Codes and Conventions in the opening scene of "Body of Lies"

When researching into aspects of the thriller genre we need to consider five key concepts: institutions, audience, technology, codes and conventions and representation. I will be focusing on part iv, codes and conventions of the thriller genre, including technical aspects such as mise-en-scene, camera angles, lighting, sound effects and so on.


The scene opens with a quote from W.H. Auden: "I and the public know what all schoolchildren learn, those to whom evil is done, do evil in return." To begin with this seems strange, why has this quote been placed here? The audience assumes it must bare some significance later in the film.
A heavy, low-frequency non-diegetic sound takes a hold of the scene, building tension, as the text "Manchester, England" is displayed, obviously detailing the setting to the following scene. This sound is very familiar within the thriller genre and is frequently used in thrillers, such as in Elysium, which I previously wrote about, so the genre is being utilised within the introduction. However, a seemingly Arabic voice begins to speak as the text fades out, which typically the audience would not associate with Manchester, confusing the audience. The first camera angle we see is of a man with a b beard, a stereotypical Arabian appearance. The man is dimly lit, perhaps noting at connotations of evil and wrong-doing. The subtitles inform us that "we" [the man and assumingly his colleagues] 'destroyed a bus last week', further enhancing this connotation; we get the impression that this man is in fact evil. His patriotic speech continues as the scene changes to another dimply lit room, seemingly a chemical lab, as the text reads, "we will strike at random". This causes the audience to question these men of being terrorists. This particular shot [1:03] utilises mise-en-scene very well, we can see the man at his desk with a large array of technical equipment to help him create what he needs- the audience would not be familiar with any of this and therefore would be confused and curious as to what this man is actually doing, and with the soundtrack's timbre heightening it only adds to the suspense built. At 1:12, there is a close up of the man from the labs face as the subtitle reads, "And no... they will bleed" - from his facial expressions shown by the camera angle we can infer that this man is quite afraid of the task at hand, that will result in their enemies bleeding.

The scene changes to that of a more typical Manchester scene, of a street, yet we see police officers and men dressed fully in black carrying guns. Firstly, we immediately associate firearms with violence and death, and so the assault rifle could indicate that some form of fight is to come, either in the scene or throughout the film. However, the man is all in black, and this colour is usually used to portray the villain - we have already seen the terrorists in the film, yet there is now some ambiguity as to who are the "good guys" in this particular film. My interpretation of this is that the terrorists believe what they are doing to be right, hence the men, who seem ordered and structured and are therefore probably of authority in England, are their enemies. Of course, this could just be said to be the team's uniform, yet their faces are totally covered and the audience cannot be certain of their stance. The fact that the policemen, who have greater connotations with protection and so on, are not hostile towards these men would indicate that they are not the enemy of the public, conforming to convention.

The soundtrack continues to grow in loudness, but the audience can clearly make out everything in the scene; i.e. there is a great emphasis on sounds like the milk float and the dogs barking at the men in the street. The camera angles rapidly change too, quickening the pace of the scene and engaging the audience. As the men begin to get into position at around the 1:30 mark, the soundtrack begins to die down, hinting at some form of action to come. Once again this technique has been utilised by many thriller films in the past and so the audience is accustom to it and can almost predict that something important is about to happen - this once again conforms to thriller conventions. We can hear a man whistling "Rule Brittania" at around 1:44, a very patriotic piece, but this confused me when I heard it- why has it been placed here? We hear it as the men, who are assumingly a SWAT team by their structure, take up their stances- it could be used almost ironically to imply that something bad is about to happen for the British.

By 2:00, the sound has softened completely and the scene is almost dominated by diegetic sound, we hear everything that is going on the scene. This could be used to show how the men, who are upstairs when the door opens, can hear what is going on just as the audience can. The lighting is used to effect well as the scene once again darkens as we return into the building where the Muslims are. They realise what is going on, and the urgency and fear in the mans voice at 2:01 suggests just that: fear. The creak of the door opening is very typical of the thriller genre, conforming to conventions, and creates a very tense atmosphere. At 2:13, we hear the men talking in hushed tones, to themselves seemingly, and hear a phrase strongly related to terrorism, "Allahu Akbar", meaning "God is greater" in Arabic. This almost informs the audience what is going to happen before it has even occurred.
Sure enough, mere seconds later, the sound cuts completely, the man at the makeshift lab presses a button and with a clever sound effect that is associated with "powering-on" an electrical device, the screen erupts in a burst of light, and cuts to a large explosion at 2:18 from the view of the street. Special effects are used well here as the explosion is very realistic, we see debris, smoke and flames. The camera shakes to convey the chaos felt by the public on the street at 2:20, and we see the explosion from above before the scene cuts to the title, "Body of Lies" at 2:24, as we hear panicked screams fading from the previous scene. The explosion scene conforms to the thriller genre as the structure of the narrative made the audience predict what was going to happen just before it occurred, like in films such as Bourne.

Overall, the opening scene to "Body of Lies" strongly conforms to the thriller genre as we see a clear portrayal of good and evil as well as effective use of technical aspects to convey suspense and action to the audience.

Top 5 Thiller Opening Scenes

Here's a pick of some of my favourite opening scenes from thriller films.

Terminology Defintions

These are some key terms that I have not yet covered/didn't previously know of relating to camera shots, angles, editing and sound.

• Master Shot - This is often a long shot and is filmed from such an angle that all characters are in view.
• Aerial Shot - This is where either a crane or camera attached to a special helicopter to view large landscapes from above.
• Canted Angle - This is where the camera is tilted to one side, often to give a sense of psychological  anxiety or instability.
• Deep Focus - A camera technique that has a great depth of field, which keeps both close and distant planes in focus at the same time.
• Shallow Focus - The opposite of deep focus, this is where the camera has a small depth of field and only one plane of the image is in focus and the rest is out of focus. It is typically used to emphasise one part of an image over another.
• Focus Pulls - A filming technique where the focal point is drawn towards the viewer.
• Steadicam - A way of mounting the camera so that it remains steady when filming.
• Continuity Systems - This is the process of smoothing different clips out to make them run smoother.
• Eyeline Match - this is where the audience wants to see what the character on screen can see. This is done by the character observing something off screen followed by a cut to this object/character etc.
• Graphic Match - this is an editing device in which a dominant shape or line in one shot provides a visual transition to a similar shape or line in the next shot.
• Jump Cut - this is an abrupt transition from one scene to another.
• Cross-cutting - this is a technique in which shots of two or more separate, usually concurring scenes are combined.
• Parallel Editing - this is a technique that involves going between two scenes that are happening simultaneously but in different locations.
• Superimposition - This is where one image is placed over another, perhaps to highlight importance.
• Long Take - a shot in a film that is uninterrupted for a long period of time and breaks from the pace of the film, usually lasting several minutes.
• Short Take - the opposite to long take, this is where a shot appears for a very brief duration, usually less than 3 seconds or so.
• Expansion of Time - this is where time is expanded; the duration of the film sequence lasts longer than in real time.
• Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sound - Diegetic sound is where a sound is actually visible on screen, so the we can see what caused the sound, whereas non-diegetic sound is where he we hear something but we cannot see where it is coming from, such as a narrative or sound effect, or it is not implied by the action on screen.
• Synchronous and asynchronous sound - Synchronous sound is where a sound appears to be matched to certain movements occurring in the scene, such as footsteps corresponding to walking, whereas asynchronous sound is coming from the action but not precisely in sync with it.
• Ambient sound - the background noise present in a scene.
• Mode of Address - the way in which media texts talk to an audience, or the relations between the addresser and the audience are constructed in a text.
• Incidental music - this is music used in a scene to create or enhance a specific atmosphere, to accompany the action or drama or fill intervals.
• Sound perspective - this is the sense of a sound's position in space due to several factors such as timbre and pitch.

What does the advertsing campaign for "Elysium" reveal about the genre?

 

The Trailer

The trailer begins with a low frequency noise to immediately set the mood for the following trailer. The first image we see is an unnatural one, of a plastic-like figure behind a glass screen, that talks in a rather typical robotic voice. The robot says "Violation today at bus stop 34-B" to the man (Matt Damon), and the scene then cuts to what the audience would assume to be this scene. A larger, transformer-esque robot moves in time to similar low frequency booms from at the beginning of the film, and when Damon's [*bald] character responds to the distorted, "what's the matter?" with "Hair products, mostly", the perhaps robotic law enforcer beats him to the ground. From these opening few seconds the audience can already tell that there are elements of science fiction in this film and that it must be set a long way in the future for this technology to have developed. However, from Damon's sarcastic tone, "No-I-Am-O-K", "Neg-a-tive"  there seems to be some hostility towards these robots, that they are unwelcome in this futuristic setting, which is immediately revealed to be the year 2154. This opening clip would conform to sci-fi genre conventions quite easily.

The repetition of the loud bass on scene changes heightens the suspense built within the trailer, so the audience gets the impression that this isn't going to be a dull affair. The trailer then says, "Humanity is divided between two worlds" followed by a establishing shot of what appears to be some form of space station in orbit of Earth. A extra-terrestrial world of some sort is a common feature of science fiction films also, conforming to typical genre conventions.

However, there is many aspects of the trailer that indicate that this film is a thriller and will contain some form of action. The extreme close-up of Damon's character shows seriousness in his facial expressions, indicating that the action in the film will be very important. The trailer reveals a lot about the plot of the film, with the phrase "We live on Earth, the Privileged live on Elysium" and the distinct contrast between the images of a war-torn, half-destroyed city and some form of seemingly artificial paradise, with "No War, No Poverty, No Sickness". This could incorporate the thriller theme of isolation; humanity is separated. The theme of hostility continues, as people seem to want to get to Elysium to be cured of illness etc, yet they are shot down when nearing it. Damon is then shown to be "modified" in some way in order to be able to save the people of Earth, once again conforming to sci-fi conventions, but Max [Damon] is told he alone has the power to "override their whole system" showing he has some form of responsibility now. The action in the trailer then starts to pick up, with an increase in the pace of the music, with gunshots, explosions and a whole host of technologically advanced weaponry incorporated into the scene. This reveals that the film will be action-orientated, with elements of a thriller. Although some reviews class this film as a thriller it does not conform to some conventions, i.e. the iconography, but from the trailer we can observe that there are victims (humanity), some villains (the man who causes the vehicle to flip [2:23] the woman aboard Elysium), death and revenge. Suspense is prominent throughout the trailer, and the apparent heroes and villains in the trailer indicate that there are elements of a thriller in Elysium.

 

The Poster



There are several posters for Elysium but I think this one details the most about the film and can further aid establishing the genre of the film. A very large proportion of the poster is taken up by Damon's Character, showing his integral role in the film as the protagonist. From his stance and expression we can infer seriousness, determination and strength, as well as elements of concern, all of which would immerse the audience in the genre of a thriller. His robotic additions are visible on his back, and he is holding his gun- this could indicate a fight to come in the film as well as the great power he holds. Focusing on just Damon's character alone, the poster reveals that the film will have elements of a thriller and action. However, switching the focus to the background we can see some form of aircraft, that could be assumed to be futuristic as it doesn't look like modern aircraft, and this would reveal elements of science fiction. In the top left hand corner you can see Elysium, which appears to be some form of space station to the reader, also suggesting that space craft and extra-terrestrial worlds will be involved in the film, which automatically have connotations with the future, technology and science fiction.

 

To conclude, from the trailer and poster, "Elysium" seems to fall within the genre of a science-fiction thriller. The trailer clearly shows the difference between two worlds and the presence of the robots and futuristic weapons suggest the film is heavily orientated around sci-fi and it's conventions, but elements of a thriller and also present within the advertising campaign, more in the actual plot and characters than the mise-en-scene. The combination of the aspects of both genres builds a lot of suspense in the trailer, and both the trailer and poster suggest that "Elysium" is going to contain a lot of gripping action due to the sincerity that is present.

Shot Types and Camera Angles & Movements

Shot Types

• Extreme Long Shot / Establishing Shot - often an exterior shot to establish time and location, and any characters in the scene are often only just visible. This shot provides the audience with information about the setting for the storyline (establishes the scene)
• Long Shot - this could follow up the establishing shot- this shot involves seeing the character from head to toe. The shot can help build a relationship between the character and their environment.
• Mid Shot - A shot of the character from the waist up. This shot enables the audience to become more familiar with the character as we can see their expressions and body langauge in more detial.
• Two Shot - This shot involves having two characters in the frame to show the relationship between the chracters and their interactions. Typically this is seen in TV shows, for example. Variations inlcude a Three Shot, Four Shot or Group Shot.
• Close-up - This shows the characters head and shoulders, with very little background space. The shot focuses the attention on the characters expression but could also be used to focus on objects of significance.
• Point of View - This puts the audience in the place of the character and let's them see what the character can see. It is used to engage the audience with the character's motives.
• Extreme Close-Up - This "unnatural" shot often focuses on characters eyes, and helps the audience feel the emotion that the character is feeling. Similarly to a close-up, it can be used to focus on objects of significance.

Camera Angles & Movements

As well as the aforementioned High Angle and Low Angle shots detailed in a previous post, there is also the "Over The Shoulder" shot, where the audience views the action or object of significance over the shoulder of the character. It is often used in scenes with dialogue/conversation, such as in TV soaps, and can show the interaction between characters. If the shot then alternates so it is over the shoulder of the other character, it is known as a "Shot Reverse Shot".

Movements:

• Tracking Shot - a backwards/forwards way of capturing the action using a dolly or track and dolly. If the shot moves in it can signal the start of the action, and vice versa if it moves out it can signal the end of action.
• Sideways Tracking Shot - otherwise known as a "Crab Shot", this shot follow the movement of a character or object horizontally.
• Tilt Shot - The simple movement of a camera up and down. Like with a Low Angle shot, a tilt up creates height and power with point of view.
• Zoom - an alternative to tracking, this is where the focal lenght of the camera is adjusted to move into or away from the character.
• Arc Shot - A full circle or semi-circle shot around a character or object.
• Crane Shot - the camera is attached to a crane to follow the action in a vertical direction.
• Panning Shot - this is where the camera moves from left to right or vice versa on a tripod. It could be used with point of view when a character is, say, searching a room.

Thriller Poster - Analysis of Conventions - Watchmen

Thriller Poster - Analysis of Conventions - Watchmen from jwestonf0wj

Thriller Film Scene Analysis

An analysis of the opening scene (to around 4 minutes in) of "Olympus Has Fallen", detailing setting, themes, character, props, narrative and style.
 

Olympus Has Fallen Opening Scene from jwestonf0wj

Analysis of a Thriller Movie Poster: World War Z



 First research and analytical task:

World War Z - Film Poster Annotation from jwestonf0wj

Semiotics, Denotations and Connotations

"Semeiotikos" is greek for "an interpreter of signs" and Semiotics is quite simply the study of signs. It is used to analyse visual codes in various types of media and incorporates anything used as human communication.

A denotation is the actual meaning of a word whereas a connotation is something associated with a word, either a feeling or idea etc. coupled with its literal meaning.

Semiotics are also present in moving images (and in still image analysis too!):

• Tilting the camera up (low-angle shot) infers power and authority.
• Tilting the camera down (high-angle shot) makes a character appear small and vulnerable.
• Close-up shots, varying from standard to big to extreme can show emotion, expressions, insight, intimacy etc.
• Long shots are taken from afar and are used to give context, scope and to establish a scene.
• Fade in/fade out transitions can indicate the start/beginning/opening or close/ending/conclusion.

Codes and Conventions

Every Genre is governed by a set of codes and conventions.

• Code - a code in media is a firm rule that is almost never broken. The rules apply to all easpects of a film, such as plot, character, culture and many more.
• Convention - a convention is a habit or a long accepted way of doing things that can change and develop along with a genres development.

Media Studies Intro

Hey! Welcome to my Media Studies blog. There's not a lot going on at the moment but soon I shall posting notes and everything else to do with my work on here.
Joe.