Sophie's textual analysis of "Face Off"

Face Off

Mise en Scene
Camerawork
Sound
Editing

Face off was directed by John Woo and made in 1997. This film starts off by us being able to see something very blurry that's completely out of focus, it then becomes in focus and we are able to see a carousel at a medium shot, the lighting of this scene is quite bright however, it's not very colourful it makes the audience feel like something mysterious is going to happen. We are able to hear non-diegetic music, that is very soft and content music as we watch a medium shot of the carousel going around.

We are then introduced to two characters, a man and a boy, we presume this man is the boy's father the man looks middle aged and the boy is a very young boy, they both look very well looked after and their clothing looks quite smart.

In this next scene, we see a close-up of the two characters looking very happy, the man kisses the boy on the cheek and enhances his happiness a lot. This scene is then faded onto the next scene of a long shot of the park and the whole carousel. We see the carousel go round a few times, and then we start to see a white sheet which quickly cuts to see a black circle on the middle of the screen, this confuses the audience, however it is then revealed to be a gun.

The scene is then cut to a long shot to see another man standing in the middle of a woods, with a lot of grass and trees around him, he flings his jacket around.  We see this man start to kneel down and look quite upset, but then we are faded into seeing another character, a man with a beard, sipping from a straw at an extreme close up. At this point, the non-diegetic music starts to become quite creepy. In this same shot we see the camera move up slightly and we see this characters eye looking directly into the camera, this scares the audience because he looks rather creepy and the look the character is giving looks very evil. We also see him move to look into the gun to aim at an extreme close up, they have used the blocking technique to make the audience confused, and make it look like we are about to get shot.

The next scene then shows us from the character's point of view and shows the target on the man and the little boy. The shot is then back onto the man looking through the gun, he pulls away from the gun and looks at the two characters in a way where he seems upset and lonely. We then see the man and the boy again at a medium shot with content non-diegetic music in the background, they are very happy and enjoying their time on the carousel. The editing of this is in quite slow motion as they are enhancing the happiness off these two characters.

The next scene then flips back to the man with the gun at a close up, he looks into it again and starts to aim the gun again. We can see in the next shot from the characters point of view again and see that the gun is aiming at the man on the carousel's back.

We are then shown an extreme close up on the characters finger as he pulls the trigger to the gun and then it quickly cuts to being able to see the end of the gun at an extreme close up, we hear non-diegetic music build up as he pulls the trigger and we hear the gun shot.

The next shot is where the camera is tracking the bullet to the point where we see it hit the man. We see him in pain as he falls of his horse on the carousel and the camera zooms in to a close up on the blood on the horse, we also see the balloons that the little boy was holding go up in the air in slow motion. This scene is then faded into seeing the man struggling on the floor with blood coming from his back, he looks quite dirty from being on the floor. The music gets quite eerie and high pitched as the man struggles to go and comfort his child who is laying dead on the floor, we see the man hug his child at a medium shot. I like this opening, however in my opinion it isn't much like a thriller opening.