Minority Report Scene Analysis
Up Close and Personal
In this shot it pictures the main character of the movie John Anderton while he is on a desperate search for illicit drugs. The ramifications of John getting caught looking for drugs are doubled due to the fact that he is an active member of law enforcement, leading to this mission for drugs being more stressful and perilous for our main character. The directors use of a close up shot and a combination of bright and zero lighting, enhances just how stressful of a situation John Anderton was in during his search for drugs.
This is evident in the way that the director chose to position John’s face in this frame. John’s face is positioned almost directly in the center of the frame, however part of his face is in the first third of the frame, leaving the third third of the frame to be empty. This leads to the viewer understanding that the primary focus is on the emotions of John, however, since the director leaves the third third empty it leaves the door open for issues lurking in that side of the frame. Further, by choosing a close up shot of John it allows the viewer to more effectively view his facial expressions and temperament.
The lighting used by the director allows the viewer to understand what John is going through during his dangerous mission. The director chose to position a bright light on the face of John. This shows every crease, pore and bead of sweat on John’s face. Viewers can then easily see the great deal of stress that John exudes on his face. His brow is scrunched together, he has worked up a minor sweat, and he has this empty gaze in his eyes. The director, however, chose not to light any of John’s surroundings including part of his face. It is easily understood that since it is pitch black all around John his surroundings are sketchy and most likely not family friendly. At the same time it allows viewers to understand that John is desperately trying to stay anonymous, so much so that he is rolling down a dark most likely dangerous part of town.
All aspects used by the director were clearly used to intensify the stress during this frame. Shooting a close up of John’s face with a bright light leading to intense analysis of his facial features, but leaving a large portion of the frame to be completely obscured by darkness leading to a feeling of unknown. All in all it is obvious that the director was able to succeed and bring a truly stressful frame due to his creative use of lighting and positioning.
I really enjoyed reading this analysis Will. You did a very good job of setting up the scene for someone who may not understand what could be happening. In my opinion I think it is crucial to give the reader some knowledge of what is going on in the scene so they can understand the image a little bit more. As well, you used a ton of great vocabulary to describe the picture and I thought that was worth noting. I think it was smart to put the lines over your image because when you start describing where everything is and what that means in the first paragraph it is very clear as to what you are directing it towards. I think your analysis is very clear, direct and accurate I would agree with all your statements. I think it was smart to mention how extremely close the image was to his face and explain what that means and why the director would do something like that. I also like the line that states, “ The director chose to position a bright light on the face of John. This shows every crease, pore and bead of sweat on John’s face” I think it was a very good description and it really demonstrates the detail shows in this still image. Finally to finish off the analysis you provide a quick closing statement reiterating your claim which was nicely done.
ReplyDeleteNice Job Will! We both found that the director was using the element of darkness to create the “unknown” effect of this still shot. I like how you included that this is the first time we see a different side of John other than his public image. The emphasis you put on John’s emotions really interested me because you can clearly see that showing emotions was the directors intention. Your analysis of John’s eyebrows was really fascinating and was not something I picked up on, but it makes sense that the director showed the scrunched up eyebrow. Eyebrows tell a lot about what a person is feeling, and sensing and this is one great example! You kept your analysis on task and made sure to fully develop each and every idea to it’s maximum. Your interpretive conclusion is made clear in the line “The directors use of a close up shot and a combination of bright and zero lighting, enhances just how stressful of a situation John Anderton was in during his search for drugs.” Keeping a analysis like this is difficult but you did it beautifully by using film language, clear statements and strong details.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting the way you described this frame there is so much description on how intense this situation was during his search for the drugs. I would have never thought about the lighting in this scene, and how the dark blue with the combination of zero lighting really gave off suspenseful and stressful emotions. In addition, to you splitting up the picture and analysing that the main focus of this scene is the emotions of John. You can see in the look of his eye how focused he is, and he is also sweating which indicates he is doing something pretty important. The best details of this frame in my opinion, is the lighting and how it is being used to really emphasize every single detail from his face. Going off of that dark background made the focus clear the main focus of this frame is his emotions. The background also indicates that he is on a dangerous, perhaps life threatening mission. This can be seen because of how closely the camera is zoomed in on John’s face, the stress on his face is clearly visible and adds a lot to the scene. Finally, I really enjoyed how you elaborated how there was enough black background to lead you into a feeling of unknowing and uncertainty.
ReplyDelete