Never Back down opening two minutes deconstruction
Camera Angles-
· Starts with a shot of a camera, which then changes to a establishing shot from the POV of the camera shown. This gives the audience the inclination that the scene will be an American Football scene.
· Close up of character A which zooms out to a mid shot establishing what the main character looks like for the audience.
· Over the shoulder shot from character A looking at running target, gives the audience the impression they are Character A marking the target.
· Long shot of enemy team starting to make their play.
· Cuts back to character A mid shot showing him running towards his target
· Long/Over the shoulder shot of Character A tackling enemy player, it gives the impression that you are looking on at the game as the shoulder/head of the character in front of you is blacked out. Then focuses on the character that the camera is looking over revealing a second character he is talking to.
· Close up/over the shoulder shot of character A grabbing character B in a threatening way, the two characters take up the majority of the shot perhaps indicating that you are in this little squabble yourself.
· Over the shoulder shot of character A huddling with team members, making the viewer feel they are returning from the play.
· Mid tracking shot of Character A pointing of the screen, camera is moving quite fast building up the tension in the scene.
· Extreme long shot from behind the “enemy” teams defence team, again switching to the viewers somewhat second role as onlooker of the game.
· Montage of camera shots being changed very fast between one another, creating a lively and fast paced part of the scene building tension in the viewer.
· Shot of the scoreboard, indicating the scores and the time left in the game, this shows the viewer that not much time if left in the game and this again builds more tension in the viewer and helps him to understand why the characters are getting angrier with each other.
Sound-
· Non-Diegetic sound over the credits, quite fast paced music building up to something.
· Sound of the camera zooming in and out, with the sound of shouting in the background. The sound is clearly a team of people, so you can assume it’s a sport
· Non-Dietgetic sound of bass guitar, a sort of mood music, symbolising perhaps calmness, although the camera is on character A, it could be implying he is totally relaxed at the football game
· Commentators voice over the game can be heard, viewer gets an idea of what is happening in the game.
· Sound of Character A’s team mates call out “Good one jake” informs the viewer as to what the main characters name is
· Music intensifies when “Jake” starts to issue orders to his team, this calls attention to the viewer indicating the viewer should be watching character A at this point.
· Drum roll when Character A tackles character B to the ground, perhaps ending the tension previously built up by the music.#
· Music intensifies at the start of the next play, this could symbolise the game itself, where the last play’s intense music ended, the next plays starts shortly afterwards. Perhaps indicating a very fast game.
Mise en scene
· Through the camera you can see the American football kits worn by the players, the helmets immediately let you know that you are watching an American football game.
· The innings board is facing the camera so the viewer immediately knows what stage of the game it is
· The colour of the kit worn by character A is white, whereas the opposing team is wearing a black jersey, this is a subliminal message to the viewer that lets them know that the black team are the enemy and the white team are the “Good guys”
· There is a flash when character B mentions character A’s “old man” showing that character A just had a flashback and clearly something horrible has happened to his father. Could also imply a change in attitude or mood, as though he is snapping.
· After the flashback all character A’s team mates seem to vanish, symbolising a sort of, western “ghost town showdown” between the two characters.
Editing-
All the camera shots are based around the innings of the game. In between plays the camera switches are relatively slow, whereas when the game continues the pace quickens and a generally more intense experience is created.
When character B antagonises character A the flashes of light that have been added in symbolise jake change in mood and aggressions, as he becomes angrier, a flash is incorporated to show that he is “blinded with rage” by the end of the flashes character A is gripping and threatening character B.
The way the shots have been organised into a sort of montage confuses the viewer and makes the game harder to follow, and therefore intensifies the experience of the scene even more.
