Past Student Work Analysis

The Candidate

In this opening sequence, the production company and the cast come up during the open sequence, why we watch what we think the antagonist get ready. This doesn’t give a lot of information about the actual storyline leaving an Enigma to the opening sequence. This makes the audience curious on what is going to happen? 

In my opinion from what I can see in the opening sequence, I would class this as a Crime thriller (15). I would class this as crime because there is blood right at the beginning and later on showing a gun. This shows that there has possibly been a murder; this is also why I have classified it as a 15.

Camerawork

In this opening I noticed that there was a lot of close up shots used which could show the attention to detail. A close up that they use is on his face when someone is coming in and you see the reaction shot at the same time, this is showing that he is rushing to hide something. From what we see so far it looks like a crime thriller, as he is covering up something, like he is wiping away all the blood of his hand, putting new clothes on and trying to get rid of all the evidence. A good shot they used was the over the shoulder, as we could see him and how he was washing all the blood away, in to the sink. This also showed him looking in the mirror so we could see how he was feeling about this, if he looked scared, relieved, or fulfilled we would be able to tell from this camera shot. This was also an establishing shot as we now know he is in a bathroom, in what looks like his home.  

Editing

The clip starts with a blackout with background music playing over the top, this immediately puts the audience on edge as they know that something bad is going to happen because of the music playing, as it makes their heart race. There are a lot of cuts used throughout this scene which are mostly short shot duration, they use it when the man is getting ready really quickly and it cuts to him putting his trousers on and etc. This is showing urgency that he has to get ready quickly; this also makes the audience question why is he getting ready so fast? And why is he dressing so smartly. The music then picks up a bit of pace as someone else comes in through the door. There is then a long shot duration used as you see the reaction of the man listening to someone coming in, why we are watching this the camera starts of as a close up  but then coming further away from the man, leaving a long shot duration.

Sound

At the beginning of the opening sequence, on the blackout we hear a diagetic sound of a gunshot; this is then goes in to a gun washing blood of his hands which could represent that he was the guy who murdered someone. That is the only diagetic sound used, the rest is all non-diagetic which just plays in the background. This helps set the mood as it helps get the audience on the edge of their seats as it help them get in to the right state of mind. The music in this is all very dark which sets the atmosphere and it is parallel to what is going on in the clip. When the music picks up a bit of speed the clip will also be going faster in what he is doing/ trying to hide. As the music goes with what is going on in the clip when it comes to someone coming through the door be hear the door close and as we hear this we see the reaction of the man. At this point we the audience are wondering what is going to happen next? Does he know the person who just came in? We then hear the words ‘James’ spoken by a women character. It then goes silent and the title of the film comes up ‘Bang’ by now the audience are so excited to see what is going to happen next and it gets them thinking again, was the man we saw called James or was it the one who got murdered? With the title of the film we can see that it is a thriller, as normally the ‘Bang’ is the sound of a gun which indicated that it is a thriller and going to be some violence.

Mise-en-Scene

Costumes

We do not see many costumes in this Opening sequence, we see the man getting changed in to a suit, and this could show that he is going out somewhere important, where he has to dress smart. We watch him get changed through the whole clip.

Location

The location looks like his flat; we know this because he starts of in the bathroom and then makes his way to the bedroom where he gets changed.

Lighting

Ambient lighting is used during this Opening scene as it is set in a bedroom, you need to use natural lighting, this is good as it is not too bright and we can see everything very clearly. With the bathroom the scene the lighting is fair dark with cold colours this could show that he down, or maybe feeling guilty as he has just committed a murder.

Props

The props used in this Opening sequence are a passport, a gun, and his clothes. With the Gun and passport we only see at the end of the clip as he forgets to hide it, this helps the audience to understand that he committed the murder. With the costume however this is used throughout the whole opening sequence, as the audience needs to know that he is in a hurry and needs to get somewhere.