Tuesday, 4 February 2014

The American - Daniel Wright

The American
 
 
As the opening scene starts the cuts between shots begin very slow with no background music. It is silent which give the impression of peace as the camera slowly zooms into the surrounding areas. The background music then starts as quite tranquil and sets the mood as the camera moves into the cabin with the two characters sitting by the fire.
 
 
 
 
 
When the time turns to day (the next morning) they get shot at by some person that the audience do not know and why. This instantly creates an enigma as the audience would then question why are they being shot at? The cuts between shots increase in frequency which matches the action that is unfolding during the scene.
 
 
 
After the Male main character shoots the unknown assassin another question is raised, The male character uses the following dialogue "Go to the house, call the police." He then shoots the female character which raises the question why did he shoot her? What was the purpose?
 
 
This will more than likely come to the audience as a massive shock, as it seemed with the first minute of the film that these two characters were in love as set in the cabin with the fireplace and the woman naked on the bed. This is a very clear attempt to shock the audience and it works very well. 


1 comment:

  1. Para One - slow pace. Works together with camera and music and setting - log fire, to cretae the feel of tranquility and peace . You basically say this, just missed out the editing.
    Para two - use term enigma.

    Para 3 - good on idea of enigma, but break this down - it is the dialogue. You need to consider how this scene is created - edit, sound, camera and mes. The screen grab is a great example of how composition(MeS) is used to generate a response in the audience because they can see him behind her puling the gun and pulling the trigger.

    Shock is created by restricted narration.

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