During the extract of this movie “24”, it feels as though the director is trying to convey a sense of urgency about a potentially dangerous situation. The way in which the characters are interacting with one another emphasizes the urgency from two different viewpoints as it seems each character wants to go about the situation in a different way. The director clearly wants to instill a sense of suspense and thrill in the audience leaving them dramatically confused yet interested in what’s to come. It’s definitely seen that the message being portrayed is that of cautiousness. The characters are both so concerned about the issue at hand that they each want to resolve it in their own ways and can’t come up with a. way to work together to find a solution. The audience is left on a cliffhanger at the end o the extract wondering what to happen next.
As I’m not aware of how to determine the beginning and end of different scenes I wanted to take a different approach to this extract. I have decided to break it down using the T.E.A format into three parts, beginning middle, and end simply as that. The extract lasts three minutes so each minute I will analyze differently. Within the first minute, the audience can see various uses of camera angles, editing techniques, use of sound, etc. For one, we can see the use of the over the shoulder shot which is also used all throughout the extract. The shot expresses a way of seeing different points of view from characters and ways to see and understand dialogue from other perspectives. Another commonly used technique/ factor of this first minute is the use of dark lighting. The lighting is once again pictured all throughout the extract and it helps to develop the intensity and suspense of the scene as not everything is clear to see. These two factors prove my thesis to be true on the director's intension of portraying suspense, and mystery in the extract through the use of camera angles and mis-en-scene.
The second minute of this extracts develops intensity even further as the audience now sees some tension building up between the two characters. The audience now beings to experience more of the use of incidental music which amplifies the suspense of the moment. The male character begins to get more aggressive trying to get information out of the female already intensifying the scene. However, this of the music used all throughout the suspense amplifies as the music matches the occurring situation. Another small yet important aspect of this second minute is the solid metal doors and furniture and the way it used in the scene. Although it is something that tends to be overlooked, furniture in scenarios like this play a vital role in developing plot and emotion in the audience. The furniture itself already gives off the feeling that this is not a place that’s generally considered a safe space for people. It’s already pretty empty and the use of plain, boring, sturdy decor and furniture only amplifies that. As well as how the male character throws the table across the room in a blast of anger. The sound the table emits frightened the audience whilst building suspense. Small, overlooked aspects as such play very important roles in developing a director's invention in terms of the portrayal of the scene to the audience. This further develops my point in stating the director's purpose, through the use of mis-en-scene and sound, is to instill a sense/ feel of suspense, intensity, and urgency in the audience.
The last-minute of this extracts continues in building the tension between two characters however at this minute we also begin to see that tension dies down. The interference from an outside source rushes to the rescue of the female main character and suppresses the situation. One big element the audience sees here is an editing technique that isn’t so commonly used in movies anymore, called split-screen. Split-screen allows the audience two to experience two moments happening at the same time in different locations. The split-screen here depicts two people rushing to the interrogation room to stop the man in the room from choking and killing the woman. This, once again, develops a sense of urgency throughout the extract is not only solving the issue but saving someone that seems to be a vital part of the operation. One last thing that’s used much more in this last minute of footage through more than two characters is dialogue. The dialogue is clearly used throughout the entire extract for the audience to be able to understand what’s happening but now in this final minute, we can see the dialogue between more than two people. The dialogue is rather intense in this minute as the man gets much more aggressive and needs another stop come in and suppress him. The others that come in also use very strong dialogue in telling him to stop hurting the young girl. This use of dialogue expresses not only the emotion between characters, as all dialogue should, but it also develops the plot and intensifies the situation.
To summarize, I feel as though the director's purpose with this extract was to build intensity, urgency, and suspense in the audience's emotions. Through the use of the mis-en-scene like lighting and furniture, shots like over the shoulder, and sound like incidental music and dialogue the audience can really see and understand not only to the situation at hand but the emotions it portrays. Through the use of sound the audience can experience the intensity on different levels from beginning to end starting low moving high and then a “happy” medium. The mis-en-scene, although overlooked, adds small yet vital aspects to scenes that help to portray urgency in the situation with the way they are used. Lastly, the camera angles and shots used to allow the audience to experience the emotions and purpose from different perspectives seeing not only the situation from one point of view, rather multiple points of view. Overall, the audience can experience the three factors of intensity, urgency, and suspense develop throughout the extract rising and falling during certain scenarios.
