Friday 7 October 2016

In the scene, there is a fight between good and evil. It is a stereotypical gun fight, where the characters fit in with the conventions of the genre. The villain (Nicholas Cage); slightly psychotic, powerful, and well-dressed. The hero (John Travolta); fighting against the villain, caring about other people and is skilled at fighting. The fight leads to just the main hero and main villain, where the villain runs out of ammo, asks to be shot, has a knife and then gets trapped in a wind tunnel and is knocked out from his back hitting a metal cage.

During the build-up to intense moments in the clip, non-diegetic sounds is quiet, but gets slightly louder when action is taking place. Sound then becomes diegetic during the fights, as it is the conventional gun shots, explosions and shouting. These sounds are loud so my attention is drawn towards them and their source; and it keeps audience on edge as they want to know what will happen next. 
The scene begins with a long shot of a wind tunnel. The camera then pans from right to left to focus on Cage's eyes in an extreme close up. There is non-diegetic dissonant sound that makes a crescendo when Cage is in the shot. This shot makes makes the viewer feel uncomfortable and intimidated as they would not usually get that close to someone. Low key lighting is used to suggest mystery and danger. The next shot is a high angle establishing shot which shows the warehouse where the majority of the scene will take place. It is noticeable that the tunnel where the fight ends is much more well lit than the rest of the warehouse and illuminates much of the room. The third shot in the scene is a high angle shot of John Travolta's character who is holding his gun out at arm's length. This shot introduces the FBI agent and makes him look vulnerable and nervous as he will soon be engaged in a deadly battle with the dangerous criminal.
The next shot is a close up of the criminal's face looking downwards. In this shot he looks menacing and excited that he is about to shoot people. this paints the impression that he is insane and scary. In the fifth shot, we are then shown what he is looking down at- his gun which he is loading. This is followed by diegetic sound from his gun being loaded. The sound is clearly diegetic as in the following shot, the agent hears the noise and reacts to it by sharply turning. The next shot is another close up of Cage's gun, which is gold, being loaded. This shot implies the death that the criminal is about to cause. It is a convention of the action genre for guns to have their own shots, to signify their importance.  The scene then switches to a mid shot of an armed man in a suit turning on the spot to face the camera. We are shown this this from the point of view of the villain as this man is then shot. He is clearly an ally of Travolta's character as the hero attempts to save him by shouting 'Down!'. We are then shown a medium close up of Cage's character with his gun pointed towards the camera as he shoots. The next shot pans quickly around Travolta and the dying man who he is holding. This is followed by an extreme close up shot of lots of blurred sparks that cover up and illuminate the shot. The contrast of low key and high key lighting makes the explosion stand out. The blurry light objects could symbolise the light of heaven in this scene as if the sparks landed on someone, they could kill them. The next shot is a medium close up of the villain shooting. As he is in the centre of the frame and takes up much of the picture, he looks powerful and important. This is an example of the use of rule of thirds as Cage is in the middle third of the screen.
In the next shot, back lighting from an explosion is used to illuminate the dark room and make everything including the running hero look dark and unseeable. The next shot is a tracking shot that follows the agent as he runs to dodge explosions. The shot keeps the action fast-paced and shows  the viewer that the hero has survived the explosion. The next shot is a mid 2 shot of the hero running towards another agent who has his gun pointed. This then cuts to a medium close up of the two agents' faces. Travolta's character is shouting 'Down!' and looks worried. In a high angle long shot the criminal can be seen dropping a used up black gun. A close up of the villain grabbing his gun is then shown- informing the viewer that he is going to shoot yet again. 
During these fight scenes, some key moments are in slow motion to mark their importance and slow the pace down slightly. It also draws attention to that moment, as your brain can register the action better. 

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