For My 1st Written Analysis Assignment:

For My 1st Written Analysis Assignment i shall be analyzing two scenes from the film Hobo With A Shotgun directed by Jason Eisener staring Rutger Hauer this film is about an ageing hobo ( Hauer) jumps from a freight car into a new city hoping for a freash start, he soon realises he has reached the end of the line finding himself trapped in urban hell full of murderers, rapists, prostitutes, drug abuse and corrupt cops. This film follows the story of the hobo clearing up the streets with a single shot gun against the evil crime boss the hobo is against everything to protect the streets justice.My question is:

How does the editing and lighting create tension in the ..................... scene from Hobo With A Shotgun?
(scene not yet decided)

Critical Analysis - Alien

ALIEN:

The film Alien is a sci-fi horror film created in 1979 directed by Ridley Scott. It stars Sigourney Weaver, Harry Dean Stanton and Ian Holm as part of a crew in the spaceship ‘Nostromo’  where they are awoken out of deep sleep to an distress signal from another planet this however was not the signal they wanted to be woken up by but a deliberate awakening. The crew begin to equip for their landing on the planet which the signal has been picked up from as they take a bad landing on the planet once landing some of the crew disperse and decided to investigate the area before towing back the broken down ship to earth what the crew don’t know is that there is an Alien on the broken down ship which begins to travel around ‘Nostromo’ preying on the crew.

I had to analyse two of the scenes from this film to my choice, these two sequences are the opening sequence and the Chest buster scene. Analyzing on the mise-en-scene, sound and editing.

The opening sequence begins with a wide panning shot of space as an establishing shot .As the film title dissolves over the shot a menacing non diegetic soundtrack slowly fades in, setting up the films tone and atmosphere. This suggests to the audience disequilibrium in the films plot.

 The title in this sequence is made from lettering compromising of basic geometric shapes; this title is built up after each anchorage fades in and out making the audience piece together what the title is. As this film is set in the future this connotes the story line as they are on quest of discovery. A computer like file opens up and tells the audience everything they need to know about ‘Nostromo’ and how many crew are aboard and what there course is ‘returning to earth’  creating instant enigma codes as to what they have done and why. A slow pulsating electronic non – diegetic score is played to accompany a straight cut to a low angle shot where the ship slowly passes over getting closer and closer which cuts to a interior shot from inside the ‘Nostromo’ this establishes the setting signifying where the story takes place. 

The mise-en-scene shows an industrial interior design of all dark metal piping and laddering artificial lights shines through the metal grills of the ships walls which is one of Ridley Scott’s directorial traits as used in Blade Runner (1982) and Gladiator (2000). A dolly shot tracks through the corridors the lighting in this shot has a red glow through the metal grills connoting danger cutting to another significant room on the ship as it suggests where crew members meet. This is the first room we see and the shot uses composition of rule of thirds this shot shows a clear camera arches framing a framing as a switch of interior design changes into a sterile area and more resemblant of living quarters there is a coat positioned on the back of the chair, this shot is has ambient lighting to show the fact that it’s not being used as if it’s on standby the non – diegetic sound changes from passive and soothing in tone to ominous and unnerving. 

The shot pans to the right as a shallow depth of field focusing on a control panel with red and blue lighting showing binary oppositions this used as we track down to the next shot of the darkened corridor and a white background room this draws the attention to the ladders in this shot and space suites giving a sign as to what they do and also a sign of escape. There is a shot of a computer turning on this is the first movement we see on the ship.

As the ships computer receives the distress signal the crew are revived from there hyper sleep  This is symbolic of giving birth as the ships computer is called mother the pods wake the crew which is what a mother does as it dominates them, in control. The non- diegetic sound changes from a sinister score to a naturist sound. Kane arises from the pods as he is the first to be born and is the first to die / give birth later on in the Chest buster scene.

A tracking dolly shot is used to show the living quarters in use with the diversity of crew eating at the table. A diegetic alarming noise grabs the crew’s attention as they vacate the table and add costume of jackets.

The next scene I decided to analyse was the Chest buster scene where the alien escape from Kane’s chest as he gives birth to the alien. This scene opens up with a low angle exterior shot of the ship returning home accompanied with a non – diegetic creeping pulsing noise like a heart monitor this instantly gives us direction as to what this scene has to offer this then cuts to an opening shot of the living quarters and the crew discussing what they should do to Kane in the mise-en-scene we see food on the table and alcohol informing the audience that this area is in use. This scene uses high key lighting to fool the audience into believing that these parts of the ship are safe to be as a sterile white is used unlike the corridors and exterior of the ship. 

Diegetic noise is used as an alarm to gain the crews notice where we hear Ash’s intercom telling the Dallas to come and see Kane however the whole crew follow his lead a cut is used to the medical bay where the audience is presented with a close up shot  of Kane in pain in the mise-en-scene we can see surgical tools this is so the audience knows that they are in the medical bay.

 The crew surround Kane to empathize his illness and to gain the audiences focus on Kane. Ash then walks through the center of the shot dividing the crew to him and Kane, Ash’s costume is completely different to the crew as they have all got some form of cream clothing on as a suggestion of uniform where as Ash is in a blue outfit signifying he doesn't fit in and is not one of them. A close up shot is then used again on Kane’s face to show his pain where he is asked ‘does he remember anything about the planet’ to which he says ‘I remember some horrible dream about been smothering ’ which cuts to Ash suggesting some form of conflict between the two whilst he was unconscious. A cut is given to the living quarters where the crew are participating on their last meal before retiring to bed. Kane begins to fill his plate full of food again a cut is used back to Ash watching Kane’s movements this happens throughout this scene creating a clear guidance as to something is wrong between the characters. 

A high angle shot is used behind Kane while he suffers in pain this shows the audience exactly where he will be positioned later on in the scene. Inter-cutting is used between the two shots of Kane in pain and Ash clearly watching him suffer. 

We see Kane lay on the middle of the table with no Ash (doctor) to help him overcome the pain in his chest where a blood splat shoots up and we then see Ash getting involved in helping Kane. The alien disperses from Kane’s chest where the aliens screech resembles the noise of someone giving birth as well as the amount of blood covering the Alien the aliens tale is as similar shape as an umbilical cord.

 Parker goes to kill the alien where as Ash tries to stop the killing letting the alien escape from the room cuts are used to show the split between the crew and Ash in Kane’s death and the Alien’s escape. As the alien retracts from the body the audience hears a non-diegetic noise faint heartbeat which passes from Kane to the Alien this is used as.

Critical Analysis of Club Scene In Trainspotting:

 Critical Analysis of Club Scene In Trainspotting:

                                                                                                                                                            

The scene begins with diegetic sound of dance music being played in the nightclub the song is called ‘Temptation’ by the musical group ‘Heaven 17’ the title of the song may have dual significance relating to the characters this being firstly due to the drug addiction and how the heroin tempts them into relapse secondly it may relate to sexual temptation as they are discussing their relationships and are at the club to pursue females.

Renton played by Ewan McGregor is stood in front of a portrait painting of the character Travis Bickle from Martin Scorsese 1976 film Taxi Driver where Bickel takes the law into his own hands by hunting down criminals such as drug dealers this intertextual reference highlights Renton’s drug addiction and how it can often lead to crime and violence. The portrait of Bickel is pointing guns at Renton’s head from behind him almost like and execution for his crimes.

This film heavily uses intertextual references to Taxi Driver as in this clip we see a painting of Jodie foster ‘Iris’ who plays a 12 year old child prostitute which Travis decides to rescue this interlinks with a scenario between Renton and Diane during the end of the scene where Renton becomes romantically entangled with her later to discover that she is only 14 years old.

Another intertextual reference relating to the night club is how it is decorated in a style recreating the milk bar from Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. In this film a gang of violent youths frequently partake in drinking milk laced with a variety of drugs prior to committing brutal attacks. This again might be a reference to the serious consequences to drug addiction.

 We see are shown a two shot medium close up of two girls exiting the restrooms as they make there way to the mirrors. As we know that Gail is reflecting about her dominative relationship over spud. Which is why we are given this shot as mirrors represent reflection and this is what Gail is doing in this scene.  We are then given a similar shot of Spud and Tommy openly discussing how Spud isn’t getting enough sexual pleasure from Gail. We can see a contrast in location of the girls going away to the toilets to discuss the matter and the males shouting it in the club.

We see the girl enter back into the club where they approach the boys and ask ‘what are you talking about?’ in sync where they are given a reply of ‘football’ and the question is then asked to the girls and they say ‘shopping’ playing on gender stereotype because they are both lying about what they were talking about as they don’t want to tell each other what they are talking about when all four of them are talking about the same matter.

We are given a point of view shot of Renton, showing that he hasn’t got a girlfriend as he watches all of his friends in envy. We are shown a couple being seductive to one another which makes Renton envy’s and more desperate to find a partner for the night. In this film we are given narration by Renton making it clear that this is from his point of view which is what accompanies the shot type. Renton was searching through the club looking for a partner using point of view shots of other couples in envy where he spots Diane standing alone at the bar this sequence is deliberately cut to the fast pace of the score creating a montage.

Colour conations of the red building , red lipstick , red coat which is all around Diane symbolises the lust , love and danger of there relationship which peruses in this film. Which possibly suggests danger for Renton caused by Diane as we find out later in the film that she is underage and he has being having sexual relations with her. When Diane’s black mailing come into play.