Analysing Film Openings - Ocean's Eleven

                                                             
Scene summary - Oceans Eleven - 

The scene opens unusually with a faded in mid-shot, the shot is of a wooden chair in the middle of a room. The small size of the room and the dark lighting together along with the sound of prison talk give the impression that the setting is somewhere within a prison. This adds a sense of uncertainty in the minds of the audience as it is in a prison the audience may think that something violent could happen.The shot remains the same for quite a few seconds before a man walks in and sits on the chair. The shot doesn’t change at this point but the sound quietens down as someone who is off screen begins to talk to the character in the chair. This then becomes like a POV shot, except you’re not in the perspective of the character but it’s like the audience are in the room watching what is going on. At this point in the scene it is clear he is in a prison because of the dialogue used and the fact that the man sitting in the chair was wearing a grey uniform. This clearly indicates that he is a criminal in the prison. The mise en scene of an empty room with nothing in but a chair, bars on the window and the plain clothes of the character indicate that it is in a prison environment. It then cuts to a close up of the character which then indicates he is main character.

The close up of the man’s face continues for a few more seconds than usual as dialogue is said. It then cuts to another shot at perhaps a minute in to the extract. The shot is a two shot and a long shot at the same time. The way the two men are positioned when walking towards the camera indicates that there is no relationship between them. They are walking about one metre apart and one of the men is standing just behind the other to the left. He is walking as though he is leading the man in front somewhere. This along with the security uniform he is wearing shows that he has authority over the other character. The lighting is dull and colourless which indicates somewhere of disdain. The environment around them in the corridor is plain and boring which highlights the disdain.

 The two characters at this point are walking toward at gateway in the corridor, as they get closer to it the shot cuts to a slightly to the side view of the men passing through the gate. The gate is floor to ceiling and has a doorway in it. He is lead through the doorway by the guard that was walking with him and two other guards are on either side of the door. All this indicates to the audience that it is a prison hallway he is walking down. Although it indicates this, the shot seems to be showing the man as if he is leaving. This is because of the positioning of other characters. The shot shows in the background another inmate still locked in his cell who is watching as this character is lead away.

The next shot is of the character being lead up to what appears at first to be an information desk. The shot is from the side so we can see him walking up to the desk. Once he reaches the desk he bends down and places something down in a hatch that is picked up from behind the desk. The desk is behind a glass window which is yet another indication of the security of the prison. The next shot is close up of a man holding a ring in his hand. The ring is obviously an important prop in the film it is a close upof it and the shot remains for several seconds. Even though it is a close up of the ring in the man’s hand the camera has been positioned to look over the man’s shoulder and we can see what kind of clothes he is wearing. The man is wearing a tux and after this close up it cuts to a mid-shot of the man looking down at the ring. At this point into to the extract we see that it is the inmate from before. We can clearly see that he is about to leave because now he has got changed. Now the audience understand that the man was not putting something in the hatch he was picking something out of it. Also we see that he was probably just collecting his possessions and is leaving. The mid-shot here is showing the man’s facial expression and the ring in his hand is clearly important to him.

Screen shots – Oceans Eleven –

 

This screen shot is the first shot that is cut to after the titles and credits. The mid-shot show’s the top of a wooden chair and is far enough away to see that in the background there is a window with bars on it, which indicates the room is secure from the inside so no one can try and escape.

 

This screen shot is quite important because at this time in extract we meet a man who is clearly one of the main characters because the film starts with him and he is the focus point in the rest of the extract. The shot stays the same from the last one and the man walks in to the frame and sits down. The character is wearing prison clothes, which shows he is inmate in this prison.

 

The third screen shot is a simple shot with four people in it. You can see the inmate from the shots before being lead by a guard to a doorway. The other two are what look like guards guarding the door. It looks like he is being led away by the guards because he is walking away from the other cells.

 

As this is a close up it is very likely it is an important object. As well as this because the shot stays on the ring for a few more seconds than if it was just a random object, it shows that it has importance to the man holding the ring. The tux he is wearing indicates that it could be a different character being introduced as no one previously was wearing a tux.

 

This mid-shot shows the audience a fair bit in one shot. It shows that he is still in the prison because the guards are in the background; it shows that the character holding the ring was the inmate; it also shows the ring he is holding means something and is important to him. We see this in his facial expression and the way he looks like he is thinking.

These are some the titles at the start of the extract and are plain in colour which is an effective piece of editing as the shot fades in to a prison where the lighting is dull and colourless. They aren’t distracting but have been made to set an atmosphere before fading into the first scene. The atmosphere set is one that shows the audience that the first scene is perhaps going to have an unpleasant atmosphere.

Use of sound – Oceans Eleven –

The title slides are the beginning of the extract where the audience first hears sound. The sound used is diegetic, and using this kind of sound along with the title slides dull and plain colour sets the audience an atmosphere before the film begins. As the sound begins the audience can hear a person walking down a hollow corridor, it is clear this person has keys because you can hear them jangling. Then you can hear someone opening a gate. The next piece of sound is dialogue and is of a man shouting for people to line up. At this point the sound has made it apparent that the next scene should be set in a prison.

This is where the film begins and as the character wearing prison uniform walks in and sits down we hear more use of dialogue. This character is clearly an inmate at the prison. Here someone that is not in shot begins to address the inmate, and they begin to converse. After they finish talking it is apparent to the audience that the man is exonerated and is leaving the prison. The next few shots there is no added sound, just that that the camera picks up in filming. Eventually when we see the man walking out of the prison and this time non-diegetic sound is used. The sound is music and it has a casino like feel to it.

Overall

Our first thought is to do a heist film opening, as we all like this kind of film and also it is practical for us to manage this as an all male group. It is also a kind of film that can be twisted to suit a younger cast. So therefore watching Ocean's Eleven was a good idea. It has quite an unusal opening with a single unmoving shot while George CLooney's character speaks to unseen interviewers. It contrasts with the previous film I analysed which used many shots. So I am learning that there are lots of different effective ways to start a film and as long as it works, there actually aren't that many set rules for what you do.