Evaluation on Prezi

Deconstruction of North by Northwest

North by Northwest

Deconstruction of the opening to 'The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas'

The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas

Analysis of shots and techniques used in ‘The Birds’

Analysis of Shots and Techniques Used in the Birds

the dream

Analysis of The Silence of the Lambs opening.

The opening shot in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ is a long shot, which takes us from an area high up, through the fog to a cluster of tree’s, which have been the main focus of the shot so far. The fog creates a feeling of eeriness and it also makes the viewer feel like something is about to jump out in front of the camera, because the fog has made it difficult to see. The mise-en-scene suggests that this is set in late autumn or winter because there are grey clouds, the fog shows us that it is cold and the tree’s are bare. By setting the film in this season, the weather echoes the depressing feeling that the opening scene sets. The music adds to a the disturbing atmosphere in this opening scene because the orchestral instruments give the music a sinister edge, which already suggests that this film is going to be a very dark, distressing film. The dietetic sounds also add to the tone that this opening sequence creates, because the sound of the insects, which live in the forest, play an interesting part later on in the film, when a cocoon is discovered in the back of one of Buffalo Bills victims neck. The makers of the film are already depicting nature in a negative light and a source of making the viewer scared of animals. As the camera pans slowly down and shows the female character, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster). She is running through this forest and appears to be completing an assault course. This suggests to the viewer the nature of her work because, we would associate people in the army or in the police to be completing assault courses. We soon learn that Starling is training to be a police officer however what she is and why she is in the forest is still an enigma at this point we have an idea. As the character comes closer to the camera, a mid shot is shown of Starling and it is revealed that she is wearing sports clothes, which suggests to the viewer that she is purely exercising and is not running away from anyone. The character is running through the fog and as it becomes to unclear for us to see what she is doing the camera cuts to a close up of the woman so we can see her face clearly. The camera then follows Calrice’s feet as she runs and then to a close up of her face. These shots are all about establishing the character and trying to deduce as much about her as we can from the little information we have been given. The camera cuts to a mid shot of her running towards a rope wall. As she climbs over the wall the camera pans around her at a low angle. After climbing the wall we hear a mans voice calling Starling over. Starling does not hear him at first because she is so engrossed by what she is doing, suggesting to the viewer that she is a determined character who will not stop until she reaches her goal. The man runs over the Starling (the camera follows him doing so) and he tells Starling that Crawford, an F.B.I official, wants to see her in his office. The next shot is of a tree. The camera tilts up and down this tree so we get a full view of it and it shows the signs that are nailed to the tree which says ‘pain’, ‘hurt’, ‘agony’ and ‘love-it’. This creates an enigma code as we do not know who put these signs there and who they are meant for. The titles are played over the top of the action that is going on in the film and the films title is first shown in block, capital letters, followed by the actors names.

A long shot is shown of the building at the training base, to establish where our character is. The camera then zooms then cuts to where Clarice is inside the building. The camera follows Jodie Foster’s character as she looks for Crawford’s office. Once finding Crawford’s office Caprice looks around his office as she waits for him to return back to his office. Something catches her eye and the camera zooms in to show a close up of her reaction to what ever it is she has seen. This creates an enigma code as we want to know what she is looking at. A point of view shot allows the audience to see what it is she has seen. We can see a notice board with photographs and newspaper cuttings pinned to it. The camera then cuts back to a close up of her face and we can see her eyes scanning the board. What she sees is shown to the viewer as a point of view shot and finally stops on a newspaper cutting which says ‘BILL SKINS FIFTH’, with a picture of the victim below. This article is about the serial killer Buffalo Bill, who is a key character throughout the film. The camera cuts to a close up of Starling with a man, who we presume to be Crawford, in the background standing in the doorway. At first it is Crawford that is blurred but then as he says her name it is Sterling who is blurred, forcing the character to focus on Crawford.

Analysis of The Bourne Supremacy opening

The film, The Bourne Supremacy, starts with a series of flashbacks. During these flashbacks the camera is very shaky, which is down to the use of hand held cameras in the opening to The Bourne Supremacy. The flashbacks involve the character travelling in a moving car and the other flashbacks focus on particular objects, words, people, number and places. At first the transition is fairly slow but gradually the transition between the flashbacks get faster and faster. As the rate of the transition increases, the images become hazy and the voices, which run alongside the memories begin to echo. By doing this the director makes the audience unsure of weather or not the person, who is having the flashback is conscious or not. As the flashback ends, we hear a woman’s voice. She is begging, in a foreign language, somebody not to shot her, however we assume that she does get shot because we hear a gun shot.
We first meet our main character, Jason Bourne, as he wakes up from the flashbacks. The camera is still hand held and at this point we have a close up aerial shot of Bourne’s face. This shot shows the audience the characters anguish from what he has seen in his flashback. We know that its night time from the mise-en-scene as we can see the moonlight shining in from the window, lighting up the small dark room that the character is in. This lighting lights up Jason Bourne’s face and reveals that he is sweating, furthering the audiences belief that the character is distressed by what he has seen in his flashbacks. At the bottom of the screen we are told that we this film is set in ‘Goa, India‘, which creates an enigma code as we wonder why a man who is clearly not from Goa is in the city. As the Camera pans round to the right, we see Jason getting up to go to the bathroom. When Bourne is in the bathroom, he switches the light on and the camera cuts to a mid-shot of Jason inside the bathroom. Whilst in the bathroom Jason is searching for something in the medicine cabinet and the noise he makes wakes up a woman, who we presume to be his girlfriend. This is confirmed later on in this scene when after she has tried to comfort him she strokes her face. The camera cuts back to Jason in the bathroom and we can see the woman entering the bathroom. The camera switches to a point of view shot of the woman, who’s face seems to be confused as to why Bourne is awake. The camera cuts to a mid shot of Jason assuring the woman that he is ok and that he is only awake because he has a headache. He does not tell the woman about what he has seen in his flashback. As they leave the bathroom, the camera follows Jason to the balcony and we see a busy highway. We then cut to an over-the-shoulder shot, which shows Bourne leaning on the balcony and then to a two shot which sees the female asking Jason a question. We can see the characters relationship and body language with each other in this shot. As the camera cuts to a close up of Jason, he confides in the woman about his flashbacks and then the camera cuts to an over-the-shoulder shot of the woman, so we can see her reaction. During the conversation between the couple there are various close up and over-the-shoulder shots of the characters to show how they respond to what is being said. As the characters finish talking, we can hear music, which is very soft and calming yet also has an air of mystery. An extreme long shot is shown of the bungalow, establishing where the whole scene that has just been seen was set.
The camera switches to a mid shot of Jason sitting down at his desk, and the camera moves in closer to show his face. As he begins to write about what his flashback showed, as the woman in the previous scene told him to do, the camera cuts to a mid shot which shows Bourne writing, but it also includes a shot of the patio outside, showing that it is lighter and that some time has passed since he woke up from his flashback. The camera cuts back to a mid shot as he turns off his desk light, where we can only see he’s silhouette.