The opening shot of X-men origins shows us the logos of the companies who made the film, 20th century fox and Marvel.
The first shot is a wide shot of a fire. This room is dimly lit despite the fire to give the shot an older feel. This shot tells us the location of the scene, then tilts up to reveal the first character. This is a close up which signifies importance of the character, and also allows the audience to see the characters dark, moody expression which suggests this character is bad tempered. The camera then cuts to a sick child. It is a wide shot which suggests the character is inferior. This is also suggested by the fact the character is sick.
A new character( a doctor) now walks in. The first character quickly stands up and hides a knife behind his back. This shows that he has something to hide, and also that the new character is more dominant. Also, when he stands up he says 'evening sir'. The title 'sir' implies power.
The man and the sick boy engage in a conversation, which shows examples of the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot. While this conversation is happening the camera keeps cutting to close ups of the other boy who looks angry. This suggests jealousy of the relationship between the 2.
Shouting is heard from another room. The doctor tries to avoid having to deal with this, which makes him seem cowardly, but he is convinced to go. As he leaves the sick child shouts 'father', which reveals the relationship between the two characters. As the two people leave, we are left with a lingering close up of the sick child even though the action is going on elsewhere. This helps build tension and suggests to the audience that the child's reaction is more important. After a gunshot is heard, dramatic music fades in as the sick child gets up and runs down the corridor to where his father is dying.
We are given a high angle shot of the father and his murderer, and then a low angle shot of the child looking down on them, this suggests a shift in power.
Sad music comes in as the father dies allowing the audience to empathise. We are the shown a close up of the childs angry face and then of his bone claws coming thorugh his skin. This shows the transfirmation of the child from a weak, sick child into the pwoerful mutant he is in the future. However now James is shown a high angle shot to suggest he is not in control of his actions and has 'lost his mind'. This continues as he runs to kill his fathers murderer. Even when he kills the man he is still shown to be small and inferior suggesting his actions were not smart or well thought through.
The child runs out of the house into a dark forest. The darkness shows he is running into the unknown. The fast paced music adds tension and drama to the scene. the other child catches up and tackles young wolverine. They engage in conversation where wolverine tries to apologise for his actions, but the other, who was earlier revealed to be his brother, tries to defend his actions. This allows us to see the violent, aggressive nature of the character and this scene also allows us to see the brotherly bond between the two form. As the brothers begin to run away, the opening credits begin to play.
When important names are revealed in the opening credits, we are shown a still image. This makes sure we don't get distracted by the background action.
The opening credits take us through the brothers' lives as they fight in different wars. Each war shows us a different quality of the brothers
The film flashes forward to the american civil war in which the brothers are fighting. The lighting here is bright suggesting their lives have gotten better. This war shos us the ruthlessness of the two fighters and how invincible they are, especially wolverine who takes a cannonball to the chest and still keeps going.
The next war we are shown is WW1. As the two brothers fight through a trench, we get to see how their brotherly bond allows them to fight as a team to clear out their enemies.
The next war is WW2. In this war we are shown the hatred and violence of the bigger brother, while wolverine stands worried as he watches his sibling wipe out an entire bunker full of nazis.
The final war we are shown is in vietnam, where it is clear that the ruthless brother has become even more violent as he kills everyone, even his own team. However, wolverin still comes in to help. When they become captured, they are fired upon by a firing squad, and as the first bullets are fired, the title appears in big letters.
The two brothers are visited in a jail cell. This cell is very dark, emphasising the two brothers sorrow. The door opens and light floods the room, suggesting hope. They are visited bty a high ranking military officer, who always has the sun shining bright behind him, which suggests he is a symbol of hope. At first the man stands tall above the two brothers and wears sunglasses, which shows that he is superior, however, later on in the scene he takes his sunglasses off and kneels down towards the two, which shows that he is empathising with them and bringing himself down to their level.
No comments:
Post a Comment