Genre: Crime, Drama
Gross Box Office: Worldwide $76,175,166 (9 February 2012)
Director: NICOLAS WINDING REFN
Awards: 70 wins and 150 nominations
In the opening we see one man in a car driving around late at night and he goes home once, but when he does he leaves again straight away. This leaves the viewers with a lot of unanswered questions, which will make it more appealing to the viewers.
The first shot in the film is an establishing shot and this is effective as it gets straight into the narrative for the viewers and will be more interesting to watch. It is an establishing shot of LA at night, this reveals to the viewers where the scene, if not the whole movie is set and it also signifies that nighttime plays a vital part in the narrative.
The opening credits start as soon as the film does and the first thing in the credits is the name "Ryan Gosling"(post production), this implies that his character is the most important character to the narrative, or that he is the most well known character to the film and that will attract viewers that share an interest in him. Also through out this whole opening clip there is only non-diegetic sound used and it is a score called "nightfall" which again relates back to the importance of nighttime to the narrative.
After the establishing shot it cross-fades to a low angle medium close-up of Ryan Goslings face, the cross fade shows us that it probably is the same place and the same time as the establishing shot, and the medium close up implies to the viewers that he is most likely the main character. Also the way the editors made his face the first face to be shown, also tells the viewers that he is the main character.
After they left the picture of his face on the screen for about 4 seconds they then post production added the title of the film over the top of the image, this proves the point that Ryan Gosling has the most importance to the film as his name is the only name to show up before the title of the film.
The clip then cuts to an over the shoulder shot of him driving the car on a nearly empty road which makes the viewers question why he is out so late and also why he is alone. This is effective as it emphasis the deafening sound of silence and makes it clear that he is contemplating a big decision that will probably change his life and the loneliness could symbolise how lonely people are in big cities no matter how popular they might feel.
From the over shoulder shot it then cuts to a birds eye view of the busy Los Angeles roads, the way that it cuts from the over the shoulder shot to this shot, which makes the viewers wonder why in a busy city with busy roads why he is in an empty road where the viewers are shown barely any other cars.
In this shot we see another over the shoulder shot, this time it reveals to us the choice of costume for the character and on the back of his jacket there is a very big yellow scorpion, this made me stereotypically think he is in a gang and that is probably because it is very emphasised and that reminds me of other films with gangs and how the gangs have their own sort of trademark. The way they added this over the shoulder shot shows a lift in a car park with no other people in it and that makes the viewers question where he's going and whether he's meeting anyone that is going to make a positive or negative impact on him.
We are then introduce into a wide shot of him stood in a dark empty room, this is very important as it is still within the first 2 minutes and it will have drawn the attention of the viewers by leaving them with many questions unanswered, questions like, why is his home so empty?, why is there only basic furniture?...
After the shot of him walking into the room he then without turning the light on he turns around and leaves, as he is doing this the camera slowly zooms out, it is zooming out on a view from him at the back, this is an interesting option of shot as it forms more questions as the opening progresses and they are questions like, why is he leaving if he has just come in?, what is so important at that time of the night?
We are then introduced again to the over shoulder shot which has been focus pulled on the rear view mirror which is an interesting shot as it shows him from behind driving, however you can also see his eyes which reveal his reactions to whats ahead, this again makes the viewers wonder why he's out so late and where he might be going.
After the establishing shot it cross-fades to a low angle medium close-up of Ryan Goslings face, the cross fade shows us that it probably is the same place and the same time as the establishing shot, and the medium close up implies to the viewers that he is most likely the main character. Also the way the editors made his face the first face to be shown, also tells the viewers that he is the main character.
After they left the picture of his face on the screen for about 4 seconds they then post production added the title of the film over the top of the image, this proves the point that Ryan Gosling has the most importance to the film as his name is the only name to show up before the title of the film.
From the over shoulder shot it then cuts to a birds eye view of the busy Los Angeles roads, the way that it cuts from the over the shoulder shot to this shot, which makes the viewers wonder why in a busy city with busy roads why he is in an empty road where the viewers are shown barely any other cars.
In this shot we see another over the shoulder shot, this time it reveals to us the choice of costume for the character and on the back of his jacket there is a very big yellow scorpion, this made me stereotypically think he is in a gang and that is probably because it is very emphasised and that reminds me of other films with gangs and how the gangs have their own sort of trademark. The way they added this over the shoulder shot shows a lift in a car park with no other people in it and that makes the viewers question where he's going and whether he's meeting anyone that is going to make a positive or negative impact on him.
We are then introduced again to the over shoulder shot which has been focus pulled on the rear view mirror which is an interesting shot as it shows him from behind driving, however you can also see his eyes which reveal his reactions to whats ahead, this again makes the viewers wonder why he's out so late and where he might be going.
This is the clip from youtube that I evaluated:
Again, your work is very strong here and you identify, use and can analyse the technical aspects of the film well. Ensure you are explicit in your understanding of the conventional aspects you must include in your own film.
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