1. Film Analysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIJoV8KmZYg
The scene that I decided to analyse was the opening
scene taken from the 1996 moviethriller called, "Set
It Off", where an intense bank robberyis taking place
in a bank with a numerousamountof shots and
editing techniques. Firstly I decided to find the ISL of
the film which is done by the number of cuts in the
scene divided by the length of the scene in seconds. In my case the number of
cuts in this scene was 77 and this was divided by the length which was 172 secs
which I then gota result of 0.44 ISL.
Shottypes
There are a variety of differentshots for example,
the opening few seconds thereis a close up of the
gun and a close up of Darnell's the thief. This is done
to fully reveal the expressionson Darnell'sface
which enables the audience to understand whattype
of character heis, that of a gangster. The close up of
the gun is used to build up the scene in what it is
later to be an explosive crimetaking place. Shotreverse shot is also used in the
conversation at the very start between the banker and Darnell, this is done to
illustrate that they are in a conversation and that we can get the surroundings
of the setting. The camera then rotates without cutting to medium shots of
Darnell'smen in the background. Oneof them on the phonethe other looking
at a display. This is doneto notify that something is going to happen, it is also
done so we have an idea of what the charactersaredressed up like and how
they look. There is an over the shoulder shot when Darnellis firing shots at a
federalcop, this is done to get Darnell's pointof view from the chaos
happening.
2. Cuts
The cutting rate at the start of the scene is very low.
This is because nothing huge is happening apartfrom
a conversation. The moment Darnelldecides to yell,
"give me the money", the cutting rate starts to
increase as tension is building and the scene starts to
become very interesting. Although of this it the rate
does slow down for importantmomentssuch as
Darnellkilling a civilian, Darnellkilling a cop and
Darnellgetting killed by a cop. This is because those
are very importantpartswhich are needed to be
remembered whilst watching the rest of the movie.
Other than thatwhen the action is taking place the
rate is fast but at the end of the scene it starts to lose the intensity as Darnellis
killed thereforethe rate becomes slower.
Purpose
The whole point of the scene is to give the viewers
insight of whatmay happen during themovie. It is
also to set out a story with a clear introduction. Fast
cutting rates and a variety of differentshots are used
to make the scene extremely entertaining and
interesting so the audience would want to watch the whole movie. The
filmmakers added transitionsand effects such as slow motion when one of the
cops is getting shot. The audience then becomes emotional and start to feel
sympathy for the cop. They may also feel sympathy for the banker as they know
her job is at stake for not pressing the alarm button as she knew the bank
robber. Thisis how the film makers achieve an emotional response.
3. MiseEn Scene
Firstly, the scene is set out in a bank. Dueto this there are bankersthat are in
the classic bank uniform which shows they work there. All the civilians in the
bank arewearing high end suits or dresses and this shows the majorityof the
people are wealthy or it is a wealthy area. In contrastto this, the bank robbers
are wearing normalurban clothes which suggests that they are not wealthy as
the other people which shows why they are robbing the bank. These robbers
are black and the others are all white except for one of the bankers, this
suggests that the movie is set in a past time when there was a divide like that.
Lastly there arepolice officersdressed up in the police uniform. One prop they
were carrying was a gun along with the bank robbers. In this case the viewers
automatically think that the robbersareholding these weapons for a bad
reason and the police are holding it for a good reason which is the case. There is
a huge bag that the robbersbroughtwith them to stash all the money they are
going to rob in.
SOUNDAUDIO
During the courseof the scene there is differentsoundsand a soundtrackused
throughout. Thesound track used has a slow beginning and buildsup tension
when the action starts. The sound graduallygets faster and faster when the
stacking of the money and shooting goes on but just as the main robber is
aboutto leave and gets shot the sound goes back to the way it started in the
beginning. Whilst the robber startsstacking the money, the sound there is
diegetic because it is actually happening in the scene. Moving the bagsaround
were also diegetic. The shooting of the gun and the breaking of the windows
were non-diegetic as sound has either been edited into the scene to bring it
moreto life. Lastly, the alarm that's ringing in the bank is diegetic as it is set in
the scene.
