Essay
This extract tells the story of a intelligence agent who faces sexism in her workplace and yearns for more responsibility and action. The excerpt begins with a voiceover of a flashback as the opening credits roll over. The shots alternate between close up shots of the two characters faces, action shots of the plane going down, and close ups of sentimental gestures. A slow, emotional string background ties the entire flashback together, making it a point of emotional investment in the main character. The strings continue over to the next scene, which is an establishing shot of New York City that also established the chronology, using text on the screen saying “one year later.” The background music is then interrupted by a loud buzzer, which is not seen until the next shot, giving the audience a sense of disruption. A wide shot of the office shows the audience that the men and lady at this intelligence firm are all standing in single file lines, contributing to the mechanical feel of the office. The boss takes a call from inside a windowed room, separated from the rest of the agents which, when shown from a deep-space perspective with the windows in the frame, assigns secrecy and alienation as themes of this scene. The low-key lighting in the office also contributes to the secrecy of the firm. Later, the main character stands staring at a window, a shot which is composed in such a way that her boss seems to be the only thing between her and the outside world. The shallow space that occurs after the main character asks her boss for an assignment is indicative of reflection and introspection. When the main character accidentally happens upon a piece of memorabilia from the earlier backstory, the soundtrack gets even more emotional, showing us that she remembers that time fondly. As the men leave her alone in the office, the lighting goes from dark to very dark, signalling as shift in mood. The wide shot that occurs after that emphasizes her loneliness at the company, and gives her motive to act. Up until this point, the color composition has been centered around blue and brown, two very safe colors, but with the buzzer on the phone, the red is maybe the call to action that she needs. It brightens up her face as she hears it when the men are gone. The music at this point is like that of a western film, and impacts right when she crosses “3-5” off of the paper. As she nears the house, the men inside are all dressed in brown and she is dressed in mostly blue. The lighting in and outside the house is very dim, emphasizing the shadowy nature of what is occurring. As the man inside eats a hamburger, his characterization as clueless and the theme of sexism (because he does not consider her a threat) are both explored, as the music plays and his attention is down at his paper, although a fight can clearly be seen breaking out in the deeper field of vision. The bird’s eye shot during the fight that happens when the man is thrown through the glass emphasizes the impact of the main characters kick. POV and over the shoulder shots are used in addition to quiet suspenseful music after the remaining man grabs his gun in order to build the tension, until the main character surprises the man with her own gun.
This extract tells the story of a intelligence agent who faces sexism in her workplace and yearns for more responsibility and action. The excerpt begins with a voiceover of a flashback as the opening credits roll over. The shots alternate between close up shots of the two characters faces, action shots of the plane going down, and close ups of sentimental gestures. A slow, emotional string background ties the entire flashback together, making it a point of emotional investment in the main character. The strings continue over to the next scene, which is an establishing shot of New York City that also established the chronology, using text on the screen saying “one year later.” The background music is then interrupted by a loud buzzer, which is not seen until the next shot, giving the audience a sense of disruption. A wide shot of the office shows the audience that the men and lady at this intelligence firm are all standing in single file lines, contributing to the mechanical feel of the office. The boss takes a call from inside a windowed room, separated from the rest of the agents which, when shown from a deep-space perspective with the windows in the frame, assigns secrecy and alienation as themes of this scene. The low-key lighting in the office also contributes to the secrecy of the firm. Later, the main character stands staring at a window, a shot which is composed in such a way that her boss seems to be the only thing between her and the outside world. The shallow space that occurs after the main character asks her boss for an assignment is indicative of reflection and introspection. When the main character accidentally happens upon a piece of memorabilia from the earlier backstory, the soundtrack gets even more emotional, showing us that she remembers that time fondly. As the men leave her alone in the office, the lighting goes from dark to very dark, signalling as shift in mood. The wide shot that occurs after that emphasizes her loneliness at the company, and gives her motive to act. Up until this point, the color composition has been centered around blue and brown, two very safe colors, but with the buzzer on the phone, the red is maybe the call to action that she needs. It brightens up her face as she hears it when the men are gone. The music at this point is like that of a western film, and impacts right when she crosses “3-5” off of the paper. As she nears the house, the men inside are all dressed in brown and she is dressed in mostly blue. The lighting in and outside the house is very dim, emphasizing the shadowy nature of what is occurring. As the man inside eats a hamburger, his characterization as clueless and the theme of sexism (because he does not consider her a threat) are both explored, as the music plays and his attention is down at his paper, although a fight can clearly be seen breaking out in the deeper field of vision. The bird’s eye shot during the fight that happens when the man is thrown through the glass emphasizes the impact of the main characters kick. POV and over the shoulder shots are used in addition to quiet suspenseful music after the remaining man grabs his gun in order to build the tension, until the main character surprises the man with her own gun.
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