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