Trailer Teardown: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Alberto Orsini
RefineAI
Published in
3 min readOct 26, 2017

How did audiences react to the trailer compared to a reactionist?

Credit: Lucasfilm

Trailer Details

Producer: Lucasfilm
Runtime: 2:34 Seconds
Published: Oct 9, 2017

This week we decided to change things a bit. While RefineAI allows us to see how people emotionally engage with ads, we can also test with other types of video content.

In this case, we’re looking at the Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer and comparing key moments from reactionist @GraceRandolph against the general public.

In this corner: Professional Reactionist Grace Randolph

Grace Randolph reacts to the Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer for the first time

Test Results

  • Predominant emotion evoked: 😂 Joy
  • Overall engagement: 👀 84%
Key frames where engagement and emotions evoked were at the highest for Grace Randolph

Key (Trailer) Moments

  • 0:37 secs: Rey hands a lightsaber over to Luke and he’s seen holding it
  • 1:11 secs: Kylo Ren is in a mission to kill his past
  • 2:12 secs: Kylo Ren extends his hand to Rey

She also goes into a shot by shot analysis of the trailer which is pretty great:

Shot by shot analysis of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer by Grace Randolph

In this other corner: The general public

We tested the Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer with our US panel ranging from 18–54 years old — expanding through pretty much the entire possible Star Wars fanbase.

Test Results

  • Predominant emotion evoked: 😂 Joy, 😲 Surprise
  • Overall engagement: 👀 84% — Same as Grace’s
Key frames where engagement and emotions evoked were at the highest for a general audience

Key (Trailer) Moments

  • 0:50 secs: Rey’s powers are shown and Luke seems impressed/terrified
  • 1:33 secs: A porg imitates Chewbacca after he growls
  • 2:08 secs: Rey says “I need someone to show me my place in all this…”

What did people like the most?

I mean… it’s Star Wars.

What did people like the least?

The porg — People are afraid of another Jar Jar Binks scenario.

Tell us what you thought

What were your favorite moments in the trailer?
Are you excited about the 8th episode in the saga?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

RefineAI is a real-time market research tool for video creators.

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Alberto Orsini
RefineAI

Designer, husband, dad. I am into delightful UX. Sr. Manager, Product Design at Royal Caribbean.