Conversation In Thrillers

In this lesson we began to analyse a scene from movie training day, two character with different personalities meet.

How is meaning created using micro-elements in the clip?

Throughout this clip the use of the overall theme of the shift in power can be seen through the use of the four micro-elements: Cinematography, Editing, Mis-en-scene and Sound.

In the first clip we can see the a city landscape, this sets the location and lets the audience know that the film is likely to be set in the city centre, a busy location. The next shot that we see is Jake walking into the restaurant to meet Alonzo. This is shown by a panning of the camera from the left to the right of the store.

In this panning we see a row of full people eating at the counter, the lighting in this area is brighter, this shows the liveliness of the area with contrasts with where Alonzo and Jake sits. The location in the store where the two policeman (Jake and Alonzo) provides a dimmer lighting and is somewhat isolated from others, as very few people were around them. This conveys an idea of how Alonzo likes his privacy as he is seen in the booth where Jake later joins him.

A glimpse of Alonzo’s personality is shown through the mis-en-scene of his clothing as he wears and all black outfit with shiny silver jewellery, this is rather uncommon appearance of a policeman. The colour black is often associated with power, formality, death and mystery. The way in which also sits suggests that he is the dominant character in this situation. This is reinforced by the way he is accessorised with a chain necklace and earrings which is unusual for a police officer. During the conversation Alonzo remains in eye contact with Jake, however Jake appear to be avoiding the eye contact as he fidgets and constantly looks to a different direction.