1. Film Studies
V for Vendetta Clip Micro Analysis
1:47:29 -1:52:52
The clip I havephosep'is from my favorite film, *V for Vendetta.' The clip is meant
to be full offcensiornn the build-up for the revolution and fight between *V and
the official The director does this with film languager The main/parts of film
language I have chosen to analyse are cinematography and edjfing. The clip is
showing two pajts" of tension with the build-up to the death of V and the
revolution. /
The clip starts with a high-angled crane, establishing^ot looking at a part of
London's city centpe, present throughout the whole of the film, with an
advertising screen'attached to a building playing the chancellor's speech. The
diagetic sound$f the chancellor's voice booms out used as a soundbridge and a
non-diagetic fast rythmed music plays, building the tension for the audience as
the screen cuts from the city centre/to several close-up, medium shots of
televisions showing the same speech>4t the moment in the scene the television
rooms are packed with people but as the scene goes on the rooms empty
showing how les^people are listening to the chancellor and more are joining the
revolution. /
A man enters the underground who is obviously the most senior official as he is
the only one wearing a smt and two men are a his side implying they are his
personal bodyguards, then a man refers to him as "Sir." We then briefly cut back
to the television which is ended after just one sentence from the chancellor
before we return to the subterranean hall where the senior official positioned in
the middle of three other men now looks at his watch in urgency as another says
"Where is he?" The tension is nowon as the audience all want to know when V
is going to show himself.
After a quick mid-shot of a television shot of the chancellor's speech/we go back
to the senior official looking at his watch when 'V speaks saying "Penny, for the
guy" referring to the where is he? The camera cuts to ajrfediuin shot of 'V in the
middle of the screen with his mask illuminated by the shining torches of every
official aiming/straight at him from around the room. This makes 'V the centre of
attention anfr everyone's eyes in the film and the audience are glued to his^ace.
While we once again cut back to the television now talking about an
enemy/terrorist wishing to divide the nation 'V is searched with a metal
detector by a cautious official not taking his eyes off 'V showing that this has
been planned referring back to the "Where is he?" but the officials are still
We now cut back to the numerous television shots. But this time they are not
close-lips of just the television but medium shots of the room with the television
in.One of these rooms is a pub that earlier in the film is crowded and now is
empty with no one even behind the bar. This is done to show that no/one is
actually there and the speech you have been listening to is falling on Heaf ears.
The rooms are still lit up though producing another clever cliche. The lights are
on but no ones homC This is telling us that the public are joining the revolution.
V '
16

2. Film Studies
Back into the hall we see a low-angled camera shot looking up a/sraircase where
two men are dragging a bound and hooded man down the stairs. A backlight is
used to show that coming down he're is it, there is non getting out again. Making
the hall feel like a dungeon.
Top lighting is on thg chancellors-head with a medium shot making it feel like he
is being interrogated. The light is being projected by a torch, in a cinema this will
have stunned the audience going from such dark shots to a quick burst of light
putting you in the chancellor's rj0sition where he is being unmasked. Showing
the surprise and shock. V
The quick cuts are finished now, there is just one long clip of 'V walkingover to
the chancellor and bending down showing his superiority at the mroxent The
long clip has slowed everything down and brings everything down to(Earth, as
we all know the chancellor and his empire are doomeu. As the chancellor squeals
and cries showing his cowardice 'V places a rose in his suit and says goodbye
and walks off turning hi^r back on the chancellor and calls the senior official
stating he has finished. The camera now does a point of view shot of the
chancellor dsing a low-angle shot of the senior official pointing a gun at him. The
senior official says disgusting and shoots the chancellor showing victim versus
victor.
The chancellor appears on the screen with a close-up shot of th.erhole in his
temple. We then zoom out to a medium shot to see him fall to the ground. This ~4
could also show how his empire has fallen down as w&M. To add' to the
significance of the event this short sequence is shown is^slow motion. /
Without any care of the chancellor the senior official walks towards the middle
of the hall looking at 'V also in the middle of the hall surrounded by all the other
officials. We are shown this by a high-crane, long shot This placement directs
your attention just to these two men and nothing else, /
The senior official tells 'V that they have done their part and now he has to take
his mask off. V refuses and two officials close in on him both holding their guns
aiming right at hm. The slow walk towards 'V is one long clip building the
tension but when 'V attacks then the pacing becomes quicker and numerous like
in most fight -scenes. This makes the fight look better than it really is because
after all it is not real. Whenhis knifes are drawn they are in the shape of a 'V
which is his symbol. *
Every official backs behind the senior official whom stays perfectly still showing
no fear. This shows 'V totally alone and heavily outnumbers. As the senior
official and 'V argue abo,uf who will kill who the camera keeping medium shots
showing that they /are both equal switches between the two men
(shot/reversal/shot). Eventually, the senior officer/says kill him the camera
zooms outxsliowing the whole hall as bullets fly -at 'V." The camera switches
betweept^the long shot of the hall to the medium shots rf just 'V taking the
bullets. When the gunfire stops so does the music building up even more tension.
As the audience do no know if he is dead or not! v

3. Film Studies
With no music the camera does an extreme close-up of "V's mask and we can only
hear his breathing/He then gets up and the camera blurs and focuses in on two
knives in the shape of a V. The camera follows the knives in slow motion as they
hit men on either side of the senior official. In slow motion V takes out the rest
of the officials until just the senior official is left. ^
"V" slowly approaches him in real time filming andwe cut to a point of view shot
of the senior officials six shooter gun's cylinderas each bullet goes. This shows
how the senior official now has nothing left v
As 'V makes a speech about how ideas are bulletproof hence why he did not die
when twelve men were shooting at him he grabs the senior chancellor by the
neck and strangles him to death as he said he would eariier in the clip. This is
shown at a high angle shot, point of view shot of *V.' /
As 'V walks off he drops his bulletproof vest a.k.a a piece of dented metal the
ends. With the shattering noise of.-the metal clanging ringing through your ears.
In conclusion I think the/director has successfully built-up the tension and
created a great fight scene with the quick edits duringytne fight scene preventing
the audience from blinking with excitement and then the slow long scenes when
'V" slowly dies. Well done James McTeigue!
l

4. 11/5 Film Studies
Microanalysis
The clip I have chosen to microanalyse is from Aliens^vs. Predator: Requiem,
a sci-fi horror movie about a deadly alien infestatiorrin the'Colorado town of
Gunnison, and the deceitful rrfffitary plot to contajn it. ^
The clip maintains a high sense of suspense am fear, but if not for elements like
Mise en scene and scuipi', which I'll be studying in this clip, its effect on the audience
would be very different.
Starting with Mise en scene, I chose two stills from the clip; the first is a long shotof
a pregnant woman who has been impregnated with several alien embryos byirie
Predalien. X
With setting and props/Fie heart monitor increases the fear because it shows how
fast her heart rate isvrelling the audience she's scared for her [ifp: /
In facial expression and body language, the victim is cringing in pain/The fact that
she isn't screaming indicates the worst is yet to come. She's lying down and we can't
see her arms (they look restrained), telling the audience she's totally helpless to
what goes on around her. s
In costurae'and make-up, the victim wears a hospital gown- telling us she is/a
patienj/which is deliberately lifted by the directors to reveal her stomacf^wnere we
see chestbursters. This adds suspense because it tells MS she's going to die.
With positioning of characters and objects, the Predajren has left strands of slime,
which are multi-directionally strewr^dcross the roorrr. These different directions
represent the chaos and disorderfhe Predalien has left, as they're 'all over the
place'. The victim is central to the shot, telling us^she's who we're supposed to
watch, and wait for her stomach to tear open/The heart monitor is on her right/"
indicating her dependence on it and her vulnerability, and adding suspense./
The second still I focused on is a mid-shot of the doctor and the Predalien face-to-
face in the ward.
In setting and props, the curtain behind the doctor suggests to the audience the
Predalien has him backed into a corner with no escape/mentally as well, being too
busy assessing what it is, rather than escaping. s
With positioning of characters and objects, the Predalien's body is concealed behind
a curtain, so we only see its head./This creates fear among ihe audience because,
as we can't see its body, we don't know what it'll do nexMts totally unpredictable.
With facial expression and body language, we see the doctor frozen still; staring at
the Predalien in/horror- he isn't even raising his arms to protect himself. This links to
the previou^paragraph, suggesting he's totally baffled as to what it is, and what it
will do. -
Moving^n to sound, which greatly affects the atmosphere and leveHxf tension of a
movie, there's a large amounfof diagetic sound/mainly on-screen, paralleled by a
score of non-diagetic musief adding to the diagesis1.
The scene starts with a sound bridge from the previous scene, a fight scene. This
creates a smooth transition between scenes, keeping the-level of tension" high in the
audience The sound bridge is the war cry of a predator; and halfway through the
roar, we're brought to the hospital, in a doctor'suffice. Then, consecutively, the heart
monitors in the office start reaching^6fitical condition, by beeping continuously. The
director used this on-screen to heighten tension in the audience because this noise
is always associated with deatfcL The doctor fumbles putting his equipment down,
murmuring, "its not possible" and expressing his shock at the situatio/f. He panics,
shouting "Something's wrong!" to other doctors. This heightens tension because their

5. 11/5 Film Studies
demonstration of unease would have the same effect on the audience/We hear
them run to the other waras, and drums build in volume as the last heart monitor
shows flat-line (death)/They stop as the doctor arpives air the maternity ward, and he
breathes heavily, indicating the urgency of the slwati&n. An eerie high burst of violins
start when he sees a woman with a ruptured stomach. This was used to create
tension in the audience because the high note is associated with a tightened string^
which could snap at any momewf. This represents the woman's stomach, whiclt^
already has. Whilst staring at the corpse, a strand ofslime lands on the doctor's
shoulder. This provokes disgust in the audienceywhich heightens the tension,
because in previous alien films a sticky substance meant an alien was close. His
attention is drawn to another woman, who isn't dead, but we fear she hasn't got long I
to live when we see something pushing out on her stomach. This is accompanied by
the parallel sound of high violins, which again portray the tightened s$ng. We realise
the host is conscious, as she cries in pain. We see the doctor's reaction to this,
creating a sound bridge and seemingly prolonging her pain, generating tension in the
audience. Inevitably her^sfbmach bursts, and we even hear it pop like a balloon,
adding gore to the clips/She screams, and the aliens create a noise similar to^that.
We get another shot of the doctor, but loud footsteps-indicate he isn't alope^These
footsteps are slow, and heighten the tension in tbe audience because it gives the
audience time to realise that danger is coming/The score of violins build in volume ^
to heighten tension, as the Predalien emerges from behind a curtain, and stop
abruptly when it kills him, to create/a sense of horrified relief. v
In conclusion, the directors used these essential elements in conjunction with
each other, to create a quite Iwrifying piece.
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6. 'Shooter3 Analysis
decided to choose the film 'Shooter' because I believe it is a great example
qf'how to direct a movie and shows reasons behind the directing. For the
s'hort extract, the best example of good sound and camerawork seemed to be
at the beginning of the film, from the third minute to the fifth. In this extract, for
•th'e majority of the timecthe director is trying to buiid up tension until the action
begins. He tries to grab the audience's attention, considering it is the start of
the film and he wants them gripped to the film.
In this five minute clip, the sound is used to create suspense and build up to
the action. In the opening sequence, the sound starts off extremely quiet and
/slow. It is very faint, until getting closer to the character, Bob Lee Swagger,
The sound then starts to get faster and louder. This technique is commonly
'used in films and usually makes the audience think something is going to
/
happen when the sound reaches the peak of the climax. In this section, it
tends to almost be like a game of hide and seek, with the sound getting louder
/'as the camera gets closer. Until eventually all non-diegetic sound is gone and
the audience can only hear what is actually there. This skill from the director,
where suspense is created but then nothing happens, is used so that next
ytime the audience are on the edge wondering if anything will happen.
v/ Whereas if something always happened whenever suspense is built, then the
audience will always be expecting it.
Also in this extract, an example of non-diegetic sound is when a sniper rifle is
fired. Obviously it isn't a real gunshot so to make the film realistic, the sound
/of a gunshot has to be put on afterwards. This is the same with the reloading
i/ of a gun usually and is used so the audience believes everything they see.
Also, this could be used to give a character a sense of power as a gunshot is
xribt something people hear every day and seems overpowering to most
^ people. Yet another use of sound is after Swagger has taken the shot and a
helicopter is sent to find him. The same technique is used as at the beginning
o.f the extract when the sound builds up as the helicopter gets closer.
•'Although apart from this, the director uses enhanced sound of the helicopters
propeller's spinning. From where Bob Lee Swagger is stood, the sound of the
helicopter would not be as loud as it is on the film. Once again this is used to
t/make the helicopter almost an invincible object, and like the character will
certainly die, putting the audience on edge.
Camera is also an important way of creating meaning. At the start of the five
minutes, the camera begins getting closer towards the character Bob Lee
Swagger. The shot is an extreme long shot, although because it is moving
^./could also be referred to as a crane shot. This gives the audience an overview
/>? the area for the opening scene and introduces the audience slowly in order
L/for them to buiid an impression. Eventually the camera gets closer ciiffside
and becomes a low angle shot climbing up thejcliff. With B,ob Lee Swagger
/at on top of the cliff, this shot intends to makelhim seem powerful because
i/ he is towering above, and kind of makes the audience be-looking up to him.
Then at the top of the cliff, the shot is a close up on his face which is almost
/'like the camera is revealing where and who he is. This shot creates almost a

7. puzzle for the audience to find him as he is hidden in camouflage. Another
effective shot in the extract is a point-of-view from Bob Lee Swagger while he
/'is peering down a sniper scope. This shot gives the audience a feeling of the
character's situation, but also ties the audience in with the film. Where as, if
/the director does not continue to involve .the audience .then eventually they will
' probably get bored. The final shot that creates an effect in this extract is when
the enemy helicopter ;is zooming towards Bob Lee Swagger firing bullets. The
-Shot is from behind the helicopter, called a tracking shot. This shot is almost a
"' comparison of the almighty helicopter and the tiny insignificant Bob Lee
Swagger in the background. It makes the audience think he will certainly die.
To conclude, the extract finishes with the helicopter crashing down on the
/''floor; however the camera is underneath the helicopter as it lands and the
screen is blacked out. This is an effective shot that shows the audience the'
//shear reality of what just happened and ends the long trail of action, iletting the
audience calm down and reflect on what has just happened,
Overall, the directing style seems to be very effective during this five minute
clip. The scene is a great way to open the film and gets the audience gripped
to the film, and prepared for the rest of story.