AS Media Coursework

1. Back To The Future analysis
Thisfilmbeginningissetina room thatlookslike agarage, inthere islotsof clocks,a bed,dogbowl
and lotsof mess.Thisopeningsequence tellsthe audience aboutthe type of characterthat lives
there.The boywho comesincallsthe personlivingthere ‘Doc’sothatwouldenhance thathe is a
man also,the boy callsthe dogEinstein.Due tothese twonamesthe audience isledtobelieve that
he man is an inventorandlikestoinventnew items.
The colour of thisscene isverydark the onlybitof lightcominginisthe lightthatbrightensupthe
room isfromthe doorwayandwindows. Byhavingthisdarkscene enhancesthe un-tidiness of the
room andalso makesitmore mysteriousforthe audience.The lightingisambientas,there islight
comingthroughthe windowshoweveritisbrighteroutside andthe amountof lightcomingthrough
doesn’trepresentthe daylight,thisenhancesthatthishome cannotbe a permanenthome because
it ishiddenawayandcramp and not suitable tolive in.
You onlymeetone characterin the openingsequence andthis isthe boy,he iswearingtrainers,
jeansanda jacket.He is alsocarryinga bagand a skateboardwhichtellsthe audience thathe isn’t
oldenoughtodrive so,must still be quite youngcomparedtothe ‘Doc’character. The props inthis
scene are the skateboardandthe scientificmachine thatiscontrolled bytime.Whenthe clocksget
to a certaintime theysetcertain machinesoff todo the ‘housework’whichisfeedingthe dog,
makingtoastand turningthe TV and radioon.On the TV there wasa reportthat mentionplutonium
beingstolenandwhenthe boyentershe putshisskateboarddownandpushesit.Thisthenbumps
intothe plutoniumunderthe bed.Byseeingthismissingplutoniumandknowingthatthe manwho
liveshere isaninventorsuggeststothe audience thatthe Docstole the plutonium.
In thishome there isa bedbut itis coveredwithlotsof stuff whichcouldsuggestthatitisn’t used
that often.Also,the bedisn’tmade properlyandthe whole place isamess.Thiscouldsuggestthat
hislifestyle isverybusyandmanicand he isalwaysbusyinventingnew machinesandgadgets.In
thisroom everythingiscontrolledbytime andnothingisdone manually,thiscouldsuggesttothe
audience thatwiththe linkbetween the time control andthe title,thisfilmisall abouttime andhow
to change time.Whenthe boyentershe knowswhere the keyiskeptandbecause it was lockedit
suggestedthatno one was inand that he had beenthere before andwasgoodfriendswith Doc. This
boyis the firstand onlycharacteryou meetinthisscene andeventhoughthe audience hasn’tmet
Doc yettheycan gaina good understandingof whathe may be like.
Thisopeningsequenceisall done inone shot,one longpanup and down,leftandright.There are
alsoa fewzoomsinandout on specificitems.One of theseisthe new paperarticle,thisenhancesto
the audience thatthishas somethingtodothe man livinghere.The audience cangather thatthe
filmmayreferback tothe eventonthe article lateronin the filmbecause of the specific zoom.Also,
at the start the camerawas zoomedinon a clockbefore the panso, thisshowsthe audience that
thiswhole filmisabouttime asthisconceptof time is verykeytothe plot.Asthe audience istaken
aroundthe home of thisman all youcan see is clocksand machineseverywhere so,thathelpsto
explain whyDocmightbe an inventor.
The soundof thisfilmisverykey,because the filmisall abouttime the tickingof time isavery
important.Atthe start all you can hearis silence andthenthe tickingof clocksfadesinandfor the
durationof thisscene all youcan hearistickingwiththe addednoisesof the TV reportand the
dialogue from the boy.The Dialogue overpowersthe tickingwhenthe reportisaboutthe plutonium
because the audience needtohearthatithas gone missingandneedtorealise where itisnow. But,
as the camera movesawayfromthe TV the nextmachine isheard.

2. Thisfilmopeningtellsthe audience the keyfeaturesof the filmandthe audience cangaina vague
perspective of whatmighthappennextbut,theystill haven’tmetthe othermaincharacteror the
dog.Afterthisopeningtheyhave still onlymetone character andtheyknow more aboutthe
inventorthanthe boy.