1. This is a wide shot of the some of the planets in our solar system including earth. In one of the first shots of the film,
planet earth is covered in a layer of darkness. This foreshadows that something very bad is going to happen to planet
earth. It also hints that it will hit the entire solar system as the other planets are also covered in darkness. Another
reason the director could have chosen this shot is there is more light displaying on the larger planet hinting that the
larger organisation are more in the light (they know more) than the citizens on earth.
2. This is also a wide shot of the solar system showing that the darkness is covering up all of the planets in the solar
system, this shows therefore that no one on earth is untouchable and that everyone is going to be endangered by
the solar flare in 2012 (when the world is supposed to end). The different rings of Saturn could depict the many
storms and obstacles that the humans on earth will have the deal with, otherwise they risk death.
3. This shot of the surface of the sun shows the many explosions happening, this sets a timer for the people on
earth to prepare for the impending disaster. The fact that because of the perspective of the explosions, they seem
to be covering the other planets and therefore are foreshadowing the inevitable fact that the world will end soon.
The bright colours of the explosions contrast with the darkness of space and show that the orange glow covers
every aspect of the screen and therefore this shows that there is no escape from the end of the world.
4. The little boy sitting outside in the rain with his boat, shows that the change of weather is drastic and this
therefore shows that the scientists would have anticipated a dreadful and global cataclysm to occur. The little
boy playing with a toy boat in the rain foreshadows the government building boats to take some people to
safety. The little boy seems sad and this shows that his dad and mum are probably worried about what is to
come as his dad is a scientist.
5. This close up shot of the little boy aki’s boat being drowned by the water pre-empts the fact that the boats the
government provide won’t survive. The boat was caused to the fall into the water because of the taxi speeding past
this shows therefore that the end of the world is thought to be as a result of human behaviour.
6. This sign showing that the scientists are in the institute of astrophysics shows that they have been studying the solar
flairs and therefore know a lot of what is to come as the governments of the world are all uniting to find a solution
or to find out through the scientists when the global disaster or the end of the world is going to strike. The glimmer
of light in the doorway shows that the scientists have more hope than the rest of the human race as they know
when the attack is going to happen and therefore they can prepare for this disaster.
7. In this wide shot there is a glimmer of light in the third, this us where we need to focus and also shows
that the scientists believe that there is a glimmer of hope and that they know how to get away from the
storm. This shown later on in the movie when some of the scientists use helicopters to escape the
crashing buildings and floods.
8. This close up mid shot shows the two scientists are scared about what is going to happen to planet earth and
although they believe they may escape they will have to watch many people die in explosions in front of their
eyes. In this scene the scientist on the left is worried about what is going to happen as the scientist on the
right has not yet told him that the storm is approaching faster, because of the increase in solar flairs.
9. In this pan up to the sky shot it shows how the scientists have created a secret lab in which to do their research this
is because they are being forced by the government to conduct their research in secret and therefore they have to
travel 11,000 ft under ground to track the solar flairs. In this shot the light is fading away, this symbolises that
scientists are running out of time before the world comes to an end.
