Contemporary Film Opening Analysis - 'Law Abiding Citizen' - 17/10/11

I have chosen to anaylse the opening of this film, being only the first 3 minutes. Here is the clip from Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/ - of Law Abiding Citizen.

(Only the first 3 minutes are valid)

Camera:

        ·       Eyeline match shot/extreme close up shot at beginning – shows what the character is doing – suggests it is a young character, living a normal life       

  ·       Another eyeline match shot from 2^nd characters point of view – introducing what he is doing – suggests it’s an older character, intelligent, dangerous edge

·       Medium close up shot of male character – can’t see all of background so creates mystery

·       Over the shoulder shot to young girl – 2 characters having a conversation, shows audience what male character is seeing

·       Medium shot of male character opening door – concentrates more on his actions, leads the audience’s attention to what is behind the door

·       Cuts to point of view/over the shoulder shot from person standing behind door – confuses the audience because they are suddenly switching from character

·       Mid shot to introduce the 2 characters behind the door – briefly shows what they’re wearing, their angry facial expressions and their violent intention

·       Medium/extreme close up shot of ‘villains’ tying up the supposed main character – shows this action is important to what is about to happen – so that audience remembers and knows that this character is unable to help the others

·       Long shot/mid shot and close up when woman walks into the room – long shot shows the colours that she is wearing (greys, not bright, suggesting not important), mid-shot so that audience concentrates on her instead of background (makes audience aware that she is about to be attacked or hurt) and close up to show facial expressions (the distress, upset and anger which immediately tells audience what is happening and what is about to happen to her)

·       Mid close up/extreme close up of woman and man’s face – clearly showing their facial emotion to the audience to state how desperate and frightened they both are – adds to thriller/action genre

·       Close up shots of man stabbing both male and female characters – this is a key part of the scene and/or the rest of the movie

·        Mid shot of young female character – shows her facial emotion to be quite normal/confused as to what is going on

·        High angle when looking down on the girl to show that the villain character has power over her

·        High angle when looking down on the 2 characters laying on the floor, tied up and injured – this shows the little strength and control over situation and other characters

·        Extreme close up of male characters face – crying/hurt then a sudden glimpse of pure hatred and anger which is then cut to blackness – this leaves audience in suspense, wondering if he survives and if he does, if he goes after them for revenge

Sound:

·        Noise of radio in background to suggest that it’s a normal family

·        Young girl happily playing, male character working on some sort of project, then a conversation between the 2 characters – equilibrium scene

·        Repetition of female voice calling in the background – suggests another character, lowest in the hierarchy than other characters as only voice is revealed

·        Non-diegetic sound of exaggerated baseball hit on male character – makes scene suddenly tense and exaggerates the pain and violence that has just been created

·        Sudden loud bass line of music beginning, then music starts off very low, deep and scary sounding – suggests to audience that something bad has just happened and the characters behind door were the villains

·        Echoing sound of woman character screaming and shouting – suggests this is what the male character can hear after he has been hit with the baseball bat

·        Crashing sound of the glass as the woman is thrown against it – glass sound immediately makes audience panic but understand that this is danger and the characters are going to get hurt

·        Continued music from the moment the door is opened – very dramatic, scary – only characters screaming for help, or ‘villain’ characters making an unusual remark are heard – these comments could be important to what goes on later in the film

·        The character that is attacking makes comments which are much clearer/not echoed which could mean those words are key to what happens later on and that the male character on the floor is hearing them clearer meaning he is going to remember them

·        Music in background is getting slightly louder, higher pitched and more dramatic as scene goes along – could be leading up to a bigger event

·        The high pitched sound of music suddenly stops as young girl character is shown on screen – this makes audience concentrate on her

·        As the footsteps of the man getting closer and closer towards the girl are heard – so are loud heart beats which appear to be getting faster too – this could be the girls/the villains or of the character on the floor – either way it makes the audience’s heart beat mimic this and feel in suspense

·        Sounds of sirens heard in background  show that the time is slowly changing and the eventful scene is coming to an end

Editing:

·        White text against black background – font with scratches/dents in suggests some sort of disruption/thriller genre

·        Silence as opening film credits are appearing makes the scene mysterious and creepy

·        Continuity editing at beginning – camera searching across both actions of the characters (the beads and the magnifying glass)

·        Some match on action shots – girl holding up bracelet and man looking at bracelet throughout conversation, man moving away to open door whilst girl packs up and gets ready to leave

·        Some cut away shots – masking tape is put on the man and woman on the floor but is not actually shown, villain character gets out knife and moves onto other victim but is not actually shown, etc.

·        3 quarters of the way through after the man has been stabbed, the screen fades entirely to black which shows a change in time – this also misses out some of what happens to the woman victim and how the villain attacks her

·        Hear only the woman screaming when the screen is black – makes the audience start guessing as to what is happening and creates a bit of a hook

·        Another fade to blackness after the woman was stabbed – this repetitive blackness could be as if it is from the main male characters point of view, as he has been stabbed and hit several times which could mean he is the one fading in and out of consciousness and missing certain parts of what is happening

Mise-en-scene

·        Dark lighting in background scene, male character wearing bright white t-shirt to stand out – suggests importance to film

·        Young girl dressed in colours that merge with the background, doesn’t stand out as much as male character, could suggest she’s less important to storyline or she doesn’t appear a lot.

·        Bright coloured books/objects near the girl suggest her innocence and vulnerability in the film

·        Male character completing a dangerous task effortlessly shows his power and intelligence

·        Man behind door swings baseball bat – suggests anger, violence – opposite from what was being portrayed before – complete disruption

·        Characters behind door both dressed in black/dark colours to show their ‘villain’ and ‘evil’ characteristics

·        Lights are switched off which makes the lighting and colours even darker than before – makes some scenes hard to make out what is happening – adds to the suspense and mystery of the audience

·        One of the villain characters wearing a hat – to protect his identity and to show that he’s a bad person

·        Knife very bright and glistening compared to dark lightning and colours – makes it stand out as an important part of what is happening

·        Lots of dark shadowing in places and background very blurred into the darkness – only bright colours seem to be of the characters laying on the floor being attacked – which tells the audience that they are innocent compared to the others

·        Character is sweaty/dirty looking, wearing heavy and big biker boots which make a lot of noise – this tells the audience that he is dangerous, but not very smart as the way he has handled things is quite messy and he doesn’t listen to the other villain when he is told it’s time to go

·        2^nd villain character appears to be less involved in the violence, is shown at mid shots with just as scared and shocked facial expressions as the people being attacked – this tells the audience that he doesn’t really wish he was involved in this, and believes it has gotten out of control

Opening 3 minutes in 9 shots:

WHY HAVE WE DONE THIS?

I chose to analyse this film because it was a good opening to talk about it's mise-en-scene and I liked the action and horror genre which were both told in the first 3 minutes.