The first shot is a mid close up of the main protagonist, it shows him reacting to the time on the clock and to a woman running through what we assume is a station. It shows him holding a large black gun, which contrasts to the white background, and his light blue suit. Interestingly, both the gun and the hat are the same shade of black; this could represent how the gun interlinks with his thought process of balancing his job of shooting the antagonists or saving the baby. The character in this scene is wearing clothing from the 1920’s-1940’s era. At the time of suits, trench coats and fedora hats. Also, the colours of the suit he wears help the audience to differentiate who are the good characters and the bad ones. Considering the flamboyant style of colouring and patterns of the suit, the contemporary audience know that no one of the current era would wear anything like this.
Once again the majority of the scene is light white. With just the doors and the clock contrasting. The clock is one of the key props in the sequence as the whole scenario is structured from time. As he has to complete a job within a time limit and contemplate if he has time to save the baby. Meanwhile the doors also contrast with the background; this is because they are the entrance to the station and the key to the outside world. My personal opinion is that they connote that the outside world is dangerous (as they are a dark shade) and that the inside of the station is a safe place of luxury.
The next shot we see is another mid close up of the man’s face, this time he is reacting to a man leaning against a pillar. This is an example of eyeline editing, as we see what he is going to look at and then we see the image from his point of view. This is also the first time we see his full face, this could be significant as it could suggest that he is only half focussed on completing his time related task. Also, the fact that this is the first time we see the characters full face, allows the audience to see more of him, rather than him just looking at other places.
This particular shot is displaying a man standing beside a pillar, waiting. He is standing in a reserved and blatantly waiting position. This scene has been shot from a high angle, which suggests that he is a particularly vulnerable character and perhaps doesn’t possess much power. The pillars also diminish his height and emphasise his size. Also, pillars carry connotations of power, strength and regalness, therefore these connotations can show that this man is feeble is comparison, and could be destroyed easily. The lighting within this scene, however, can suggest that he is an important and good character, as the light coming in behind him implies an ‘angelic’ connotation. This particular type of lighting is a fill light. If this angle was shot at an eye-level angle, the character would be almost like glowing due to the light behind him.
This shot is significant as it’s the first time we see the character move, and break his hawk like stance. This is also shot as a mid close up, but his face is now central and he has lowered the gun. This could suggest that his thoughts are changing from violence, to other things that are going on, such as innocent people in the station, and probably the most innocent of everyone, the baby. His expression has softened as he looks down at the child, suggesting that the character has a caring and vulnerable side, which in turn conveys that he is the hero in this sequence. This shot is also filmed from a slightly low angle, emphasising the power he holds over everyone else in the room, and gives him a god like authority as if the people he is looking over are in his care, and he can choose if they live or not.
In this shot, we can see a woman carrying a baby with a pram behind her as she is carrying a suitcase. This shot is taken from a high angle which indicates her weakness and vulnerability as a character. Also, with this shot, the audience cannot see her face therefore it creates a theme of suspicion as he doesn’t yet know whether or not to help her as he doesn’t know who she is. The lighting within this particular shot is quite dark compared to the other ones. This is due to the shadows being quite prominent. This could emphasise her vulnerability as she is caught up in the darker part of the scene on her own. Perhaps, she is caught up in the shadows. The character is wearing a red cardigan, which could possibly be foreshadowing the bloody events to come due to her (to an extent). Also, the blanket inside the pram is red, which again could be foreshadowing.
This is another long shot filmed from a high angle, which again shows the vulnerability of the characters in the frame, and perhaps how they could possibly be in danger. This shot also contains the first physical human contact in the sequence, and the fact that it so loving, could contrast with the harshness of the main character. When the main protagonist sees the affection and kindness between the two, this could trigger something within him, making him want to help the mother and child. Also, during this scene, the sound of a baby’s lullaby is non-diegetic, which suggests that the baby is prominently on the protagonist’s mind. It is also there because it is building up tension as the protagonist will have to later decide whether or not to help the mother and baby.
Once again we have a shot that focuses on the mother and baby. However this time they are positioned differently in the shot; they are towards the left of the scene and the suitcase is positioned on it’s own. Not only is this because the mother has moved the case for convenience; it allows the audience to focus on the mother and the pram. This is to highlight the effort she is dedicating to pulling the pram. Furthermore this is the first time we see a detailed shot of the baby’s face. This is to illustrate his innocence, whilst his facial expression seems to be distressed. Not only does this represent his personal emotion it implies that his mother shares the same emotion. This is further implied by her unnatural stance.
Once again this shot focusses on time, or lack thereof, as the time has changed rapidly over the past few frames. We also have the introduction of more people into the scene which fits the stereotypical busy station scenario. Most of the characters are dressed in dark red, grey, brown or black clothing which again, contrasts with the light marble or the station walls and floor, which could foreshadow the oncoming blood shed. Also, the fact that these colours that they are wearing are drab and not bright, implies that they aren’t important characters and therefore the camera doesn’t focus on them excessively. The shot is also filmed from a low angle, to emphasise that these characters are powerful and strong. Considering everyone else in the scene is also wearing 30s/40s type clothing, the era is established and more securely confirmed. This is because the protagonist could have just been dressing up in clothes from the era for a different reason.
Another medium-long shot of the woman and her baby, except this time, people are rushing past her. The theme of time is ongoingly prominent. The non-diegetic sound of the lullaby is still playing, but now only stronger and louder. The lighting in this scene becomes more and more darker as the people are all wearing dark and drab clothes as they are all passing her. Not only that, but there are far more shadows entering the scene, making it more and more dark, emphasising her vulnerability and her loneliness. Also, the addition of these new shadows, puts the baby in darkness too, which could suggest, that corruption and impurity is learnt from adults around us.
Again, we see a medium close up reaction shot of the main protagonist, however, this time he looks on in disbelief, as no one stops to help the young lady and her child reach the top of the stairs, he stops and watches for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the clock, this transitions through eyeline editing, as we see him turn to the clock, and then we see the extreme close up of the hands striking twelve, which shows how key this time is to him.
Time is of the essence during this scene. This shot is an extreme close up of the clock as it ticks to the time he has been anticipating it to get to. The non-diegetic sound of the lullaby is still prominent, this is because the issue of the mother and baby is still on his mind. Also, considering this is an old-style clock, it helps to secure the time period of the
film being the 1930s.
We see a sequence of shot reverse shot editing between the main protagonist and the mother and child struggling on the stairs. We see her only ascending a couple of stairs before we return to the man’s face, which emphasises how long it is taking her to reach her destination. The main protagonist displays an almost uncomfortable facial expression at the thought of helping her, and he can’t help but think it over for a few seconds, as if he is weighing the price of her life from his god like podium. We see him finally make up his mind, and run to the woman and child’s aid, showing that he is at least partly good, if not the hero of the whole film.
This two-shot is shot from a low angle. It is shot like this because it allows the audience to feel as though they are part of the scene and watching from the bottom of the stairs. The audience can clearly see the two characters and the main feature of the scene, the clock. Considering the woman is in this scene, it is still particularly dark because it is still emphasising her vulnerability. He is finally acting upon the decision that took him a while to make. When looking at the clock, it is slightly blurred, this is because there is a shallow depth of field, which allows the camera, and audience to focus on the two characters, but it could still represent the blurring of time, and how everything is happening at such a high speed. The hands also look at if they are positioned as if they are and exclamation mark, which could show the urgency and haste in which he has to get the woman to the top of the stairs. The main protagonists clothing is much darker in this shot, which could show that the woman and child are far more innocent compared to him, and although we are now viewing him as a hero, he has done bad things.
A2 Film studies 