Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Analysing Film Openings - Lottery Ticket


Scene summaries – Lottery Ticket

There is a fade in from the credits into the opening establishing shot of what looks like an environmentally friendly town as there are trees in the area and people walking on the road and cycling. This could also mean the town is poor and not many people can afford to have cars that are why the road is so empty. The establishing shot is an aerial shot, it hovers over the town to show people going around in normal business. We then cut to a low angle shot of a man washing his car. This to me indicated a sense of pride as the car was pretty clean. It could also mean how much a car means to anyone that has it in the town, as the guy is taking care of it.

We cut to the mid shot, and we see a typical boy room and activity as he’s ironing something on his bed and has shoes posters around his wall. This may be his hobby, which could be his obsession with shoes. Additionally the room doesn’t look big which could indicate he’s a middle class kid. He is dressed in white trousers and a white t-shirt. Then we cut to mid shot,  We then see him put on a strippy white and black shit on and then we cut to a close up shot, and we see him put on a footlocker badge, with the name “Kevin” on it. This shows he works for Footlocker, which is a place where new expensive shoes are sold, and his name is Kevin.

The mise-en-scene of all the characters that were in starting scene of the movie show this might be a middle class town. In the same house of the first main charter to be showed, which was the boy in the all-white dressing, there was an older woman, which could indicate, the boy lives with his grandma or an older relative. She’s making breakfast and is dressed in pink and has short hair. Also, in this scene a young dark skinned male wearing a black hat and sleeveless shirt with grey trousers walks into the house and refers to the older lady as “Mrs Carson”. An over the shoulder shot is then used as they have a conversation. This could indicate he’s friends with the family as he walks in without knocking and goes straight up to the stripy dressed characters room.

When the boy with the black hat goes up stairs to meet the chararcter in the stripy shirt a deep focus is used as the character in the stripy shirt is blurred out so the charatcer in the hat has a chance to be the main focus if attention as he speaks.

We then cut to a mid shot of a woman on the TV downstairs, who’s a presenter on  a news channel talking about the lottery that’s about to take place. This could be an indication of who might win the lottery (old lady, boy with black hat and black shirt, boy wearing the footlocker shirt) as the three main characters are the beginnig took most of the spotlight at that scene.  Also in the televison, a group shot is used as a group of people are being interviewed on what they would do with the money.

The boys soon come downstairs and are shot in a two shot, which could indicate that their relationship is close, possibly best friends.

Although very little happens in the first two minutes, we get the impression that the two boys are good friends and one on the characters at the beginning are likely to win the lottey. The bright lighting and active town setting makes it look like a middle classed area. I would also be interested in watching the whole movie to know what the story is when the lottery is won.
 
The opening establishing shot is an aerial shot that shows a location of a town, with no cars on the road, which might indicate this might be an environmentally friendly place. It also shows trees around. And perhaps people are very friendly as it looks like all the characters are talking/ about to talk to each other.

 
The low angle shot might be  to show his place as being higher class, because at this point in the movie he’s the only one seen with a car. This could also mean that people value what they have in this town as he’s cleaning his car.


 
The mid shot used in here shows a possible main character to this movie as it shows his house/ bedroom and has him doing choice as he’s ironing something on the bed. The mid shot also allows the views to see he’s bed room. It looks like a middle classed room as it isn’t big. We also know he has an obsession on shoes as they are everywhere on the wall in this shot.

 
Another midshot show the boy who was ironing something change he’s shirt and is about to pick what shoe he want to wear. The background also gives more evidence about his obsession with shoes.

 
We now see a close up of why he changed his shirt as he’s putting on his badge for work. The audience find out to important things about this shot, which are that he works in Footlocker which explains his obsession with shoes, and his name is “Kevin”.

 
This shot shows an over head shot between the the guy that just walked into the house with out knocking, and the older woman who  is the Grandma of Kevin. This is significant as it shows the relationship the man who just walked into the house must have with the family.

 
The midshot inhere is a midshot on the TV in the scene. It’s announcing a significant event taking place which is the lottery.

 
This is a group shot used. It is in the televison and it has a woman interviewing people on what they would do if they won the lottery.

 
A deep focus is used here as the boy in stripy white and black shirt is blurred and his friend (guy in black hat) walks into his room and engages in a conversation.

 
Two shot is used here to maybe show the boys' relationship as they are about to leave the house.







There are 6 distinctive slides before the film actually starts. The first five are of production and company logos and credits. And the last one is the title of the movie. The last four slides are designed to allow the audience to know what the movie is about as it is a scratched out lottery card with the names of the production companies and title name.

Use of Sound – Lottery Ticket

The first title slide which was the Warner Bros, was presented witj a soft gentle piano being played.   As the credits begin to appear on the screen a non-diegetic music is being played in the background. The athmosphere presented by this music is a loud, jokey, fun environment. It is almost like a ghettoish music which could represent the town. As the movie starts, the music fades but is still in the backgorund and a diegetic sound of that scene stands which it the woman on the TV talking & interviewing people about the big lottery day.

Then we finally hear  dialogue as the boy with the black hat shouts when he enters the house, and the older lady replies to him in an angry tone. Then when the boy with the black hat goes to the boy in the stripy shirts room we see another dialogue as they both engage in a conversation.

This is more of a conventional film opening with lots of attention on establishing and allowing the audince to settle in and get to know that characters and the situation, and setting the mood for the viewer.

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