Usually in your typical OTS the story or a clue to the story is almost revealed right away. But not in this one. Unconventially, it takes its time to uncover the story to its anticipating audience, but that is what I personally like about it, it doesn't reveal why the city has gone to ruin and keeps you in suspense. Will Smiths character acts disrespectably towards his surroundings and his safety. This is not what we would usually see straight away and it hits the audience hard because of its insensitiveness.
No non-diagetic underscore is playing discreetly beneath, which is what we would expect to hear, making the audience feel even more tense and uneasy, expecting something dramatic to happen.
Finally, and simply, there is nothing that is interrupting the movie and OTS, for example who it is directed by or who the main actors and actresses were or even the title of the film! This must have been hard because of how the film was so eagerly anticipated, and obviously the director wanted to have some credit for it, but had to swallow his pride and just appear at the end of the movie.
Wednesday 13 October 2010
Conventions of the OTS for 'I am Legend'
The Whole OTS is based on enigma and only slight exposure of the story, which heightens the mystery even more so. It starts with a News broadcast and begins to look like more of a television documentary with archive footage. What the viewer finds out is that it is actaully a flashback of the past, which could be seen as conventional or unconventional.
It cuts from TV to widescreen which helps to differentiate between what was the past and what is happening now. The very beginning has sound running with no footage visually, this is a very post modern idea and seems to amplify the enigma. While this OTS does not fit in with the horror genre, it does have tension increasing conventions and the extended silences help to make a strong contrast just like a horror film would.
A 'hook' is a thing that draws the audience in and this is exactly what they use in this, creating questions such as 'what has caused this terrible post apocalyptic state?' and 'why is there only one man left?'. The shots used are quite a lot of establishing shots that help to set the scene and location. These shots are conventional and traditionally seen in OTS'. In the mise-en-scene we see yellow cabs, tall skyscrapers,blue post boxes, tall traffic lights and the news readers have american accents. All these clues help the audience to be lead to believe that it is set in New York. Another shot that is used is a high angle shot (birds eye view) of the city, this indicates that the viewer has more power and it seems that they have the control over the situation. Other shots include mid-shots and close-ups of the two main characters, Robert Neville(Will Smith) and his trusty dog. These two shots help to establish the characters and introduce them to the eager audience.
It cuts from TV to widescreen which helps to differentiate between what was the past and what is happening now. The very beginning has sound running with no footage visually, this is a very post modern idea and seems to amplify the enigma. While this OTS does not fit in with the horror genre, it does have tension increasing conventions and the extended silences help to make a strong contrast just like a horror film would.
A 'hook' is a thing that draws the audience in and this is exactly what they use in this, creating questions such as 'what has caused this terrible post apocalyptic state?' and 'why is there only one man left?'. The shots used are quite a lot of establishing shots that help to set the scene and location. These shots are conventional and traditionally seen in OTS'. In the mise-en-scene we see yellow cabs, tall skyscrapers,blue post boxes, tall traffic lights and the news readers have american accents. All these clues help the audience to be lead to believe that it is set in New York. Another shot that is used is a high angle shot (birds eye view) of the city, this indicates that the viewer has more power and it seems that they have the control over the situation. Other shots include mid-shots and close-ups of the two main characters, Robert Neville(Will Smith) and his trusty dog. These two shots help to establish the characters and introduce them to the eager audience.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)