Opening Seaquence Analysis: The Expendables 2

Editing style and features: cutting between shot in the opening two minutes of this film are very frequent, and allow the audience to build up a bigger picture of the setting, the scenario, and the characters that play a key role in the plot. A high proportion of the editing directs the audiences attention to two specific groups of people in this title sequence, the expendables (squad of highly trained mercenaries) and an unidentified man (restrained in the centre of a dark room and with a burlap sack covering his head) surrounded by a militia force (who are holding him captive). The editing between these shots shows the link between the two (the restrained man is clearly a person who is the goal of the operation, and the expendables who are there to achieve that objective), this is a form of parallel editing, in which two different scenes are inter cut to create a sense of tension among the audience, and these cuts generally lead to the two scenes coming together, (the climax of the sequence) which is where the majority of the action in said sequence will take place.

Credits and text: there is some text at the beginning of the sequence, which is the location of the compound in the frame. Aldo, as the mercenaries are crusading through the compound, the words “BAD ATTITUDE” and “COMING SOON” can be seen on the side and rear of their vehicles. This ads a slightly comedic tone to the rather brutal action sequence (one of the best I have seen, I may add) and is everything you would expect from the powerful and well humoured mercenary characters portrayed by Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and others.

Camera movement and framing: right at the beginning, we have the first of two establishing shots in this opening sequence. There is a compound in this shot, which appears to be either an oil refinery or some form of military compound. This shot sets the scene for this sequence, giving the audience a sense of what kinds of things to expect from they following scenes, and certain conventions within the Action genre can be portrayed by different settings – this setting would conjure up images of military spec weaponry and armament, military vehicles, gunfights and high precision kills, among other things, whereas an oil refinery would suggest large explosions, lots of fire, scientists, oil spoils and so on. Also the framing of the establishing shot can alter the way in which the audience perceive the setting, and in this particular sequence, the framing of the establishing shot seems to suggest that someone is looking over the compound to find any weak spots (over watch), and this idea is re-enforces when we see the mercenaries cascading over the top of a hill towards the compound in their military vehicles, as if to suggest they have found a gap in the patrol route which could make the operation run a little more smooth.

Mise-en-scene: most of the Mise-en-scene, if not all, is what you would typically expect from a film of the Action genre – things like soldiers, helicopters, tanks, small arms, explosions, flames, military related activity, fast vehicles, collisions and of course - glorious death.

Sound, dialogue & music: most of the sound in this sequence is diegetic (the source of the sound is visible on screen) –the sound of a tank driving past, the sounds of women and children hurrying to evade the military force, the sounds of the gate being opened and closed etc. also, with the arrival of the mercenaries arrive comes the sound of the machine gun mounted on the top of Stallone’s’ vehicle and operated by Statham, the sound of terry crews firing a man portable rocket launcher. Also the sounds of the mercenaries’ vehicles tearing through the pathways inside this compound, along with their speech to one another.

Introduce characters: there is a man being driven through the afore mentioned military compound in an open-topped vehicle, this combined with his body language and the way that all of the civilians flee desperately when the vehicle drives past suggests that he is a high ranking military officer, or perhaps the head of a militia/ guerrilla force. The man who is restrained inside the dark room inside the compound is only identified as Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) slightly later in this opening sequence, and he is either one of the mercenaries, or is closely linked to them. Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) and Toll Road (Randy Couture) are one of the main focuses of this opening sequence, and they are seen hurtling over a hill and downwards toward the compound, in the typical style, as one would know if one had seen the first expendables film.

Indicate genre: this film is perhaps one of the most stereotypical action films in existence, largely due to the fact that it includes top actors who regularly perform in films of the action genre. People such as Bruce Willis - who plays Church, Chuck Norris - who plays Booker, and Jean-Claude Van Damme - who plays the main antagonist of the film.

Iconography:

Enigma: someone of high importance or value to the people who the mercenaries are contracted to, or the mercenaries themselves, is being held hostage inside some form of military compound, and it is up to the mercenaries to get him out.

Props & sets:

Star casting: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth

Opening Credits Analysis

Here is the common order in which opening credits will appear on screen.

Firstly, the name of the studio that is distributing the film will appear. this may or may not be the same company that produced the film. Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia, Lions Gate, Universal, Marvel Studios, Dimension, Miramax are all examples of well known and successful distribution companies.
The next peice of information that generally appears on screen is the name of the production company. This is the name of the company that actually made the film or name of the investment groups or companies that financed a substantial part of the film, usually in the form of "in association with" or "A 20th Century Fox production" for example.
Then we have the name of the producer and the director. for example, "a film by Quentin Tarantino" or "a Quentin Tarantino film".   
Now we move on to principal actors. Sometimes the stars' and director's credits will be reversed, depending on the star's deal with the studio.
then comes the name of the film, and then some other, less important credits. things such as featured actors, casting director, composer of music, production designer etc.

Below is the title sequence from the film "Catch me if you can" by steven speilberg, whic i have used as a focalpoint for this analysis.
 
 

Short Film Analysis Task: Coming Of Age

Coming of Age.     Rated *****

What is the story about?

A boy suddenly finds himself facing huge responsibilities in a dangerous, dystopian world. He must overcome his fears and face his enemies to save the people he loves.

Who is the main character?

A young boy in a brutal, post-apocalyptic world.

What is their objective - what do they want?

To overcome his fears and face his enemies to save the people he loves.

What is the conflict in the narrative?

the young boy must decide whether he should stay with his ill sister in their hideout, or to go out

in search of help, weapons, medicine and supplies, and the decision he makes has him taking

his life into his own hands, and has some dire consequences.

Describe the opening 2 minutes - what happens, any interesting shots and edits.

Really fast fade in to a scene of the main character running away from something, then quickly

fades to black.

Fades back in again, and includes some really cool flashes, similar to that of lightning, which

creates a sense of unrest in my mind, i saw these flashes, and wanted to see what the source of

them was, or to see what they represented.

The camera is fairly out of focus, and extremely shaky. from this fact, and also that it is following

the main character (from a side on position), i can safely say that the camera is being operated

by a single person, with no aids like Steadicam, just plain old handheld, to give a sense of

realism to the shot, making it seem like a real life event that actually happened, rather than a

short film.

It then fades from a black and white scene of the main character running to a block of black, at

which point the title, “Coming of Age”, appears.

We are then thrust back into a running scene, but this time the camera is positioned to the rear

right of the main character, in a medium shot position, and at a extremely canted angle, which

is very disorienting, and it took my eyes a little time to adjust to the angle. I think the shot is

excellent, as it is tough to watch initially, but is also very visually interesting because of that fact.

then the scene fades out to white for a fraction of a second, then immediately fades into the next scene, another running scene, but back to the long shot, side on position.

It then proceeds to cut through several various shots, including a close up of the characters feet

as he is running. This super fast sequence of shots is very interesting to watch, as you only get

to see each individual shot of the sequence for a split second before it changes to the next one,

and so could be compared to a montage, as it shows the character is covering a lot of distance, as the scenery is different for each shot in the scene, even though they are all shot in some sort of Common or Heath area.Fade out to black, then we fade into an extremely pale shade of blue, which subtly changes to the sky of the next sequence, in which feathers begin to fall from the sky. Fade to black, and the words “SUMMER 2035” appear on the screen,showing that some time has passed between the first sequence, and the next sequence. Close up of boys face, he appears to be upset about something, then we move to an extreme

close up of his face from the right side of his face, as he wipes a tear. We then move to a

medium long shot of the boy, standing next to a shovel.

We then move on to a medium shot of the boy unzipping his jacket and retrieving a feather,

the same kind that was previously falling from the sky, and placing it on a makeshift grave, in a

close up of his right arm and his legs, as he bends to place the feather.

Then we revert to the long shot, and the boy proceeds to walk away from the makeshift grave,

toward the left of the shot, until he exits the cameras view.

We then cut to a very dingy looking, run down old country house, which appears to be in the

middle of nowhere, as the camera zooms toward the main building, at which point the boy

enters the shot from behind the cameras position, as the camera continues to zoom.

On the 2 minute mark, we cut to some excellent match on action, as we just saw the boy

walking slightly toward the right, to turn the corner, then we cut to a position around the corner,

and we can see him about to make said turn.

In my opinion, this is an excellent piece of film. it engaged almost all of my emotions. it was

a tough piece to watch, but it was well worth it. especially the scene in the abandoned house

where the young boy is inches away from his one of the men who is trying to kill him, and when

he finally stabs the man, my heart was pounding like a drum. This piece of film is intense,

better than most mainstream film i have seen throughout my lifetime.

also, when the second attacker picks up the boys satchel and stares at him, contemplating

whether or not to attack him, the camera focuses on the teddy bear which the boy picked up,

and then we see a close up of the attackers face, and you can see the guilt on his face as he

takes the boys supplies, but leaves without killing him. that is a big emotionally touching part of

the film, toward the end.