Film Analysis

Film Analysis

Film Details: Equilibrium is directed by Kurt Wimmer and was released in 2002. It is certificate 15.

Opening Scene:

The opening scene of Equilibrium starts with the title of the film, and then opens with non diegetic dialogue over clips of news footage. The non diegetic dialogue introduces theme of film i.e. emotions with destroy the planet. The next shot is of small film clips showing destruction, war and corrupt world leaders. Then the small films clips roll in to a shot of a new type of police, who use a weapon called a Karta Gun. This weapon increases the shot to hit ratio to over 80%. The film then goes on to explain that the main aim of this new type of enforcement is to stop people feeling.

The next shot is the disruption in the opening scene where the police turn up to a house on a mission to destroy everything and everyone in the house because they can feel emotions. The lighting of the entire opening scene is very dark and empty. The environment of the scene is a rundown, empty apartment block. The props used by the police are similar to those of normal police. Their uniforms are very bland, without many colours. The props used by the people inside the building are normal by today’s standards. The film uses two settings a bland, grey world inside the outside derelict, old world. The film uses a dark, shadowy lighting to construct a mise-en-scene which is colourless, bland and without emotion.

Film Details: Saving Private Ryan is directed by Steven Spielberg and was released in 1998. It is certificate 15.

Opening Scene:

The opening scene of Saving Private Ryan starts off with the main character walking through a military grave yard. The graves belong to American service men that had lost their lives in the Second World War. The main character walks between the graves, clearly searching for a particular headstone. When he finds the headstone he is looking for, falls to his knees and starts to cry. He is quickly comforted by his family. The shot then goes for a close up of his eyes. This a very simple technique, that moves the movie along, because the next second the film transports the main character to Omaha Beach in France. The first sounds we hear are a diegetic sound of the sea. The first images we see are anti tank and anti landing craft obstacles. The next image we see are American landing crafts heading towards Omaha Beach. Then the calm is shattered by the sounds of gun fire, bombs and shells exploding and the sound of planes overhead. The next image is of bodies in the water with the sound muffled as if you are underwater. The camera movement in this opening shot is following the main character’s progress up the beach towards the sand dunes. All around him are the sights and sounds of war. The mise en scene in this opening scene with the props is very realistic. The Germans and American actors are wearing authentic looking uniforms and using realistic equipment.

Film Details: Casino Royale is directed by Martin Campbell and was realised in 2006. It is certificate 12.

Opening Scene:

The opening scene of Casino Royale is shot in black and white, with just enough lighting to see what is going on. The first shot in the scene shows a building with a car coming to a halt in front of it. Next you see a suspicious looking man getting out of the car and making his way into the building. The following shot is of the main character, James Bond sitting in a corner pointing a gun at the suspicious looking person. Then we have a flash back of James Bond making his ‘first kill’. This scene is shot very fast and is a well choreographed fight scene. There aren’t many props used but the props that are employed really do set a dark tone to the introduction of the film. The only sound there is, is diegetic dialogue.