A History of Violence Analysis

Film Title: A History of Violence Director: David Cronenberg
	Technique	Effect (Analysis)
Camera – distance, angle, movement…	Panning Low Angle Eye level Mid shot	Panning helps showing location and sets the scene of what is happening By shooting characters in a low angle it makes them look bigger denoting power and dominance An eye level shot helps give the viewer an angle of what it would be like if you where there Mid shots give an advantage of that the viewer can see a lot of things however it does mean it’s not it great detail.
Editing – speed, style…	Very slow shot speed.	This could connote boredom as it feels the shots go on for “too long” this would be made though to emphasise the dull environment that they are in.
Sound – effects, musical score…	At the very start something what sounds like insects are played with also a scary sounding effect. Car radio Diegetic sounds	The scary sound is just before you see the first two characters, this connotes that they do or are involved in bad things. It also happens shortly before they first talk, enforcing this point. When one of the characters first gets in the car it plays some upbeat blues. This is an example of binary opposition as it connotes dancing and happiness, not the scenario they are in. You can see the two characters talking to one another but they both talk in quite dull and uninterested voices, showing they aren’t really enjoying their situation.
Mise-en-scene – props, costume, setting, lighting, colour…	Western style town Car Bright Working class/casual clothing	The opening shot pans across the face of a building which reminds me of a western style town it then drops back to show it being a single story building and look like a tradition stereotypical town. The car is then introduced which is a convertible car, a soft-top car connotes wealth and luxury The bright background also uses opposition within the text. The eerie and scary soundtrack doesn’t fit into the feel of visual display. The working clothes denotes that they are standard citizens that makes the viewer think it could happen to anyone.
Titles – font, colour, placement, over black / over clip…	Small fonts found in the bottom half of the screen	In the opening extract key names an the title fade in and out, however they are so small that at first view I hardly noticed them. This shows me that I’ll have to make them larger in my film to make them stand out.