Textual Analysis #2Transporter 3

By Tim Loe

Here the institutions are shown at the start. Europa is a smaller corporation based in France. Digital Factory supply editing facilities and CGI, and are also quite small., although they usually supply for action films with a subgenre of crime, examples can be Hitman, and Unleashed.

The first shot of the film is an XLS establishing the location, which is conventional of this genre.

The camera then tracking across the boat, which emphasises the length and size of it, and also establishes the location.

This XLS, which is the shot after the establishing shots at the beginning, has low key lighting. This type of lighting is generally associated with the villains. It may also be used to build enigma, as very little of the shot is visible.

Non diegetic sound is used, which is clear, and still gives the audience the impression that they know what the characters are doing, even with limited vision. This could be important to consider in my production.

Orchestral music is combined with non diegetic sound of the film to build anticipation. This use of sound is also conventional, as it has been similar in my other textual analysis's.

The lighting is also high key, contrasting from the previous shot which was low key. High key lighting is associated with good, and would generally be used to establish what would be called the ‘hero’ according to propp’s character types.

A CU of what the ‘villains’ were trying to find is then shown. Although the shot is very short, lasting around 1 second. This builds enigma, as it doesn’t give us a clear picture on why the villains want this, and what it is for.

This could contribute to the genre of crime, as a lot of enigma is brought up around this item, which could be what is trying to be stolen. It is also featured very early in the film which suggests it is important.

Death is then shown very early on in the film, which can establish the action genre. Also there is an action match which is a conventional editing type for action genre films.

The rough, unsettling waves (which are also shown in the following shot) can suggest the disruption in the equilibrium, and that the storyline has moved to a disequilibrium, as the establishing shots at the start displayed the waves to be still, and calm.

The sequence of shots, show how quickly the dead bodies are removed, which builds enigma, as It suggests that they are hiding something.

My Findings

• Use of low key lighting is very important, as it clearly establishes the character types.

• Use of editing conventional to the genre is important, such as action matches.

• The build up of enigma is important in an film opening, and it is also associated with crime.