Film language analysis:

The film clip being analysed in this essay is from Sin city, a movie released in the year 2005 produced by Hollywood, distributed in multiplex cinemas and directed by Frank Miller. The film follows a neo-film noir genre with a multi-strand narrative. The clip being analysed is three minutes with many media techniques involving clever cinematography and camerawork, semiotic lighting, interesting sound and editing combined with mise-en-scene.
The clip starts with a man named Dwight McCarthy driving a car with a recently deceased body in the passenger’s seat. The body then awakens speaking to Dwight about his current predicament of running out of petrol. Throughout this clip, Dwight is driving in rainy weather no doubt connoting that he is in a miserable situation and it also reflects the mood of Dwight giving off an effect of dread to the audience while also helping them to identify with this character.
The narrative roles in this clip are quite clear. Dwight is the protagonist while the dead man awakening is the antagonist. What makes their roles clear is the fact that Dwight stays neutral throughout this clip while the dead man feels the need to aggravate him more and more making him the antagonist. There also seems to be the Todorov theory applied to this clip. In the beginning for a short moment there is equilibrium, and then the antagonist comes to life creating disequilibrium by distracting the protagonist and thereafter when Dwight pulls over, there is equilibrium again.
Throughout this whole clip, a constant colouring theme of black and white is displayed with bits of other colours e.g. red, green, blue are also displayed. These colours are shown when the dead body awakens and starts to speak to the protagonist which connotes that Dwight is rushing through a range of emotions which are represented by the colours e.g. red for anger.
Throughout this clip, there is low-key lighting surrounding the characters in the scene with top lighting used to highlight the characters’ facial features to signify both of the characters’ importance in this scene. The dead body’s blood is highlighted white to boldly stand out in the scene and help the audience identify where the antagonist has been injured so they could also see the abnormal activity of a fatally wounded man speaking.
The sound in this clip are both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. The clip starts off with diegetic sound of rain hitting the car with the engine humming but as soon as the antagonist awakes, parallel non-diegetic sound seeps into the scene. The non-diegetic sound is both eerie and ominous as it, again, reflects the protagonist’s feelings and it also discomforts the audience but unsettling them. Two minutes into the clip, the protagonist begins to talk to himself who acts as a narrator and the purpose of this is to push the audience into identifying and almost empathise with this character more.
In this clip, there are varied shots between close-ups and extreme close-ups with no medium or long shots. The close-up and extreme close-up shots combined with continuity editing connote a very stiff and claustrophobic atmosphere that gives the audience a feeling of suspense and horror. This is no doubt a dominant reading on the director’s behalf.
We see the protagonist try to maintain the status quo in this clip as he tries to get a grip of his own sanity. By seeing him talking to himself in unison with the colouring and diegetic sound, the audience seem to perceive the protagonist in a different manner.
The use of clothing and props is effective in this clip. The clothing worn by both characters are of a black colour connoting a grim situation arising. As mentioned by the antagonist, the cigarette in the hero’s hand connotes that he is much stressed and needs to relax to reclaim his sanity. The pistol part left in the antagonist’s forehead is an obvious connotation that helps the audience realise that the antagonist is really dead even though he is speaking
Throughout the duration of this clip, the audience can’t help but feel alienated. The reason for this would be that when the protagonist and antagonist converse, it feels as though the audience is taking part of some type of voyeurism because it’s as though the conversation between both characters seems private. This was intentional on the director’s part because the more distant the audience is, the more suspense is built.
In conclusion, this three minute clip of Sin city seems to hold many media techniques that have to be deeply analysed to see. Many connotations and representations are contained within this clip and once analysed properly, have deep and often hidden meanings that can have a big impact on the audience’s perceptions of characters. With many media techniques combined e.g. sound, colour, camerawork etc. a powerful scene can be created that could set an example as to what the audience can expect from the rest of the movie.


By,
Jason Bhatti

Film Still analysis:

A still image from The Usual Suspects. The shot used here is a medium shot designed to give the audience a view of all the characters. There is obvious use of of high-key lighting because we see shadows in the background. From the use of high-key lighting, we see all the characters clearly. Their clothing gives the audience an idea of what type of characters they are.

A still image from the Godfather. This is a close-up shot immediatly drawing the the audiences attention to one of the main protagonists. Also in this still image there is low-key lighting to no doubt give the audience an omnious feeling of fear. Also, since this protagonist has great power and respect, the lighting and camera shot reflect this.

A still image from Kill Bill. This is a medium shot and it does serve it purpose. By doing this kind of shot we see everyone involved in this shot giving the audience the effect of excitement. This shot also has high key lighting and the women in this image stands out from the rest becuase of her clothing, no doubt a dominant reading.

A still image is from Sin City. This is a medium-longshot showing a person sitting on a chair while there is someone in the back-ground. This shot has low-key lighting with only the Cross on the Bible and the person's glasses highlighted with high-key lighting along with the spotlight and snow.

A Touch of Evil

The scene begins with low-key lighting and then we see a point of view shot with a person placing a time bomb under a car. The camera then begins to pan out as a couple get in a car and then drive off.From here on, the scene seems to switch from low key lighting to high-key lighting. The camera continues to pan out as we see another couple walking as the original couple are driving along-side them. This continues for a while as the camera switches from long shots to close-up shots when the characters begin to speak. Contropuntal sound along with diegetic sound is used for this scene. Throughout this whole scene there are no cuts for quite some time. The car explosion at the end is used to unsettle the audience as the bomb itself is used as a slight enigma code becuase the audience doesn't know when it is going to explode.

Newspaper anaysis:

This the front page for The Daily Star. There is a web address under Masthead so that if readers want to find out more about the day's stories or the newspaper itself they can. Under the Masthead there is also the dateline. The pug on this front page is the 20p sign. This is placed to attract attention and right under it is the slogan. The slogan says, " 10p cheaper than the sun...10 times more fun". This slogan is no doubt used to create more sales. The kicker on the page is the " Di dumps X factor Eoghan" story and this story jumps out from the rest. The Headline reads, " They've taken all our jobs" and under it is the Strapline whch says, " 1.3 migrants took evey Brit vacancy since 2001". On top of the Strapline is the Standfirst (opening paragraph) which is part of the Leader (first article) with the Byline apart of it. The caption is under the women posing to again attract the reader's attention (hopefully men only).