The opening scene of the film Book of Eli uses dark lighting and a mysterious green glow in the woods to set a dark and ominous tone. Other shots throughout the film continue this green glow to maintain continuity. The mise-en-scene of abandoned cars in a darkly lit scrapyard, along with the main actor wearing dark clothes, further suggests the narrative will not be positive. The editing emphasizes the danger of arrows and creates tension by showing an arrow in slow motion as it kills an animal.

1. BOOK OF ELI
OPENING TECHNIQUES

2. LIGHTING

3. The opening shot shows a darkly lit
wood with a mysterious green glow.
This creates a sense of horror to the
film and sets the narrative to be
quite dark and negative.

4. The faint green glow is seen
throughout various shots in the film
which shows continuity. Other lighting
aspects also appear to show a very
gritty and grey image, suggesting the
narrative contains violence.

5. MISE EN SCENE

6. The ‘Mise en scene’ in this shot shows the
masses of stacked up cars inside the
abandoned scrap yard set which is darkly
lit. The actor is also visible wearing a
long dark coat holding a bag as a prop.
These factors suggest the film wont have a
positive/happy narrative.

7. EDITING

8. The editing of this shot shows the
camera focusing on the arrowhead
which emphasises the sharpness and
danger of the arrow. It has blurred
the actor in the background as if to
suggest he is less important.

9. The editing of this scene shows an
arrow pass through the air in slow
motion. This exaggerates the movement
of the arrow as it cuts through the
air on its path to kill an animal,
creating tension for the viewer.

10. This edit shows a transition of two
shots. The first shot fades out as the
seconds shot gradually appears. The
close up shot of him walking shows his
clothing whereas the extreme long shot
shows he is alone.

11. ESTABLISHMENT OF
NARRATIVE

12. This extreme long shot establishes
that the narrative is negative. It
suggests that he is a lonely man with
not many acquaintances and that he is
the protagonist of the film.

13. SPECIAL EFFECTS

14. The special effects in this scene,
overlap with the editing technique.
It shows an arrow pass through the
air in slow motion which contrasts
with the high speeds the arrow is
travelling at.