analysis of movie openings LB

1. Analysis of action movie openings (Luke Black)
Movies I will analyse:
The dark knight
The matrix
LOTR: The fellowship of the ring
LOTR: The two towers

2. The dark knight
One convention that is immediately presented is the
introduction of credits. The logo is usually bright but
the colours have been altered to go with the mood
of the film which also is accompanied by a steady
drum beat that builds suspense

3. The dark knight
Just after the credits it jumps to an establishing
shot of a city, I keeps to convention; when it cut to
the city there is an ominous boom to generate
suspense. The camera slowly zooms into a
building where one of the windows explodes,
another convention.

4. The dark knight
Another convention is the over the shoulder shot that
shows a man holding a weapon, which is usually connoted
with violence, which is another convention of an action
movie. Another connotation this whole scene presents is
that there is uncertainty of what is happening and what is
going on

5. The dark knight
In a later two shot we see a gang firing into
the air in a bank, there are two connotations
here; the first is violence through the use of
weapons, and an establishment of the
obvious villains.

6. The dark knight
The over the shoulder shot shows a woman
panicking, this is a connotation of a “damsel in
distress” who is incapable of defending herself
against the villains.

7. The dark knight
This close up shows one bank robber about to shoot
the other, this connotes that villains will turn on each
other as they have no morals, the opposite to the
hero.

8. The dark knight
This medium long-shot depicts a bank manager
charging towards the robbers with a shotgun This
breaks convention as usually this job is left to the
main hero of the film, however it also connotes
with the convention of violence in action movies

9. The dark knight
This medium long shot establishes two conventions, the
casual use of guns; he fires when he knows that he has no
chance of hitting his enemies, yet he has full confidence in
his abilities. And the use of bravado, “you and your friends
are dead”, shows that he is a typical action star; “violence is
fun”

10. The dark knight
This medium long shot shows another
convention of an action film; running out of
ammunition at the least opportune moment.

11. The dark knight
This two shot depicts the convention of action
films when the driver looks at a person he just
killed and says “he's not getting up is he” in a
light-hearted tone. Which connotes that he has a
casual disregard for violence and death.

12. The matrix
A convention of this opening credits is how the warner
bros. logo has been altered to go with the green colour
that is the matrix, there is also a “screechy” noise that
generates suspense and is similar to noises commonly
found in horror movies, another convention of action
movies; it creates suspense

13. The matrix
As the code comes into shot the music swells to sound
more dramatic, which is a
convention as it creates intrigue into what this random
scrolling code is

14. As this trace program appears on screen we can hear two characters talking, one topic is
The matrix
If the “line is secure” this is a convention as there is an uncertainty to what is going on

15. The matrix
This close up shows a police officer holding up a gun, which is a convention of an action
movie in two ways; guns represent violence and the police represent “heroes” in action
films however we later learn that they are essentially the villans minions in this film
which is a countertype because they are not corrupt, they are literally “just doing their
jobs”

16. The matrix
This close up shows a convention and a countertype; the
convention is the fake surrender by the hero and the
counter type is that it is a woman; women are usually the
damsel in distress in action movies who need saving by
the male whereas trinity is perfectly capable
of defending herself.

17. The matrix
This two shot establishes that these three people (the
third is not in the shot) that they are the villains of this
film, because they are dressed oppositely to trinity; where
she wears a leathers they wear smart suits. Another
convention that is portrayed here is that the villains are
“agents” of some organisation; they are wearing suits,
earpieces and wearing sunglasses despite the time of
day.

18. The matrix
This two-shot shows three action movie conventions; the
first is some sort of fighting style, which connotes violence,
the second is slow motion that emphasises the violence
and the third is the main character is much better trained
than the minions of the villain

19. The matrix
This medium long shot is shows a convention of action movies
because it shows a chase scene across the rooftops of a city as
the hero/ villain runs from their counterpart.

20. The matrix
This aerial shot shows an agent aiming his gun to fire,
which is a convention as it represents violence, and the
mid shot a few seconds after shows another convention
of action films; the agent cannot hit trinity at all, like in all
action films the villains cannot aim unless the plot
demands it

21. The matrix
The shallow focus on the weapons presents the convention of
violence and death, but when the focus shifts to trinity’s face its is a
convention but also a countertype; it’s a countertype as she, one of
the main characters who fights, is afraid which in most action movies
does not happen, that or they cover it with bravado, but it could be
considered as a convention as she is a woman, therefore she needs a
man to protect her.

22. The fellowship of the ring
Multiple conventions are used here; the first is a
character narrating about something that explains some
of the events of the movie, the second is the title fades
in from black to create suspense and the third it the
music swells as the title appears to generate intrigue

23. The fellowship of the ring
This scene begins with a woman explaining the plot
motivators of the film, in this case rings of power, which
is a convention of some action movies, but not all. A
counter-convention is that the film did not open in an
event that relates to violence, in this it just a close up of
rings being forged.

24. The fellowship of the ring
A convention that is presented here is the
establishment of who will betray the “good side” in
the movie; with the elves and the dwarfs the
lighting is fairly bright to present their “purity” but
with the men the lighting is darker and the screen
fades to black in their scene, whilst with the others
it did not, which represents their turn to evil,
which is another convention; clear establishment
of the villains

25. The fellowship of the ring
This is a convention of a sub-genre of action as it uses a
cutaway to a map to establish what is in the world and
where it is in relation to each other place, another
convention in the next shot is the establishment of evils
“base”; there is an ominous boom and this particular part of
the map covers the screen (bottom right)

26. The fellowship of the ring
This establishing shot presents another convention
as it clearly depicts this land as “evil”; it is charred
and dark to represent how evil it is

27. The fellowship of the ring
This wide shot presents another convention of an action
movie as it is evident that this person, Sauron, is the
villain of the film; he is in dark colours, full armour that
covered in spikes, has horns on his helmet and is
perfectly calm whilst being surrounded by fire and
smoke.

28. The fellowship of the ring
Here is another convention of an action movie shown through
the use of superimposition; it depicts the villain’s henchmen
doing evil things, there are two conventions in this; the first being
that the henchmen do evil things and appear to enjoy it and the
second convention is that the main villain does not partake in
destruction for reasons unknown, most likely he sees it as
beneath him.

29. The fellowship of the ring
This medium close up and the use of CGI shows “the last
alliance of men and elves” marching into battle, the two
conventions here are that the heroes are outnumbered
drastically against their opponents and there is a clear
representation of good through the gold armour. Whereas
the villains, as shown in a close up, appear black and
deformed.

30. The fellowship of the ring
A convention that is presented here is that the main villain is feared,
and with good reason, as we see Sauron approach the battle, an
ominous drum beat plays, and we see the hero’s cower away from
him as shown in the first over the shoulder shot. Another convention
that is presented is that the main villain is very powerful; this over the
shoulder shot shows Sauron sending his enemies flying with ease
which suggests that he is very powerful

31. The fellowship of the ring
This close up of Sauron’s helmet presents the
convention of action films of good’s victory over evil,
it also present the convention of the villain being
defeated through plot conveniences; he was killed
instantly when his source of power was removed

32. The Two Towers
The title of the film fades in to a swell of the music, which is a
convention as it creates suspense and intrigue. However the “sub-title”
is not announced which could be seen as a countertype of
action movies; the sub title usually appears dramatically to remind
you what film you have decided to see a few seconds after the main
title

33. The Two Towers
This establishing shot is convention of some action
movies; it shows something scenic and tranquil
before the action begins to contrast with it

34. The Two Towers
This Very wide shot shows Gandalf, the wizard, fighting the Balrog. This presents the
convention of clear distinction of good and evil through colours and size; Gandalf’s has
white light whereas the Balrog is, literally, fire and smoke, the Balrog is giant which gives
the impression of intimidation.

35. The Two Towers
This mid shot shows Gandalf, the wise wizard, which present the
convention of many action movies that the old person is never the
“main” main character, they are always the person who offer advice and
support to the main character, however a counter convention in this shot
is that he is saving the heroes from evil which suggests that he can
fight, which is rare in action films as the elderly are usually portrayed as
a burden to the main character

36. The Two Towers
This wide shot shows the Balrog falling to his
demise by Gandalf’s ability; which presents the
convention that of good winning over evil,
however it also presents the convention of the
action star failing to run when they should
because they are over confident in their abilities

37. The Two Towers
This two shot shows Merry and Frodo’s reaction to Gandalf’s
magical power; this presents the convention that occasionally
occurs in action movies where the younger cast stand in awe
of the older cast’s true power

38. The Two Towers
This wide shot shows Gandalf getting tripped up by the Balrog, which
results in his “death”. This presents multiple conventions, the first
being that the villain is not really dead and has one final attack before
his demise, the second is that the hero turns his back, when he really
shouldn’t have, and ends up paying for it.

39. The Two Towers
This medium close up shows Boromir holding back the main
character as he tries to go save Gandalf, when he probably
knows that it is futile; this is another convention of action
movies; a character is killed off to motivate the main character
into doing what they must in memory of that character

40. The Two Towers
This close up (top image)
shows Gandalf as he
says “Fly you fools”
before releasing his grip
and falling to his death,
this presents the
convention of a character
sacrificing themselves for
the sake of everyone else
and the convention of
dialogue that belittles
their sacrifice. However
as the wide shot shows,
Gandalf battles the
Balrog as they both fall
which is a convention as
the sacrificed person
fights to the end, but it is
also a counter convention
as usually the fighter is
younger.

41. The Two Towers
This two shot shoes Frodo waking up from his dream, the
opening sequence. This is two conventions of an action
movie; the opening sequence was just a dream that acts as
foreshadowing, and the convention is that the main character
is haunted by their actions/ their failure to act which resulted
in the harm of others