Opening Of

As the credits at the beginning are shown with a black background a quiet

piano melody in the background plays and Will Smiths breathing is also

heard.

When the frame with Will Smith appears, it’s on a close-up of him on the

phone to 911. Gabriele Muccino uses a clever technique to introduce the

character. He uses Focus Pulls.

And then there is a blackout. This blackout separates the future and the

present.

The next frame is filmed at a low angle. A man is filmed swimming in

open waters. Nothing surrounds him.

At the same time the music tempo becomes quicker.

And then he is filmed at a high angle. This contradicts with the angle of the

previous image. Because now the high angle camera shot is making him

look less powerful and less significant.

The camera is filming his legs not revealing his identity and whether this was the

same guy from the first frame as the narrative voice says ‘In 7 days, God created

the world. And in 7 seconds....’.

And then when the narrative voice says ‘I shattered mine’. The camera tilts

up and reveals the character which is the same guy from the first frame.

Muccino uses Focus Pulls again to refocus on the character Ben Thomas and to

indicate to the audience who this story is about.

Another technique I really like is how the camera shakes or is not very stable.

Muccino uses a reverse zoom to show us how wealthy this guy is. This

causes the audience to think ‘Why is he so miserable if he has all of this?’.

This helps hook the audience because now they are even more curious on

finding out why he is like he is.

Muccino uses many close-up shots of Ben Thomas facial expressions to

signifiy the characters suffering and misery.

Once again Muccino uses Focus Pulls.

A close-up shot of the paper work introduces the next character to us.

A mid-shot of Ben Thomas on the phone is used so the audience start to

get an idea and an opinion of the character. Ezra Turners voice (guy on

the other side of the phone line) is also heard so that the audience are

dragged in the phone call and gets a feel for both characters.

Another mid shot of Ezra is used. This type of shot is used so that the focus is still on the

character Ezra but the audience get an idea of where he is and what he does. Its used to

introduce the characters background to the audience.

Background noise of the office workplace is also heard so that the shot feels more natural.

Close-up of Ezra is used to introduce the character to the audience. We can

see that he is a very calm and patient man, who only wants to help even

when the character Ben Thomas is being difficult.

Another close-up is used to give us an idea of the character. We can see from this

close-up that he is blind. So maybe, the character Ben Thomas will have an

impact in Ezras life.

Close-up of Ben Thomas asking Ezra ‘What was that voice?’ quite

aggressively. When he asks this the music changes to create suspense and

create an atmosphere.

When the tension starts to rise as the two characters are arguing. Muccino

uses closes-ups of their facial expressions to signify how each character is

feeling. We can see that Ezra is quite upset, maybe angry but mostly upset.

Ben Thomas facial expressions show anger. And also unhappiness.

Muccino then reveals to us that the character Ben Thomas did not want to

say those things to Ezra but kind of had to which makes the audience

wonder why he would do that.

Focus Pulls are used again to convey how unstable the character is.

The music also becomes louder to create an atmosphere.

As Ben Thomas calls out a list of names to himself the camera remains on

close-up and follows him around. Keeping him in the centre imagine. Muccino

must have done this so the audience maintain their focus on the character

and the fountain of feelings and emotions he is going through.

Then it goes into a mid-shot and the camera follows the chair as Ben

Thomas breaks it against the table. In this frame Muccino reveals to the

audience the emotional rollercoaster this character is going though as he

has a violent outburst.

As tension keeps rising, the music gets louder and there is a close-up of

Ben Thomas facial expressions as he starts to shout the names even

louder.

More Focus Pulls are used to signify how this character is unstable.

As he shouts the last name ‘Sarah Jensen’, a sound effect is used.

Before presenting the title Muccino flashes a number of pictures with clues and

‘teasers’ of the story of the movie. Ending up revealing the title.