Film Studies

V for Vendetta Clip Micro Analysis1:47:29 -1:52:52

The clip I havephosep'is from my favorite film, *V for Vendetta.' The clip is meantto be full offcensiornn the build-up for the revolution and fight between *V andthe official The director does this with film languager The main/parts of filmlanguage I have chosen to analyse are cinematography and edjfing. The clip isshowing two pajts" of tension with the build-up to the death of V and therevolution. \/

The clip starts with a high-angled crane, establishing^ot looking at a part ofLondon's city centpe, present throughout the whole of the film, with anadvertising screen'attached to a building playing the chancellor's speech. Thediagetic sound$f the chancellor's voice booms out used as a soundbridge and anon-diagetic fast rythmed music plays, building the tension for the audience asthe screen cuts from the city centre/to several close-up, medium shots oftelevisions showing the same speech>4t the moment in the scene the televisionrooms are packed with people but as the scene goes on the rooms emptyshowing how les^people are listening to the chancellor and more are joining therevolution. \/

A man enters the underground who is obviously the most senior official as he isthe only one wearing a smt and two men are a his side implying they are hispersonal bodyguards, then a man refers to him as "Sir." We then briefly cut backto the television which is ended after just one sentence from the chancellorbefore we return to the subterranean hall where the senior official positioned inthe middle of three other men now looks at his watch in urgency as another says"Where is he?" The tension is nowon as the audience all want to know when Vis going to show himself.

After a quick mid-shot of a television shot of the chancellor's speech/we go backto the senior official looking at his watch when 'V speaks saying "Penny, for theguy" referring to the where is he? The camera cuts to ajrfediuin shot of 'V in themiddle of the screen with his mask illuminated by the shining torches of everyofficial aiming/straight at him from around the room. This makes 'V the centre ofattention anfr everyone's eyes in the film and the audience are glued to his^ace.While we once again cut back to the television now talking about anenemy /terrorist wishing to divide the nation 'V is searched with a metaldetector by a cautious official not taking his eyes off 'V showing that this hasbeen planned referring back to the "Where is he?" but the officials are still

We now cut back to the numerous television shots. But this time they are notclose-lips of just the television but medium shots of the room with the televisionin.One of these rooms is a pub that earlier in the film is crowded and now isempty with no one even behind the bar. This is done to show that no/one isactually there and the speech you have been listening to is falling on Heaf ears.The rooms are still lit up though producing another clever cliche. The lights areon but no ones homC This is telling us that the public are joining the revolution.

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Film Studies

Back into the hall we see a low-angled camera shot looking up a/sraircase wheretwo men are dragging a bound and hooded man down the stairs. A backlight isused to show that coming down he're is it, there is non getting out again. Makingthe hall feel like a dungeon.

Top lighting is on thg chancellors-head with a medium shot making it feel like heis being interrogated. The light is being projected by a torch, in a cinema this willhave stunned the audience going from such dark shots to a quick burst of lightputting you in the chancellor's rj0sition where he is being unmasked. Showingthe surprise and shock. V

The quick cuts are finished now, there is just one long clip of 'V walkingover tothe chancellor and bending down showing his superiority at the mroxent Thelong clip has slowed everything down and brings everything down to(Earth, aswe all know the chancellor and his empire are doomeu. As the chancellor squealsand cries showing his cowardice 'V places a rose in his suit and says goodbyeand walks off turning hi^r back on the chancellor and calls the senior officialstating he has finished. The camera now does a point of view shot of thechancellor dsing a low-angle shot of the senior official pointing a gun at him. Thesenior official says disgusting and shoots the chancellor showing victim versusvictor.

The chancellor appears on the screen with a close-up shot of th.erhole in histemple. We then zoom out to a medium shot to see him fall to the ground. This ~4could also show how his empire has fallen down as w&M. To add' to thesignificance of the event this short sequence is shown is^slow motion. /

Without any care of the chancellor the senior official walks towards the middleof the hall looking at 'V also in the middle of the hall surrounded by all the otherofficials. We are shown this by a high-crane, long shot This placement directsyour attention just to these two men and nothing else, \/

The senior official tells 'V that they have done their part and now he has to takehis mask off. V refuses and two officials close in on him both holding their gunsaiming right at hm. The slow walk towards 'V is one long clip building thetension but when 'V attacks then the pacing becomes quicker and numerous likein most fight -scenes. This makes the fight look better than it really is becauseafter all it is not real. Whenhis knifes are drawn they are in the shape of a 'Vwhich is his symbol. \*

Every official backs behind the senior official whom stays perfectly still showingno fear. This shows 'V totally alone and heavily outnumbers. As the seniorofficial and 'V argue abo,uf who will kill who the camera keeping medium shotsshowing that they /are both equal switches between the two men(shot/reversal/shot). Eventually, the senior officer/says kill him the camerazooms outxsliowing the whole hall as bullets fly -at 'V." The camera switchesbetweept^the long shot of the hall to the medium shots rf just 'V taking thebullets. When the gunfire stops so does the music building up even more tension.As the audience do no know if he is dead or not! v

Film Studies

With no music the camera does an extreme close-up of "V's mask and we can onlyhear his breathing/He then gets up and the camera blurs and focuses in on twoknives in the shape of a V. The camera follows the knives in slow motion as theyhit men on either side of the senior official. In slow motion V takes out the restof the officials until just the senior official is left. ̂

"V" slowly approaches him in real time filming andwe cut to a point of view shotof the senior officials six shooter gun's cylinderas each bullet goes. This showshow the senior official now has nothing left v

As 'V makes a speech about how ideas are bulletproof hence why he did not diewhen twelve men were shooting at him he grabs the senior chancellor by theneck and strangles him to death as he said he would eariier in the clip. This isshown at a high angle shot, point of view shot of *V.' /

As 'V walks off he drops his bulletproof vest a.k.a a piece of dented metal theends. With the shattering noise of.-the metal clanging ringing through your ears.

In conclusion I think the/director has successfully built-up the tension andcreated a great fight scene with the quick edits duringytne fight scene preventingthe audience from blinking with excitement and then the slow long scenes when'V" slowly dies. Well done James McTeigue!

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11/5 Film Studies

Microanalysis

The clip I have chosen to microanalyse is from Aliens^vs. Predator: Requiem,a sci-fi horror movie about a deadly alien infestatiorrin the'Colorado town ofGunnison, and the deceitful rrfffitary plot to contajn it. ^The clip maintains a high sense of suspense am fear, but if not for elements likeMise en scene and scuipi', which I'll be studying in this clip, its effect on the audiencewould be very different.Starting with Mise en scene, I chose two stills from the clip; the first is a long shotofa pregnant woman who has been impregnated with several alien embryos byiriePredalien. XWith setting and props/Fie heart monitor increases the fear because it shows howfast her heart rate isvrelling the audience she's scared for her [ifp: /In facial expression and body language, the victim is cringing in pain/The fact thatshe isn't screaming indicates the worst is yet to come. She's lying down and we can'tsee her arms (they look restrained), telling the audience she's totally helpless towhat goes on around her. \sIn costurae'and make-up, the victim wears a hospital gown- telling us she is/apatienj/which is deliberately lifted by the directors to reveal her stomacf^wnere wesee chestbursters. This adds suspense because it tells MS she's going to die.With positioning of characters and objects, the Predajren has left strands of slime,which are multi-directionally strewr^dcross the roorrr. These different directionsrepresent the chaos and disorderfhe Predalien has left, as they're 'all over theplace'. The victim is central to the shot, telling us^she's who we're supposed towatch, and wait for her stomach to tear open/The heart monitor is on her right/"indicating her dependence on it and her vulnerability, and adding suspense./The second still I focused on is a mid-shot of the doctor and the Predalien face-to-face in the ward.In setting and props, the curtain behind the doctor suggests to the audience thePredalien has him backed into a corner with no escape/mentally as well, being toobusy assessing what it is, rather than escaping. \sWith positioning of characters and objects, the Predalien's body is concealed behinda curtain, so we only see its head./This creates fear among ihe audience because,as we can't see its body, we don't know what it'll do nexMts totally unpredictable.With facial expression and body language, we see the doctor frozen still; staring atthe Predalien in/horror- he isn't even raising his arms to protect himself. This links tothe previou^paragraph, suggesting he's totally baffled as to what it is, and what itwill do. -Moving^n to sound, which greatly affects the atmosphere and leveHxf tension of amovie, there's a large amounfof diagetic sound/mainly on-screen, paralleled by ascore of non-diagetic musief adding to the diagesis1.The scene starts with a sound bridge from the previous scene, a fight scene. Thiscreates a smooth transition between scenes, keeping the-level of tension" high in theaudience The sound bridge is the war cry of a predator; and halfway through theroar, we're brought to the hospital, in a doctor'suffice. Then, consecutively, the heartmonitors in the office start reaching^6fitical condition, by beeping continuously. Thedirector used this on-screen to heighten tension in the audience because this noiseis always associated with deatfcL The doctor fumbles putting his equipment down,murmuring, "its not possible" and expressing his shock at the situatio/f. He panics,shouting "Something's wrong!" to other doctors. This heightens tension because their

11/5 Fi lm Studies

demonstration of unease would have the same effect on the audience/We hearthem run to the other waras, and drums build in volume as the last heart monitorshows flat-line (death)/They stop as the doctor arpives air the maternity ward, and hebreathes heavily, indicating the urgency of the slwati&n. An eerie high burst of violinsstart when he sees a woman with a ruptured stomach. This was used to createtension in the audience because the high note is associated with a tightened string^which could snap at any momewf. This represents the woman's stomach, whiclt̂already has. Whilst staring at the corpse, a strand ofslime lands on the doctor'sshoulder. This provokes disgust in the audienceywhich heightens the tension,because in previous alien films a sticky substance meant an alien was close. Hisattention is drawn to another woman, who isn't dead, but we fear she hasn't got longto live when we see something pushing out on her stomach. This is accompanied bythe parallel sound of high violins, which again portray the tightened s$ng. We realisethe host is conscious, as she cries in pain. We see the doctor's reaction to this,creating a sound bridge and seemingly prolonging her pain, generating tension in theaudience. Inevitably her^sfbmach bursts, and we even hear it pop like a balloon,adding gore to the clips/She screams, and the aliens create a noise similar to^that.We get another shot of the doctor, but loud footsteps-indicate he isn't alope^Thesefootsteps are slow, and heighten the tension in tbe audience because it gives theaudience time to realise that danger is coming/The score of violins build in volume ^to heighten tension, as the Predalien emerges from behind a curtain, and stopabruptly when it kills him, to create/a sense of horrified relief. v

In conclusion, the directors used these essential elements in conjunction witheach other, to create a quite Iwrifying piece.

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'Shooter3 Analysis

decided to choose the film 'Shooter' because I believe it is a great exampleqf'how to direct a movie and shows reasons behind the directing. For thes'hort extract, the best example of good sound and camerawork seemed to beat the beginning of the film, from the third minute to the fifth. In this extract, for•th'e majority of the timecthe director is trying to buiid up tension until the actionbegins. He tries to grab the audience's attention, considering it is the start ofthe film and he wants them gripped to the film.

In this five minute clip, the sound is used to create suspense and build up tothe action. In the opening sequence, the sound starts off extremely quiet and/slow. It is very faint, until getting closer to the character, Bob Lee Swagger,The sound then starts to get faster and louder. This technique is commonly'used in films and usually makes the audience think something is going tohappen when the sound reaches the peak of the climax. In this section, ittends to almost be like a game of hide and seek, with the sound getting louder

/'as the camera gets closer. Until eventually all non-diegetic sound is gone andthe audience can only hear what is actually there. This skill from the director,where suspense is created but then nothing happens, is used so that next

ytime the audience are on the edge wondering if anything will happen.v/ Whereas if something always happened whenever suspense is built, then the

audience will always be expecting it.

Also in this extract, an example of non-diegetic sound is when a sniper rifle isfired. Obviously it isn't a real gunshot so to make the film realistic, the sound

/of a gunshot has to be put on afterwards. This is the same with the reloadingi/ of a gun usually and is used so the audience believes everything they see.

Also, this could be used to give a character a sense of power as a gunshot isxribt something people hear every day and seems overpowering to most

^ people. Yet another use of sound is after Swagger has taken the shot and ahelicopter is sent to find him. The same technique is used as at the beginningo.f the extract when the sound builds up as the helicopter gets closer.

•'Although apart from this, the director uses enhanced sound of the helicopterspropeller's spinning. From where Bob Lee Swagger is stood, the sound of thehelicopter would not be as loud as it is on the film. Once again this is used to

t/make the helicopter almost an invincible object, and like the character willcertainly die, putting the audience on edge.

Camera is also an important way of creating meaning. At the start of the fiveminutes, the camera begins getting closer towards the character Bob LeeSwagger. The shot is an extreme long shot, although because it is moving

^./could also be referred to as a crane shot. This gives the audience an overview/>? the area for the opening scene and introduces the audience slowly in order

L/for them to buiid an impression. Eventually the camera gets closer ciiffsideand becomes a low angle shot climbing up thejcliff. With B,ob Lee Swagger/at on top of the cliff, this shot intends to makelhim seem powerful because

i/ he is towering above, and kind of makes the audience be-looking up to him.Then at the top of the cliff, the shot is a close up on his face which is almost

/'like the camera is revealing where and who he is. This shot creates almost a

puzzle for the audience to find him as he is hidden in camouflage. Anothereffective shot in the extract is a point-of-view from Bob Lee Swagger while he

/'is peering down a sniper scope. This shot gives the audience a feeling of thecharacter's situation, but also ties the audience in with the film. Where as, if

/the director does not continue to involve .the audience .then eventually they will' probably get bored. The final shot that creates an effect in this extract is when

the enemy helicopter ;is zooming towards Bob Lee Swagger firing bullets. The-Shot is from behind the helicopter, called a tracking shot. This shot is almost a

"' comparison of the almighty helicopter and the tiny insignificant Bob LeeSwagger in the background. It makes the audience think he will certainly die.

To conclude, the extract finishes with the helicopter crashing down on the/''floor; however the camera is underneath the helicopter as it lands and the

screen is blacked out. This is an effective shot that shows the audience the'//shear reality of what just happened and ends the long trail of action, iletting the

audience calm down and reflect on what has just happened,

Overall, the directing style seems to be very effective during this five minuteclip. The scene is a great way to open the film and gets the audience grippedto the film, and prepared for the rest of story.