Research Task- Drive

Drive

Camerawork

Mise en Scene

Sound

Editing

Narrative

Spectator response

(medium long-shot of male character)

This establishing shot tells us where the man is located: in a hotel room. The room is sparse, showing the emptiness of his life, but does not contain a map, this shows the importance of the city to him. The camera movement tracks around the room beginning on the male character. We do not know yet if the character us the protagonist or the antagonist at this point, however, we hear dialogue of his raspy voice talking about something suspicious. The sound that we hear is extremely understated, suggesting that the main focus is the dialogue and action. The use of low-key lighting in this opening is very generic amongst thriller openings, particularly in the use of shadow. Through the window you can identify his face, however, it is not clear of his facial expressions, creating restricted narration and not giving away his identity, his face is never shown in full light. Through the window spectators can also recognise the location is in a brightly lit city, with a large amount of offices, suggesting it is a working class set area. The hotel room setting looks very run down, enabling spectators create the link that the male character is only there for a short while. 

(medium long-shot of mysterious, brown and large bag)

-This medium long-shot of the mysterious bag creates enigma. This leads spectators to question why he holds it so close to him as he picks the bag up. Spectators will also begin to question whether or not something dangerous is inside the bag, for example: drugs and weapons. The low-key lighting surrounding the room applies to the bag and can represent the bag as danger or death. This shot says a lot about the characters personality, it shows us that he is a very secretive person. 

(Hand-held, long-shot at eye-level of the road)

(low-angle, medium close-up of the protagonist)

After the male character picks up his large bag it cuts to a medium long-shot of him driving a car. This again creates enigma by questioning where he is going and why. Also this shot is taken hand held in the back seat behind the character, which makes you ask the question is someone else there. However, this shot also creates the illusion as if you are in the back seat, this would be a subjective view. This intensifies this scene and builds suspense through out. This scene is a traditional convention of thriller because the setting is dark and as spectators we presume and guess that he is trying to get away from something or someone. His costume is smart but casual, with a leather jacket and leather gloves. His leather gloves connotes he is of a higher class and status. His facial expression whilst driving is very serious, suggesting he is heading somewhere dangerous or he could be committing a crime. Cars are frequently used in thriller films as a narrative prop. Whilst driving the car the male character, who by now spectators may think of him as the protagonist has a tooth pick in his mouth indicating perhaps he is a tough character and willing to put himself in any danger. Toothpicks are often used by shifty characters in thrillers to indicate how they see themselves. 

The shot of the protagonist in his car can also establish the fundamental loneliness he receives. There is a noticed pattern how the protagonist is filmed from behind regularly.  For example: Silhouetted against windows. Staring out windows. Staring in the rear view mirror. Living alone. His dialogue is minimal. He communicates through his body language; gestures and glances. The different shots suggests he is a person who is solitary, who drives around listening to music at night. Aiding criminals is risky. He could end up in prison. What kind of man would take such a risk? With the empty apartment, lacking personal mementos, it becomes clear that the protagonist can take that risk because he has nothing to lose. He is alone. These are the questions that are generated through enigma from spectator response.

(Tracking, long-shot of protagonist and garage owner)

As the next scene shifts to a garage, which sets up the importance of driving in the narrative. This long-shot tracks the male character from the first scene as well as another male character who works in a garage, along on a dolly whilst they exchange a few lines of diegetic, on-screen dialogue. As the main male character is thrown some car keys for a modern sports car, non-diegetic background music crescendos massively emphasising what is to occur next. The intense moment before he gets into the car creates speculation about his destination. The repetition of car scenes suggests that his character is very active and always on the go. However, it could also represent him as a wanted man. This links to the convention of thriller acting as an element of the unknown, sensing danger through out. The costume he is wearing in the garage is a silver leather jacket with a large scorpion printed on the back, this can symbolise many ideas, mainly that he is involved with a gang.

(Ariel shot, birds eye view shot of the city at night)

This next scene is an ariel shot showing the landscape and city and night, creating a birds eye view shot. During this shot, non-diegetic and off-screen sound effects of police sirens begin to crescendo whilst the fast drum and bass music volume increases too. However, the smooth shot of the city can be either contrapuntal to the sound effects and music due to the beautiful lights at night, however, it can be very parallel with the sound due to it being set at night, crime and gangs are more likely to thrive at night in a busy city. Through out the opening sequence, low-key lighting is used due to the setting at night, therefore natural lighting can stand out more. The significance of the setting being a big city is that it juxtaposes with the protagonist sense of isolation and secrecy. 

(Long-shot, blocking shot, subjective view of two males)

Finally after the ariel shot of the big city, it cuts to a scene where the protagonist is driving to his destination along the night lit roads. As he comes to a stop he glances in his rear view mirror. This shot is a P.O.V shot at a slight high-angle looking directly at two other men. Their costumes are completely black and masks covering their whole faces, secluding their identity to any CCTV cameras placed around the buildings. The setting has used barbed wire along the top of the fences as a prop, suggesting that the location the protagonist has stopped at is a prison or some important building. This is restricted narration as the spectators cannot get a full view of the building they are breaking into, because the characters are aware of where they are and they hold more information than the spectators do. This shot also is an objective view to spectators as they are watching the two male characters break into a building, however, it could also be a subjective view as if you were sitting in a seat in the car. Therefore, you can argue whether or not it is a objective or subjective view. In my opinion I would say that this long-shot and blocking shot is a subjective view because it really helps creating the illusion by filming the scene inside the car giving you a point of view of the protagonist.