1. Chloé Georgiades Media 10/10/10
The Hostage
The opening of hostage is an image of a crime scene which shows what the filmis about. It
looks as if the camera is moving around the buildings and crime scene which is a ‘pan’
camera movement which means a movement that scans a scene horizontally. They have
used special effects to make the image in the opening all red, black and white which makes
it look more effective because it creates quite a dull and creepy image and gives an image to
the viewer that the filmis not going to pleasant. Because of the effects with the colours, it
makes it look like there is a war going on, it connotes a war scene because of all the police
force with their guns and the dark, dull colours which make it look as if there is a war.
The music throughout the opening is quite mysterious and tensed. The music is non-digetic
as only the audience can hear the opening music. The music has meaning behind it as it is
music which creates a lot of tense and suspension and tells you that something bad or
unpleasant is going to happen.
In the beginning of the film it starts of with a close up shot with a man screaming down the
phone with a gun with it zooming out of the house and over the city which overlooks
everything and which then shows the viewers what is happening. As it zooms out to a high
angle shot, the viewers are able to see that the man in the house holding a gun is a crime
scene in which all the police have surrounded it outside and you are able to see helicopters
flying around and the city overall which is a high angle shot.
It then has a quick shot of a helicopter up close flying past and then the camera is moving in
the air and looks down on an officer laying on the floor talking on the phone. This is a dolly
shot as the camera is moving and it is also a high angle shot because it has a shot of the man
laying of the floor in the air. They then ‘pan’ so they are looking at the man the right way
and it has a close up shot of the officer talking to show his emotions and feelings. This close
up shot shows that the officer is worried but thinks he has control of everything and so
therefore is more relaxed and calmthan the other police officers. The effect on the
audience is that they know deep down that he is as worried and tensed as the other officers
but they know that he doesn’t like to show these feelings/emotions and they know that he
thinks that he has control of everything. But the audience know that he hasn’t and they
have doubt in him as they have the feeling that the plan may go all wrong because the
police officer thinks he has control of everything when he hasn’t.
They also use shot reverse shot which conotes four men arguing over the situation they are
stuck in, the camera is alternating between the men to show that they are having an
argument and there is also a shot over two men’s shoulder looking at the man speaking to
them, this denotes an over the shoulder shot and conotes that the man sitting down is
disagreeing and arguing with the two men.
At a point in the clip, the camera zooms in on a little boy in the corner which denotes a close
up shot and it conotes that the boy is extremely frightened and upset and not knowing what
to do and then it alternates between the little boy and officer speaking on the phone which

2. Chloé Georgiades Media 10/10/10
denotes a shot reverse shot and conotes that the officer is trying to help the little boy and
keep him safe.
Towards the end of the clip the officer is running down the stairs which denotes a long shot
of him running and conotes that he is rushing to try and save the mum and child’s lives. This
shot makes the audience feel very tensed and it creates adrenaline rush of fear and worry
in the audience as they know that the officer is running to save the mum and sons lives.
There is quite a bit of editing used in the clip to make the film more effective. In the opening
of the film they’ve edited it so that the camera is slowly moving on one image but then jump
cuts to another image and to another and they have done this so they can show all of the
crime scene and buildings and etc that they want to shows the audience. It also jump cuts
from the officer speaking on the phone to the officers standing which shows that they are
intrigued in what is being said and then it jump cuts to the sniper who has a shot of the
suspect which shows he is letting all the other officers know that he has a shot. It then jump
cuts the boy being hit with the telephone and then thrown halfway across the floor from
where has been hit from the man. They do this because they would not be able to complete
this action in one shot as it would not look realistic. They need to make the action look as
realistic as possible and so they have used jump cut to do this.
The opening lasts around 3 minutes and 20 seconds and after the opening there is no music
being played, however there is digetic sound which the audience and other characters can
hear. These are the sounds of the helicopters, police sirens, the telephone hanging up, the
sound of writing on a white board and dialogue. These are all forms of sound which the
characters in the filmcan hear as well as the audience. After the police officer has an
unsuccessful conversation with the man on the phone, music is quietly played in the
background which only the audience can hear, this is non-digetic sound. This scary, creepy,
tensed music builds up and it creates a tensed and awkward atmosphere for the audience.
There is no longer non-digetic sound as the action starts to get more dramatic and focuses
on the dialogue of the characters. The non-digetic sound then starts again as the music
starts to play again in the background but more louder as the officers are getting more
worried and panicking and so the music gets more louder to keep the tension in the
atmosphere for the audience, the music the stops and starts then stops again and then the
audience soon here gun shots which the characters in the film can also hear.
Overall, from just a 10 minute clip I have watched I have realised that there are many
different camera angles and shots used which are used to create more effect and to show
things such as emotions and etc in a short amount of time. There is a lot of different non-
digetic and digetic sound used in specific situations and there is lot of editing that is used to
put the film together and to create special effects.