few seconds). There’s a fountain fairy like effect in front of the tree and so I added a track of children laughter from The Chernobyl Diaries trailer (lol again). Legend of Zelda as a franchise needs to happen. Let’s go, Hollywood!

The song ultimately dictates what types of images you can show, and I am so happy M83 starts slow enough that I could use this gorgeous sequence from Pixar’s Brave. The 2012 Movie Trailer Mashup was featured in the print edition of the USA Today and they used this part as a picture beside it. Excellent choice, editorial team!

“Creatures of my dreams raise up and dance with me.” Only in a dream could you see a woman wearing a red dress dancing upside down underwater, which is exactly what Ruby Sparks seems to be doing there.

This transition between The Odd Life of Timothy Green and Red Tails was a small nod to the fantastic teaser trailer for Pearl Harbor. Clearly I am not the only one who thinks that piece of marketing was memorable: Just watch it for yourselves and then go watch the first teaser trailer for Man of Steel. Uncanny… (see the Pearl Harbor teaser trailer here): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqv9-_TqTUk

I really wanted to present these destruction scenes from The Amazing Spider-man and Prometheus back-to-back because both gratify us with visual effects that hold an incredible sense of scale. Whatever appears to be falling out of the sky is so massive that it’s happening in slow motion - like an atomic bomb creating an enormous mushroom cloud.

“There is a natural order to this world, and those who try to upend it do not fare well.” Amazing quote from Cloud Atlas but it was only available if I used M83 - Outro because Hugo Weaving speaks it over that song. It circles back to the imagery of Pruit Igoe, but now our hearts are full of hope as movie characters decide to fight back against the oppression. The Hunger Games fits in perfectly.

Meaningful transition: A giant tree falls on the ground and blocks Katniss in her escape as we immediately move on to the diplomats of Argo attempting to escape Iran. A very “Richard Chamberlain looking” Ben Affleck brings us the most tense scene of the year in movies. I had to piece it back together from many trailers like the Amazing Spider-Man in 25 minutes. So worth it to relive that moment in cinema though!

That one was caught more than a few times in the comments section. Tony Stark states that “If we can’t protect the Earth… You can be damn sure we’ll avenge it.” while Jessica Chastain looks at the sky before avenging the death of Americans and kill Osama Bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty. The pain that 9/11 inflicted on New Yorkers was certainly channeled in Joss Whedon’s movie and much more so in Sam Raimi’s original Spider-man. Real life heroes and fictional heroes joining forces.

Water turns into fire! That transition was very neat and I think it’s because when you look at each clip separately, both of them are so gorgeous. It’s only luck that they connected like that. Such a small object turning into such a huge tidal wave. I hope it surprised you at least.

The mashup initially started off with the grim themes of shattered innocence, paranoia and futures where people suffer for no reason. What perfect sense of contrast than to end with a shot of children running in the streets, smiling. Not a care in the world. Protecting the world also means protecting their perception of it.

One last shot before we fade to black. See you in December 2013!