I chose to analyse Taken as although there is no theme of drugs throughout, the entire film is about kidnap, which is also a major theme in our production. The film is based around an ex-government 'preventer' - essentially a secret agent - and his chase to get his daughter back after she is kidnapped on a trip to Paris.
The film starts off with a home-video of the daughter, creating an emotional attachment to her from the start, as its natural to be caring for small children. This then cuts to a shot of the main character sat alone. Close-ups are used to show the emotion on his face, as well as the clearly audible sighs as he remembers the past.
The titles of the film are shown in plain white text over the film, as opposed to obscuring anything that is going on. This keeps the viewers eyes on the film and keeps them interested in what is going on, but allows people to view the titles as well.
The dialogue in the film comes from a character who doesn't make another appearancem which may make some believe they are insignificant. However it is what is said that is important, as the first words are the main characters name: 'Mr Mills'.
Following this exchange of dialogue we see Mr Mills attend a party, where the guests are all in suits and carrying fairly large presents. This gives the impression the person who is throwing the party is of high status, unlike Mr Mills as he was previously seen wearing a grey plain shirt, and even during these scenes has only a cheap suit on with a plain shirt
We then see the main character's daughter, who's kidnap the film will centre around. The plot is set up via a series of shots and dialogue, mainly close ups that show the emotional attachment between Mr Mills and his daughter. This is also amplified by the look of dejection and his body language when his gift of a kareoke machine has clearly been out done by his daughter's step-father's gift of a horse. The music that plays at this time also serves to portray the emotions he is feeling and the enormous sense that he is being left out of his daughters life, as well as to show how much he clearly cares about her.
After this party Bryan Mills returns home and has a night with friends, who appear to be former colleagues. They convince him to help with a body guard job, during which we see that he still has an incredible amount of skill and speed, which also hints towards the plot of the film and shows that he is more than capeable of tracking down a kidnapper. It also shows the emotion and shock associated with an attempted kidnap, both for the person who was the target, and for the person protecting her by showing their faces in a two shot medium close-up.
During this scene we also see him take a phonecall and arrange to see his daughter the next day. When this happens, we find out his daughter wants to go on a trip to Paris with her friend, unsupervised. Mr Mills isn't happy about this, and through a shot/reverse shot series of closeups we see the emotions on the two characters faces: Mr Mills' worry about his daughter going somewhere alone, and his daughters distress and not being trusted. These also serve to show the deep emotional connection between the two, and that Mr Mills will do anything to protect his daughter, as we see throughout the rest of the film.
No comments:
Post a Comment