Keep It Clean (trailer)

Were you looking for the song, Prepare to Drop or the achievement in Halo: Reach, KEEP IT CLEAN?

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The Keep It Clean trailer was released on September 25th, 2008 at 7:07pm PST, during the one year anniversary of Halo 3. It is the first glimpse of Halo 3: ODST, a prologue to the campaign of Halo 3.

Detailed Summary
The trailer starts with a view of New Mombasa, with the Space Elevator in the background, and several skyscrapers in the foreground, including a building with the Traxus logo upon it, and another with the Prophet of Regret's carrier peering from behind it (the carrier is behind the two skyscrapers to the right of the AMG building).

A sudden cut shows a very large number of HEVs entering Earth's atmosphere at a very high speed. The point of view has now become that of The Superintendent, who cuts back to the skyscraper view, this time with an overlay of information similar to the Bungie.net lock page, and the term "Tanaga.0086" in the lower right side, before switching to a view of a street with several cars and a banner labeled &lt; evacuate &gt; with "City of New Mombasa" below in the left and in the foreground and a burning object in the background, with "Tanaga.0086" replaced by "Lumumba.0624". Switching to another view of skyscrapers, this time from a street-level point, the Superintendent tilts his view camera up some and sees many HEVs rocketing through the sky, choosing to zoom in on a particular squad that is going in a direction perpendicular to that of the primary group, while noting that they lack the proper authorization to do so.

Suddenly, a massive blue-white EMP explosion occurs as the Solemn Penance escapes into Slipspace, shaking the camera. The Superintendent cuts to another skyscraper view that is level with the buildings, watching as the explosion grows larger. As a shockwave smashes into the city, the Superintendent cuts to the HEVs, seeing many of them flying wildly off course. Another cut shows more buildings being caught in the rapidly expanding explosion, with HEVs being blown crazily through the sky. Then the explosion swallows at the camera and all goes black.

Reinitializing, the Superintendent cycles through all his expressions, followed by "Please Remain Calm" warnings being displayed in numerous languages, and then the messages:


 * PLEASE REMAIN CALM
 * EXPECT DELAY
 * ROAD CLOSED
 * YELLOW MEANS YIELD
 * OBEY POSTED LIMITS
 * PARDON OUR DUST
 * MADDIE, WHERE ARE YOU?
 * PROCEED WITH CAUTION
 * DANGER: FLOOD ZONE
 * FINAL NOTICE: BILL PAST DUE
 * KEEP IT CLEAN

A random series of numbers, letters and symbols scroll quickly across the back screen, until the screen displays "&gt;Reinitialize..." The Overlay reappears on the screen, with the messages:


 * Warning! Metropolitan Disaster!
 * Checking Power...
 * Checking Comms...
 * Alerting Emergency Services!

The Superintendent's cameras reactivate, and display the skyscrapers of before, with smoke pouring from the right hand side of the city. Another view briefly shows the former near-pristine street view before switching to the current state: in ruins. More views of skyscrapers show the damage to the city until it reaches an apparently damaged camera, which is tilted with blurred overlay.

The last view shows a lone HEV pod streaking through the sky. After hitting supersonic speed, the pod slams into the side of a building, creating incredible clouds of smoke. The Superintendent mechanically begins performing the standard procedure for identification of a typical vehicle accident, and concludes that the individual within had a 99.99% chance of fatality.

Fast forwarding to 6 hours later, the city is now dark and rainy, and a lone Phantom floats through the area, searching for enemies. To the Superintendent's great surprise, he begins picking up movement from the crash site, and watches as the pod's door flies open.

The point-of-view has now become that of The Rookie, who cautiously climbs out the vehicle, armed with a new variant of the M7S Caseless Submachine Gun. As the ODST dodges the Phantom's sweep, his VISR identifies a pack of Brutes patrolling the streets, armed with Spikers, Covenant Carbines and a Fuel Rod Gun. One Brute stops to sniff the air and then, apparently as a threat to would-be attackers, barks with determined ferocity before continuing on. The Rookie stays in the shadows until their patrol leaves, and then, seeing a light reflecting off of his armor, examines a large video screen looming above the wrecked street. It is the work of The Superintendent, who is displaying the words "Keep Right" with directional arrows, and then "Proceed with Caution" as an aid to the lost soldier. Taking his advice, The Rookie charges down the streets.

A lightning flash signals a cut to the stormy sky, and the words "Halo 3 Recon" appear, followed by
 * "New Hero"
 * "New Campaign"
 * "Prepare To Drop 2009

Messages
The messages that flash up midway through the trailer state (in order):


 * PLEASE REMAIN CALM
 * EXPECT DELAY
 * ROAD CLOSED
 * YELLOW MEANS YIELD
 * OBEY POSTED LIMITS
 * PARDON OUR DUST
 * MADDIE, WHERE ARE YOU?
 * PROCEED WITH CAUTION
 * DANGER: FLOOD ZONE
 * FINAL NOTICE: BILL PAST DUE
 * KEEP IT CLEAN

Strange Texts and Info

 * At about 16 seconds into the video, a message reading 'ThresholdTrigger', Threshold being the gas giant that supported Installation 04.


 * Text appears under and over the Bungie logo that read as following.
 * (Your?)Wait Signal Trap-10
 * Cond. Wait-1244
 * (Your?)Wait Relative(MP,MAP,NP?)-47
 * Supercondition-236
 * Supercondition-Data-144


 * When the camera switches to the street with the 2 cars before the blast, it reads in the right corner: SIERRA117 LOC LINK 0x2F278609. It seems that the Superintendent is looking for or displaying John-117's coordinates.

Trivia

 * The "KEEP IT CLEAN" teaser article on Bungie.net has referred to a Prowler, the . This is related to the fact that an announcement was planned at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show. This fact was confirmed by Microsoft representatives.
 * On bungie.net two conversations were posted, one called 'KEEP IT CLEAN' and another called 'PARDON OUR DUST'. Both these phrases were on available desktop backgrounds posted on Bungie's website as well.
 * KEEP IT CLEAN might be a reference to the poster on the Pillar of Autumn.
 * On X-play's G-Phoria game of the year award, when Bungie was accepting the award, one of the Bungie employees told Marty to Keep it Clean.
 * "KEEP IT CLEAN" is said by the Superintendent in Halo 3:ODST by saying "Keep it clean, respect public property" when Dutch is trying to blow up the bridge.
 * At about the 1:47 mark in the trailer, just after The Rookie climbs out his HEV pod and stands up, he turns up his head to look at the sky while keeping his back to the camera. This is the same position he is in on the cover box art of Halo 3:ODST, although the background is different in the video.
 * You can see the number 7777777 as the message appears after the part ">Reinitialize..." on the left side.
 * Sadie Endesha was originally named Maddie. Her name was changed after the message "Maddie, where are you?" in this trailer caused complaints, as it was unintentionally echoing the disappearance of British child Madeleine McCann.

Internal

 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Orbital Drop Shock Troopers
 * The Rookie

External

 * The Keep It Clean teaser at Bungie.net and Youtube.
 * The Keep It Clean full trailer at Bungie.net and Youtube.
 * Into The Ashen Wake - An in-depth analysis of the trailer by Ascendant Justice.