Dir: Joe Wright
The first credits appear centrally on a white mist, which fades to a reveal an establishing shot of an arctic circle landscape, which is where the protagonist, Hanna, lives. The camera then cuts to long shots focusing on aspects of the environment, such a a baby seal or an ice pools. Hanna herself is introduced as the camera pans across a section of trees, and she is seen crouching in the right hand corner of the screen amongst snow and pushes, to show that she is comfortable and familiar with her environment. Characters of significance are placed in the right half of the screen because they are seen in the viewers eyeline first.
Cross cut editing to show a long shot of a moose ambling through the trees, then cutting back to a mid shot of Hanna watching it. The viewers see the moose through the branches, to replicate an eyeline shot and show that Hanna is the predator and in control of the situation. Close-ups emphasise tension and movement as Hanna fires an arrow, and then extreme close-up on the eyes on the moose and the arrow as it pierces the skin, used for intense focus on the character and narrative.
The camera work as Hanna chases her fleeing quarry is in handheld style to make the atmosphere of the chase chaotic and tense, but the camera is then still in an extreme long shot of the moose collapsing in the centre of an expanse of flat snow-covered earth. In a sequence of continuity editing, the moose's death and pain is emphasised as the shots get closer until it is an extreme close-up on the dying animal's eyes. Cut to a power-emphazing tilted shot upwards of Hanna, looking down at the camera as though we were her praying, and holding up her pistol to shoot.
All sounds in the scene are diegetic, reflecting on the fact that Hanna lives a simple, mildly uncivilised existence away from the modern world. The scene starts off with almost no sound at all, only faint white noise against the arctic backdrop. At points of intense action, such as the moose's frightened yelp and the gunshot, the sounds are heightened because acts of such violence are alien to the serenity of the white surroundings. The complete whiteness of the background suggests purity, and so showing the darkness of Hanna and her prey could suggest Hanna is not entirely innocent for her age, which is a notion relevant to the plot of the film.
No comments:
Post a Comment