OPENING TITLES ANALYSISMARGIN CALLTHE DRAMA/THRILLER 2011 FILM “MARGIN CALL” IS BASED AROUND FOUR PEOPLE WHO WORK AT A BANK DURING THE BEGINNING OF A FINANCIAL CRISIS.

THE FILM WAS WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY J.C. CHANDOR.

There is a fade in to reveal this high shot of what appears to be New York City in a time lapse. Here there is a use of a fish-eye style lens, which is most noticeable on the right, as a building appears to curve. I feel that this was done intentionally to present the idea of there being some distortion, perhaps to something we all are familiar with (possibly why the director and writers chose New York).In the background, we can hear people talking, which makes the whole time lapse sequence slightly chaotic sounding, but with a bizarrely calm looking scene, perhaps another hint at the story of the film, and people’s blindness and ignorance to whatever is about to happen.

The sped up images of the city gives the impression of a fast moving world that is ever changing. Or possibly could be suggesting that that events have been set in motion and is now on going.

The music has now begun, and is somewhat solemn sounding, possibly foreshadowing the solemn events that are about to occur.

There s a cut to black and the title “MARGIN CALL”, quite suddenly, especially seeing as the sequence opened with a fade. The title appeared just after the sound of a bell, which could be a signal for something, maybe the end or the beginning of an event.

The shot is very simplistic, and clear, which may be a reflection of the film itself, or may have a deeper meaning.

We stay for a few seconds on this hallway of workers who seem to have just arrived into work seeing as the woman at the front still has her bag with her.The chaos in the background sounds slightly ominous and gives a daunting effect, it causes the audience to not want to enter the office, for fear of something bad happening.

The chatting in the background continues, much more obvious now, creating a feeling of imminence. Something is about to happen, but what?

This shot conforms to the rule of thirds when put vertically.This is something quite common in a drama film – To follow the typical shot types, rather than challenge them as dramas must have a natural flow and progression, and often challenging conventions can distort this and ruin the alternate reality of the drama.Therefore the following of the rules relays to the audience that this film is a drama.

This is the first character whom the camera lingers on causes the audience to make the assumption that he is a main character, or at least someone of importance to the story. Although the camera has been placed at his eye line, which could indicate that he is not in any state of superiority for long if at all. So the representation of this character is that they are probably confident and experienced, but that isn’t what’s important to this story.These two then appear, seeming nervous about something. One of them says “Jesus Christ! Are they going to do it right here?”This immediately piques the interest of the

audience. What are they going to do, and why not here?The thing that they are discussing is clearly what is making them nervous, but not the character above. He appears quite relaxed or possibly bored. This suggests that he is experienced, and has been through whatever is going on today before. It also implies that the other two are inexperienced and probably quite new to the job.

“You guys ever been through this before?” this reinforces the idea of him being experienced. This shot has been framed to have a large empty space next to Paul Bettany’s character. This makes the shot slightly unbalanced, as there is very little filling the space as you would expect. The effect is very subtle and the audience may not actually notice it, which gives the impression that it is supposed to simply invoke a slight sense of distortion rather than obvious disorder.

His positive attitude toward his two less experienced colleagues conveys the audience that he cares about their welfare as they are nervous about potentially losing their jobs, and he is consoling them and reassuring them.This also tells us that he isn’t worried about status as he is clearly superior, but this isn’t shown in the way he communicates with his colleagues.

“I’m afraid we

have to speak with

you”.

The “Afraid” again implies negativity, and also his reluctance to follow her.At this point, the audience may have guessed what is happening in this office, redundancies. This creates a strong relation to the audience, as many people who this film is aimed at will have experienced one, whether it was to them, by them or witnessed by them. This is why I think that the shot was done from behind a computer, as it makes it seem like we are looking through the eyes of a colleague, and probably a situation most of the target audience will have been in.

Several clocks on the wall, that seem to be set to different times. Implies that this place is a bank, as banks work with different currencies and in different time zones.

As we pan across the back of computers, it creates the feeling that anyone could be next, which is accompanied by the woman walking around looking carefully at everyone, as if she has the power to pick people at random to fire. This puts the audience in a state of empathy for those in this place who are afraid of losing their job, possibly again helping to establish a connection with the audience.This shot also makes it seem as if quite a few computers are empty, and rather a lot of people have been let go already.

What looks like some packed up things – further evidence of redundancies

Empty computer in the background which zis still on, suggesting the person has only just left.

Quite a few pieces of paper in her folder – that could fit a lot of names in. Also she seems quite relaxed about it all, so may tell us that she done this many times.

We are reintroduced to Zachary Quinto’s character. The woman asks if he is Eric Dale, but he isn’t. The fact that she has gotten this wrong, brings us back to the idea that there is a distortion as we assume that this woman is very organised. This could also mean the implied distruption is imminent, as it is now suggested in a more direct way, rather than a subtle way as before with the time lapse video over the city.He tells her that the man she is looking for is his boss. This immediately tells us that the redundancies are simply cases of slacking or similar reasons, but something far more serious, as a seemingly senior member of staff is to be let go.

Props:

Props:

Has a little number 1 on his desk, could be a subtle message to the audience, letting us know that he is good at his job, and there must be an important reason, not to do with his work ethic, for his job loss.As well as this, he is in his own office and has many personal photos, which tend to only be found in the offices of the higher members of staff and those who have been there a particularly long time.

He is a new character who seems hard at work, and makes a point to save what he was working on before he leaves, which the camera tilts down to see him do. This again brings us back to the idea that people are not being fired for work ethic, but probably a problem at the company. This shot was unusual, as normally we wouldn’t need to see him clicking to guess that he may be saving his work, but the fact that the director chose to make this glaringly obvious conveys that this is something very important that he must finish, but we know this is unlikely as he is about to be made redundant. Resulting in the audience being particularly interested in this unknown document and why it is so important and its fate if this character is about to be fired.

Props:

Stanley Tucci’s character follows at a clear distance, showing his reluctance to leave his job, denoting that he likes his job, and doesn’t want to leave. This shot shows a huge number of people at work, and a seemingly equal number of people missing from computers – presumably also fired, further hinted at from the piles of boxes everywhere. They aren’t necessarily for people leaving, but they have strong connotations with the idea of people packing up things that they have on their desks.

The idea that the room that the redundancies are being carried out in is transparent, makes the audience feel as if everyone knows that people are being let go and that there is no way to keep the event private. So in this case, the transparent room reflects a quite literal meaning, that everything going on is plain to see as everyone on the floor can see into this room.

Empty computersWhat looks like a packed up box of belongings

Here we have another view from behind a computer as if it is a point of view shot again trying to relate to the audience.

The below shot conforms to the rule of thirds. The most important parts of the shot are where the lines of the thirds meet, and in this shot the lines meet at Stanley Tucci’s character. He is also the only person in this shot whose face we can see and so tells us that this may be a significant point possibly in his life, or maybe just indicating that he is an important character, or may be showing that him losing his job has significance.

These shots follow the 180 degree rule

There is a fairly level shot of Tucci’s character, but the woman looking back is seen from a higher angle. The angle is not much higher, but just enough to hint at the way the director wants us to view her – as if she is to be seen as the ‘bad guy’ whereas Tucci’s character is on the same level as the audience and so is more relatable, and we are more likely to sympathise with him.“I am obviously sorry that we are here today, but these are extraordinary times as you very well must know”Telling him that he understands the situation quite well does again suggest that this is a bank and she is referring to low employment and financial problems.

“I don’t understand why that’s a natural place to start cutting jobs”He doesn’t seem to want to accept that he is about to lose his job and almost tries to evade the firing, like he is trying to change the subject, and shift the job loss onto someone else – tell us he is determined and cares a lot about his job, not something that is overly common, and again causes the audience to sympathise as people are finding it hard to get a job at all, let alone one that they like as much as this character is showing.

LIGHTING AND SOUND

• The lighting in this sequence has been made to look as if it is mostly artificial, but partly natural as we do see a large window on one side of the office, where some light does appear to originate from.

• The lighting is at a higher level than an actual office, but it is not too obvious, as to give the illusion of a real life event. Almost to make the audience feel as if they are looking through the eyes of an employee.

• The sound does seem to vary slightly. There is solemn and simple music playing throughout and is accompanied by common office noises, people talking, phones ringing. And this has been used to sound as if it is diegetic, which it is in some scenes, but in others, the sound has simply been taken from another shot, such as the scene where people are walking down the corridor.

• This overlapping of sound helps make the whole sequence feel quite natural. Almost as if the time lapse is showing someone looking out of a window and wasting the day but can still hear the background noise of the office they are supposed to be working in.

COSTUME

• The characters are all dressed in typical office work attire to help set the scene and enforce this version of reality.

• The first person we meet, played by Paul Bettany, is dressed well and clearly in a nicer and probably more expensive suit than the next two characters we meet. This immediately tells us that this first character is likely to be better paid and of a higher position in the company.

• Paul Bettany and Stanley Tucci’s characters are wearing very similar suits, which are almost identical, possibly hinting at the idea that Stanley Tucci’s character getting fired could suggest that Bettany’s does as well.

• Having Penn Badgley and Zachary Quinto’s character without blazers could tell the audience that they are getting hot and flusters about the day’s events, and Bettany’s character is still wearing his, again implying that he is at a higher position.

SHOT TYPES

• There are a wide range of shot types in this sequence. There is the use of a shot that could be considered a point of view shot of someone working in the office, although we are never actually shown who they are and so it could be argued that these shots are just a series of medium shots that are placed at someone's desk. I feel that these shots are POV shots as the audience has been placed into the perspective of a worker, and as the worker is anonymous, it allows the audience to feel included and a part of the events at this bank. The POV’s puts the audience into a workers shoes making them feel empathy towards those who are about to lose their jobs.

• The variety of shot types keeps things interesting and also succeeds in placing the audience all over the office which may have been done to show the scale of a single floor of this office building and the scale of the redundancies.

SETTING

• The setting is clearly a modern day bank building.

• The huge number of computer monitors, some desks having two, tells us that this is a place that makes a large amount of money and is keen to invest in heightening profit this further by enhancing the tools available to workers. Also the use of this technology immediately tells the audience that this is the present day.

• The whiteness of the building could have been done almost ironically, as white tends to have positive connotations, such as purity and safety, but in here, no one’s job appears to be safe and the whole sequence has negative feelings attached.

• The depiction of the city at the very start and all of the technology used in the sequence shows the audience that the events are taking place in modern day New York.