Film: 'The Bourne Identity'
Editing:
.Cuts between body in the ocean and the crew(Parallel editing) - this indicates that the crew are clueless and have no awareness of the body floating on the ocean which creates tension on wondering whether the crew will actually realise what's out there and retrieve the body.
.Constant cuts of crew retrieving body - this builds up the tension which portrays the scrambling effort of the crew to try and get the body on board of the ship.
Camerawork:
.Zoom in on the figure of a body - this creates the possible illusion that the male character is dead which captures the audience's attention.
.Shot reverse shot between sailor and body - this helps portrays the feelings of shock and wonder the sailor is feeling when he spots the body in the water.
Mise en Scene:
.Crew members are wearing cheap, filthy costume - indicates that the crew are not wealthy and may be threatening characters towards the male character whom is rescued.
.Murky yellow lighting below deck in the ship - creates an atmosphere of warmth and safety as the body is brought on the ship which suggests the character is now safe and eases tension of the audience slightly.
Sound:
.Sound effects - Thunder - develops a mood of threat and creates tension.
Rain - creates a dismal, depressing mood.
Wind - this is used to create a spooky and isolated atmosphere.
.Music - Keyboard/organ increases in volume from the establishing shot - develops tension and perhaps creates a visual image of death or a funeral taking place as the body is in view.
The intro of this film contains various shots of a body which creates a feeling that at first he is dead so we become curious to why he is in the sea in the first place. The intro also contains elements of threat and confusion when the character appears hostile but has no memory of who or what he is which fits well into the text of a thriller because questions are now raised by the audience over who he is and where he came from.
The narrative structure of the film appears to be meddled with in a way because this film has started right in the middle of this character's story where he is floating in the water, so we do not understand who he is so the audience is urged on to continue watching the film in order to find out why the character was found in the ocean in the first place.
Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5v56h_manonfire-part1_shortfilms
Editing:
.Constant cuts - creates tension/confusion and emphasises the speed of the action that is taking place when the young man is kidnapped which then a feeling of shock is produced form the audience.
.Overlapping dissolve shots - develops feelings of dizziness which also suggests confusion and make the scene appear like it is all a memory or a dream.
.Still images - allows the audience to see and recognise the characters faces clearly which may mean they play an essential part in the film and also allows to see their emotions of distress clearly.
.Many slow motion shots - creates a dreary effect and allows the audience to recognise the character's significance in the film.
Camerawork:
.Establishing, panning shot of old city - this gives the audience a clear view of the location of the scene so that we understand that this location seems to be suffering in poverty and looks like a location where crime may take place on a regular basis.
.Zoom ins and outs of a family picture - this arouses this audiences curiosity and confusion through the use of the zoom ins and outs which creates a somewhat panicky feeling concerning the family in the picture.
Mise en Scene:
.Young man wearing suit - his costume shows that he is upper class and wealthy and therefore creates tension because perhaps he is a perfect target for criminals.
.Young man is wearing make up that makes his face appear dirty - this creates concern for the character because it is obvious by looking at his appearance that he is unhygienic, unhealthy and looks like he has been treated in bad conditions.
Sound:
.Music - High bass drums - creates a spooky, mysterious mood which develops feelings that something immanent is about to occur.
.Sound effects - Church bells - builds up an atmosphere of death and perhaps foreshadows a funeral of a person's death.
Kids laughing - combined with the tense drums and the church bells, the kids laughing creates a feeling that maybe innocent, oblivious kids are under threat of danger.
This intro to this film makes a very good opening to a thriller because many aspects of mise en scene and sound etc create intense feelings of tension and confusion of the events taking place in the film and as a result this immediately sets the mood of the film which includes the emotions of seriousness, shock and curiosity which therefore constructs a good thriller intro out of this film.
The narrative structure matches that of a thriller because the intro of this film is an example of what happens to a family's life when someone loved is kidnapped and the story of this kidnapped person only lasts for a few minutes which the story would normally last over a period of a week or longer. In this case this is very effective because all the emotions that a family go through the experience of a kidnapping of a loved one is squished and portrayed in just a few minutes which make the intro very emotionally intense for the audience and captures the audience's attention.
Link: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/-nVuCySMqTc/
Editing:
.Dissolved shot to another location – this indicates the change of location and also creates a dreary effect that creates a feeling that the man who has committed suicide is probably passing into the afterlife.
.Opening title dissolves into the first shot of the film – this also creates a dreary effect and carries an element of dream-like curiosity.
Camerawork:
.Low angle of a male character walking down stairs – this makes the character look powerful and important and perhaps shows that he plays an essential role in the film.
.Extreme long shot of car driving off into the distance – this allows the audience to view the location of where the film is set. This also develops a feeling that a long journey is about to begin
Mise en Scene:
.Male character wearing a suit – this makes the character appear upper class and wealthy which probably indicates he has a very well paid and important job and therefore questions are raised by the audience involving what exactly is his job.
.The prop in the male character's hand is a gun – the sudden appearance of the gun in the character’s hand creates shock and curiosity of what dreadful act he is going to commit with the gun.
Sound:
.Music – Music/drums increase in volume when gun is in view – builds up tension intensely and greatly reinforces the shock of what is now obvious what the male character is going to do next.
.Sound effects - emphasised sound of a gun shot – this reinforces and greatly emphasises the feeling of shock that is created from the character’s suicide.
This thriller opening matches contains decent aspects to what makes a thriller because the audience do not get the full picture over what’s happening because we haven’t a clue what the man in the suit was talking about over the phone nor why he decided to shoot himself. This therefore leaves so many unanswered questions towards this shocking event which as a result, influences the audience into watching the film to discover more information and answers for what’s going on in the film.
The narrative structure is presented in a way so that we have a very brief insight on the life of the character who commits suicide which the audience with very little information on what’s going on which greatly increases the level of curiosity on the audience’s behalf. We are then transferred into viewing the life of another character in the following scene so we already get the feeling that questions about the man’s suicide may be answered by following the life of this next female character.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWTv8toR3Ug
Editing:
.Slow motion of pedestrians walking – creates a feeling of tiredness and dreariness that the driver may be experiencing which causes concern to be developed towards the driver.
.Black screen fades into smoke – this creates a good smoky effect that sets a mysterious mood to the film.
.Dissolve shots – to indicate the passing of time that the taxi driver is experiencing so we see what he feels like he’s been driving in a very relaxed mood for a long period of time.
Camerawork:
.Tilting low angle of taxi – this makes the moving taxi very noticeable and therefore the low angle makes us feel that the driver has some form of power which puts the audience on edge.
.Extreme close up of man’s eyes – allows us to clearly identify his relaxed yet suspicious emotions just from the extreme close up shot of his eyes.
.POV shot of the driver in the taxi – this is used so the audience can experience the warmth and relaxation in the car that the character is feeling.
Mise en Scene:
.Smoke fills screen – almost creates a visual image of hell at the beginning which may indicate something disruptive and evil may happen imminently.
.Flashes of different shades of light on man’s face (red and blue) – this could represent the various emotions of what the man is feeling including anger, depression yet relaxed and perhaps makes the character look secretive and mysterious. This therefore arouses curiosity over who the man is from the audience’s point of view.
Sound:
.Music – tense music (drums and strings) is played when shots are viewed outside of taxi – this could indicate that outside of the taxi, the real world is a dangerous place compared to the character’s own world inside the taxi and the high tempo of the music reinforces the tension and anxiety of the scene.
-soft music (piano and saxophone) is played when shots of the inside of the taxi come up on screen – this could emphasise that the taxi driver feels relaxed and almost safe inside the taxi and the simultaneous change of the tense music and the soft music creates the element of confusion which is probably why the change of tenseness in the music is used.
The way this thriller intro is filmed develops various feelings of anxiety and bewilderment over who the main character is and the constant use of smoke and flashes of coloured light in the scene captures the audience’s attention and the tension keeps slowly building up and down again which challenges the audience’s curiosity towards the film which therefore makes this intro a good opening to a thriller.
The narrative structure of this intro matches that of a thriller because we immediately step into the life of this character without any dialogue to assist in knowing about the character’s personality so therefore, we do not even know if this character is good or bad, hero or villain which raises the level of interest towards the film.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY
Editing:
.Many dissolved shots overlapping each other – creates a dreary effect and indicates the passing of time which suggests that this character is consumed with work and has being working hard over a long period of time which captures the audience’s interest into asking ‘what’s he doing?’
.Many use of cuts – this develops interest too because the many cuts indicate that the character is doing a lot of practical work and is obviously fully committed in tying to complete it.
.Split screen – to show the audience the comparison of the many practical things he’s doing and by using the split screen it also creates confusion because the comparison of the various practical things he’s working on does not seem to make any sense and we are left clueless over knowing what the purpose is of his work.
Camerawork:
.Many close ups/extreme close ups – this is used to divert our attention to the objects and props the character is working with so that we may get some form of idea of what he’s working on by identifying the objects and tools he’s using.
.High angle shots – to give the audience a feeling that we are looking down on his work and therefore have a clearer view of what he’s working on although it still remains unknown to us on what he’s trying to achieve.
Mise en Scene:
.Bandaged fingers (costume) – this shows us that perhaps pain has been inflicted on this character so it is obvious that something has happened in the past that caused those scars which leaves question marks on this character’s history.
.Red lighting of an image of a man – the colour of red seems to indicate the colour of blood and perhaps foreshadows that pain and death has been involved in this character’s story or perhaps he is planning to shed blood which therefore gives the impression this character perhaps may be a menace or a villain.
.Props include needles, books and pens – this suggests that this character is using a wide range of objects to progress in his suspicious work and therefore confuses the audience because the props he’s using doesn’t seem to have any real connection with each other so we are once again intrigued to know what this suspicious character is up to.
Sound:
.Music - steady drum beat at beginning – creates a spooky atmosphere and feelings of suspicion are created.
- music increases in volume and tempo from the start – this has a great impact on the atmosphere of tension because it is gradually built up as the tempo and volume increases which grabs the audience’s attention into watching.
This intro works very well as an opening to a thriller because the elements of camerawork, mise en scene etc implies that this character is deep in his/her work but we are confused because no direct answer is given to us about what precisely he is doing and we don’t even know what the sex the character is, which adds on to the pile of questions we have towards the film and these aspects match those of a thriller which make this intro a good thriller opening.
The narrative structure seems to be deliberately out of place because we have been sucked into a character’s process of work but we are clueless of who he is or why he is working which arouses curiosity and tension which is why the way the narrative structure is formed makes this opening very effective in creating anxiety and bewilderment.
Excellent effort David, well done. Just try to keep it more concise. Bullet points rather than paragraphs!
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