Media Assignment: Se7en

Media Assignment: Se7en

Connor Cushingham

 

Opening Scene

The movie opens with a black screen; the only noise is the non-diegetic noises of an urban city. The shot then goes to the main character; Summerset, who seems to be getting ready for work. The loud noises of the urban environment continue throughout the scene as Morgan Freeman’s character; Detective Summerset is getting ready, this reflects Summerset’s grudge against the city and potentially the world, as his character has come to a point where he cannot understand humanity anymore.

 

The next shot is a mid-shot angle of Summerset’s tie, he adjusts it and then the camera tilts upwards to his face in the mirror, giving the audience a good image of what he looks like. There is then a wide shot of several personal belongings laid out neatly on a desk in front of Summerset. This connotes the idea that Summerset is very organised, which is reinforced as he delicately removes each item one by one with a steady touch, placing them into his pockets as he gets ready for work. This tells the audience that Summerset is a very professional character, as he has been seen adjusting his tie for a very official job and he is quite organised. The urban diegetic sounds echo throughout the scene, which emphasise Summerset’s quiet professional and delicate nature in what seems to be a loud and rough environment. The scene then suddenly cuts to a very dark shot of a dead body with a puddle of blood surrounding him. This scene displays a contrast between the dark, dangerous urban city and Summerset’s delicate, refined demeanour. The scene is dominantly shrouded in darkness, with light sources being very limited and not illuminating all that much. This leaves Summerset often plummeted into darkness, which may connote to the idea that Summerset is always shrouded in darkness due to the horrors he has been forced to witness and his eventual distaste for the current state of the world, potentially influencing his current delicate and almost lifeless demeanour. In the scene we can see some “Mise En Scene” through Summerset, who is donned in a long beige coloured coat and an iconic trilby hat, both of which are signature clothing items of a detective. This choice of costume evidently connotes to the audience that Summerset is a detective without telling them directly, which is supported by the crime scene implied through the dead body. Summerset evidently seems to have distaste for current society, baffled by how people can mercilessly harm one another as if it’s the norm. This is supported by his first line in the scene. “Yeah, look at all that passion on that wall” which he says in response to a co-worker remarking that the murder was a “crime of passion”. Summerset says this sarcastically which connotes his disagreement with his co-worker, expressing that he cannot understand how a person could do this and that it cannot be explained or justified by being labelled a “crime of passion”.

 

There is a mid-shot of Summerset examining the fridge; however this seems to be away from the actual corpse in question, instead Summerset is focusing on pictures drew by a child, as well as fridge magnets which connote to child playthings. Summerset then asks if the child had seen the murder, connoting Summerset’s worry that a child’s innocence would have been shattered if he were to have seen this kind of murder. This also connotes Summerset’s faith in humanity, it seems to have been effectively diminished over his years as a detective, and however despite this he harbours compassion for the youth of the world, as they have not yet been tainted by the social norms. Throughout the scene there is absolutely no diegetic sounds, no music or anything, instead it all seems to be diegetic to connote the idea of realism and severity of a crime scene, the only sounds heard being dialogue and the generic background noise of an urban environment. Throughout Summerset’s mild conversation with his co-worker involving the child potentially viewing the murder Summerset seems shrouded in darkness while his co-worker is slightly illuminated due to being close to the only light source in the shot. This connotes the idea that Summerset is very misunderstood and exiled from his co-workers, having very compassionate ideals however nobody seems to agree with him or support them, which is reflected by his co-worker’s judgemental barks at Summerset after he inquires about the child.

 

The next shot is of Brad Pitt’s character, Detective Mills, who has just been introduced. The shot is a mid-shot to display to the audience Mills’ appearance, which seems to be a little less traditional to the detective theme and more modern, lacking a trademark hat or coat. This connotes the contrast between Mills and Summerset which is built up throughout the movie. This is also reinforced as Mills introduces himself to Summerset throughout the next scene, already talking more than Summerset has throughout the entire movie up until this point. Afterwards Summerset cuts Mills off mid-sentence to propose that they go to a bar to discuss the case that they have both been assigned to. This connotes that Summerset is quite old fashioned, also evident by his traditional detective attire. It may also connote the idea that he is quite secluded, enjoying a quiet and traditional environment to ponder his options. Summerset is then cut off during his sentence too, by Mills, who proposes that they both go back to their department, which seems quite official. This connotes that Mills wants to prove himself to Summerset, as he is evidently quite a young and new detective who feels a need to justify himself in his work, wanting to go by the job in a very generically official way by staying in the workplace to do work. The entire scene is from a low angle, looking up at Mills and Summerset, this is to give them the appearance of being important, making them look taller and more of the centre of attention.

 

Soon afterwards Mills constantly chats to Summerset, who evidently doesn’t seem thrilled with the conversation, to which he responds with “I want you to look, and I want you to listen”. This connotes that Summerset is a very practical person and enjoys a lot of silence, he tells Mills to look and listen rather than talk, as Summerset has had enough with listening. When Summerset tells Mills to look he could be talking about the city around him, which Summerset has grown tired of in his years.

 

At Summerset’s house we see him in bed, again there are absolutely no non-diegetic sounds and the only sounds provided are diegetic, coming from the city around him just like at the start, still audible despite being inside. Summerset’s expression seems to squirm as he attempts to sleep, and he turns to the window which appears to be the source of the urban noise. This connotes that Summerset is disturbed by the sounds of the environment around him, supporting the idea that he despises the state of the world around him. Afterwards there is a shot of a metronome at Summerset’s bedside, which he pushes to start a steady beat from the Metronome. The camera focuses on the metronome as the beats slowly start to add emphasis and drown out the urban city noise. This is when Summerset can eventually get to sleep and the scene cuts to the opening credits after a slow zoom on the metronome to emphasise that it seems to have saved Summerset from the dreadful city chaos.

 

Opening Credits

Throughout the entirety of the opening credits there are no long shots of the setting, because of this there is quite a lot of focus on Mise En Scene, which leaves the scene surrounding in mystery and only up to the assumption of the viewer. The scene majoritively relies on props and close ups of paperwork, pictures and the works of hands. Many of the props would be expected to be seen at a person’s house or perhaps in an office since everything seems quite homemade and organised; however the setting is still completely put in mystery and only connotes assumptions to the audience. The close ups of the objects connote intensity and suspense as the audience have no idea who is acting upon the props and so are kept wondering. Many of the props connote to detective works or investigations, reflecting the genre of the movie, it is also evident that throughout the credits a person in question seems to be organising some sort of file. Throughout the credits the scenes are reasonably dark, this connotes danger and that the film will be shrouded in a very serious tone. All of the shots are of indoor locations and there is very little lighting, which sets a dull and suspicious atmosphere.

 

There are a lot of cuts throughout the opening credits, almost displayed in a sort of slideshow, because of this there is not a lot of camera movement when the camera focuses on one scene at a time. The camera is mostly still and there is no panning or any other kind of movement since each shot is over just as fast as it has begun so in the minimal time it is on screen it does well to focus on whatever it is focusing on. The credits themselves are written in a font that strongly connotes to handwriting, this fits with the idea of somebody having hand drawn these credits as if they were in some sort of investigation file, which is evidently being crafted throughout the opening credits. Additionally the textual credits appear a bright white, contrasting greatly against the dark lighting in the shots behind it, making them stand out.

 

Many of the cuts in the opening credits vary; either being straight quick cuts of eerie fades which smoothly transition into another scene. These effects can either keep the viewer on edge as the cuts quickly switch between each other or make them feel uneasy as the scenes eerily bleed into one another, connoting the idea that they are happening back to back in real time.

Media Assignment: Mission Impossible 2

 

Media Assignment: Mission Impossible 2 Opening Scene

Connor Cushingham

The scene starts off with an establishing shot of a large mountain which turns out to be the Grand Canyon. A forward tracking zoom shot focuses us on Tom Cruise’s character scaling the canyon. As Cruise’s character gently scales the mountain there is no music for a couple seconds, the only sound being a diegetic sound of wind breezing across the mountain, which emphasises the desolate location and focuses the entire scene on Tom Cruise himself rather than anybody else. The desolate sounds of wind remain evident throughout the scene in collaboration with Cruise’s heavy breathing and tense panting. Despite the clearly desolate location and obvious room for danger in the fate of Tom Cruise there seems to be room for a very light-hearted tone, this is due to the non-diegetic music which is played over the top of the scene. The music is similar to holiday music, similar to a tropical getaway, later in the scene this is reinforced as one of Tom Cruise’s assumed co-workers mentions that he is on vacation at this remote location. The music takes the serious out of the scene and effectively eliminates any worry for Tom Cruise as it manages to eradicate any intense or potentially dangerous scenarios through the sheer tone of the music.

Towards the start of the scene there is not a lot to comment on except for the vacant sounds and diverse camera angles, all of which are centred on Tom Cruise. The camera is constantly switching to different angles however it does not lose focus on Cruise. The camera preforms an arc shot, moving around the side of the canyon towards Cruise, who scales the canyon with vigour. There are also a few pan shots which zoom in and out while moving to one side, usually back to back. These shots effectively emphasise the background as quite a few of them can also be seen as aerial view shots due to the location of the scene. High on the Grand Canyon the camera is commonly facing downwards and acknowledging the sheer depth of the canyon, which may connote danger. Despite this connotation Cruise’s character seems quite contempt and cocky about the situation. This potentially cocky attitude may be proven by the scene following, in which Cruise places his knees in between a crack in the canyon to support himself, leaning back and resting. This shows confidence in his abilities and may imply he is somehow showing off to the canyon itself, expressing the fact that he is gradually conquering it.

There are several full body shots of Tom Cruise as he has planted his legs into the canyon, all of these also including a large body of land far below Cruise, emphasising the height he has achieved. The scene doesn’t show Cruise climbing the mountain from an outward shot constantly, it uses a variety of close ups to almost transition the scene a little bit up the canyon more and more, implying that Cruise is expertly scaling the canyon in a short amount of time. The camera has a close up of Cruise’s feet, gradually climbing the canyon and planting themselves into several cracks to connote that Cruise is moving up the mountain with ease, however  we do not see all of Cruise and the scene exaggerates his abilities. There is a shot soon after of Cruise’s face, focusing on him for a moment to show us his expression, this implies intrigue and connotes that he has an idea in mind. This query is then provided to the audience as the camera zooms in on a chunk of rock protruding from the canyon. Cruise’s intrigue in this and the focus on the chunk connotes that it is important and that Cruise may make an effort to get to it. This shot also provides a shot reverse shot of Cruise and the protruding rock, foreshadowing potential action. At this point the once cheery upbeat holiday music which generally ruined the dangerous atmosphere is dimmed down, to an eerie soft volume, which eliminates the hindrance of the dangerous atmosphere and allows the extreme situation to be acknowledged. This is also emphasised by the close up on Cruise’s face. Cruise then jumps to the chunk of rock protruding from the canyon and slow motion is used to make the scene seem more dramatic. The slow motion connotes the idea of suspense and danger massively as it plants a seed of doubt in the viewer’s mind that Cruise may not make the jump. This is again further emphasised by the lack of music and general danger of the extreme environment. At the point of his jump there is an aerial shot of Cruise in slow motion, this shows us the grand steepness of the canyon and reminds the viewer how high Cruise is, again reinforcing the suspense of the situation. Upon Cruise’s landing there is a slight pause in his movements and a close up of his legs standing firm on the ledge. This connotes the idea that the suspense has ended, however less than a second later Cruise slides down the edge, refuelling the suspense. As Cruise manages to maintain his hold on the canyon the sound of an eagle can be heard echoing in the background. This sound connotes to the idea of America as it is the country mascot, which also connotes to Tom Cruise himself, an American. This connotation reflects the idea of American freedom and pride as Cruise had cheated death and is close to conquering the mountain. As Cruise falls there is amplification in volume of the music, with heavy drums, reflecting the sudden danger. After Cruise regains his composure and the eagle echoes in the background the music is completely gone rather than lowered. The non-diegetic sound becomes eliminated and then all the diegetic sounds are emphasised. Cruise’s heavy breathing can be heard, connoting to the idea that he is worn out and surprised, which may empathise with the viewer due to the sudden scare. There is a close up of Cruise’s troubled face as his heavy breathing is emphasised, keeping our focus on him more than anything. There is then a middle shot with Cruise swinging his free hand up behind him to grab onto a rock, which puts his back to the canyon and his front to the viewer. The camera then provides an arc shot vertically, slightly zooming in at an angle which emphasises Cruise’s current position. The rock he is on protruding an alarming amount out of the canyon, showing Cruise’s perilous situation. The camera then focuses on Cruise with a middle shot of him centred, which zooms in to a close up shot of his face. Under the non-diegetic holiday music which had now returned since his recovery we can hear the diegetic sound of Cruise’s breathing, as well as a shot of his expression, which seems to suggest confidence and a rush of adrenaline to the audience.

Afterwards there is a crane shot of the top of the canyon, with Cruise reaching the top. The shot shows the distant ground in the background. The shot then turns into an arc shot and completely revolves around Cruise, using him as the centre. The centred focus on Cruise connotes that he has completely succeeded and he is now the absolute centre of attention, congratulating him.

Seconds afterwards the diegetic sound of a helicopter or a plane can be heard, which drowns out the non-diegetic holiday music, which had increased in volume upon Cruise’s conquer of the mountain, however it has now been lost and the atmosphere filled with pressure. The sound connotes danger to the audience as the sound of the helicopter can be connoted to the war or artillery. We then see the helicopter itself, and a slow forward zoom towards it, which focuses on a man draped in black wielding what seems to be a weapon out the side. The rocket launcher connotes immediate danger and peril to the viewer, as it looks like Cruise is about to be attacked. The man in the helicopter is draped in a suit and sun glasses, which connotes to secret agents, or the men in black. It could also reflect the gentlemanly agents from the James Bond series.