Analysing Film Openings - Battle Ship

Scene summaries – Battleship First Two Minutes

There is a fade in from the credits into the opening establishing shot of what looks like an advance space satellite and also a picture of the earth beyond it. It is also an establishing shot. This could mean that the place the next scene is located could be a top secrete place or a scientist lab. We then cut to a mid-shot of a man doing a presentation which could indicate an importance in him as being the possible leader of a space mission that’s about to take place. He is dressed in a suit and a blue shirt, which makes him look smart. The mise-en-scene of computer screens showing different space pictures could help establish where the scene is being taken, which is a building that involves space activities. The expensive smart clothing worn by the characters makes it look like they are from a higher class background.

We then cut to a 3 second mid shot of another character listening to the man in the suit giving his presentation. This could signify as another main character as he’s the only one apart from the man in the suit who has really stood out to be important in this scene. This man is wearing a brown jumper and is wearing glasses. The glasses may be a way to make the audience stereotype him as being smart.

We then cut to a low angle shot which shows scientific equipment’s on a mountain possibly which transmit a signal to another planet in space. This could give the audience a possible hint that they’re trying to communicate with aliens from a different planet.

There is then a deep focus shot used as the man in the glasses is communicating with the person next to him. This could also be a way to highlight him as one of the main character of the film.

There are also camera men in the scene, which signify that the event about to take place is big and interesting.

Even though very little happens at the beginning, we get the impression that this movie is about a space mission and something is likely to go wrong, hence the starting name of the film “Battle”. The beginning of the film leaves the audience wanting to know what will happen when they have transmitted the signal into space and I would also like to watch it future to find out.

The opening establishing shot is an aerial shot that shows a space satellite. We also see a picture of the side of the earth. This may be saying that the location about to be shown is top secret .

 
The midshot of the character which gives him an importance as he took most of the screen time in the first two minutes. We see he’s well dressed and is presenting a space project to the media. This could mean he’s the leader of the whole space operation
 

 

This is another mid shot of a character; he is likely to be a main character because he had the second longest scene time. And he is likely to be stereotyped as smart because of his glasses.

This low angle shot show that there is about to be something transmitted into space through this equipment

This might be a way to show the audience that the man in glasses is important as a deep focus has been used when he was speaking to  make him and what he’s saying stand out as someone important in the future 

 
This shows a group shot, it also shows how important the man in the suit giving his presentation is, as they are the press and are trying to take pictures of what’s going on

 

 

 

 

 

There are six separate slides before the film begins. All of them are production and distribution company credits and logos. The name of the movie is never introduced at the opening two minutes. The slides are just simply cut from one yo another The title slides seem to be there to just provide production information in the simplest way. They suited the fast paced music at the start of the film.

Use of sound- Battleship

The first title slide showing production and distribution credits is shown while a fast building up beat plays.. The pace of the non-diegetic music keeps building as credits appear on the screen. The atmosphere established by this music has sort of a dangerous tone. Possibly something bad is about to happen and seems to support the name “Battle” in its title. It doesn’t really establish a clear genre for the film, but suggest that there will be some destructive moments. As the establishing shot is being shot, the sound perspective on the man in a suit begins to talk about the project and making the fast beat music to fade away. Diegetic sound is also being used as the man in the suit is communicating with and audience in the scene. As the man in the suit is explaining what his space presentation is about, the fast beat that was there at the beginning starts to get louder again. And as soon as the man in the glasses begins to talk to the person next to him the fast pace beat dies out. This could signify him as one of the main characters as well as what he’s saying is important enough to stop the fast paced music.

 We also know the man in the suit is important  as there are camera men around him and we can hear the clicking to the camera after the pictures have been taken so we notice the camera men and understand that they are taking pictures because an important event is about to happen.