Preliminary Task: The Chase

  For our preliminary task our group created a chase scene for an opening to a film. Before filming we drew out a simple story bored to plan the premises of the story and plan the shots and position of the camera. We decided to use the underpass because it was close to school and the steep slope, graffiti and tunnel created a dramatic mise en scene.
  We took close up shots of just the legs of Harry and Adam running past, we tried to pile leaves in the way to make the running more dramatic. The close up of the two running accross doesnt reveal who they, drawing the audience in to learn more.
  Next we had a shot from the balcony of the underpass to film a tracking shot so that we see the two fully for the first time. Adam is bigger than Harry and the title is called The Chase so the audience may have guessed that Harry is in danger (we could have dressed more appropriately to emphasise this).  
  It Cuts to another tracking shot from the balcony from a different position. From here we see that they run into the tunnel, only one way to go for Harry.
  A cut to the two running through the tunnel (we considered doing this in slow motion for dramatic tension. You can see from our deleted scenes that we tried simply running slowly but that didnt work and we didn't know how to create a slow motion effect). It then cuts to me waiting around the corner. The audience knows that Harry cannot escape, this creates dramatic irony. I grab him and it cuts to a medium shot of us.                                         

Analysis: Fargo Opening Scene

  Coen Brothers' Fargo (1996) has a long opening scene. It starts with just a pale blue screen with credits and the occasional glimpse of the headlights of a car, an orchestra is playing mournful music. At 1:37 a heavy drum beat kicks in and the music loudens as if to make the audience stand to attention. We see a car come over the horizon towing another car. With the combination of this and the heroic music I assumed that someone had been helped out (possibly their car had got stuck in the snow or they had gotten into an accident and someone was towing them). The cars pass and the blank background is used for a plain backdrop for the title of the film. It then transitions back to following the cars (still in snowy conditions so the transition is very unobtrusive) and we see some road signs and posts so we know they are going towards civilisation. It cuts to a shot from behind the cars and we see that they have a long road ahead (literally and figuratively).
  Fades to black then suddenly cuts to a rather different scene. An establishing shot of a bar with broken neon lights (giving the impression that it is shoddy and shady). The cars drive in from the left, we can hear a chain rattling ominously. As the car drives into the bar's carpark the orchestra music fades completely and the bar's digetic music can be heard in the background. This subtly reinforces the feeling of change.
  Cuts to a full shot of the protaganist walking alone into a bar. The country music is fully audible now and we hear the iconic clack of  pool balls colliding (*note: I noticed that the protaganist stamps his feet (to get snow off) in time with the clack sort of making a beat. Don't know if it was done on purpose and if so for what reason). He is looking around and cuts to a POV shot of him looking at the group playing pool. His business clothes contrasts with the attire of the patrons of this bar, it seems that he is out of place. He finds the two men he was looking for and introduces himself timidly. These men look rather unsavoury- one is extremely pale, with greased back hair and the other seems barely concious and is smoking. There are several bottles of beers on the table. During the following conversation the camera cuts from an over the shoulder view of the three and a POV shot from one of the pair looking at the protagonist. There is immediately a small disagreement about the time they were supposed to meet. The protaganist is apparently an hour late, he claims Shep Proudfoot, the organiser made a mixup (he could lying to cover his lateness being his own fault). We learn that the car is meant for the pair in the bar, they introduce themselves and there is another small altercation which the pale man starts. But the protaganist talks his way out again (passing responsibility to Shep again). He tries to end the meeting but the pale man was he was expecting fourty thousand dollar as well as the car, but the protagonist once again passes responsibility to Shep. As he is explains what was meant to be the deal we see the beer bottles shake a little, this could indicate that he is getting nervous. The pale man is seem very controlling, maybe because he is nervous too. The first words from the other guy of the pair contain an expletive. This reinforces our impression that he is unsavoury. The protagonist tries to avoid explaining the details of the plan but can't weasel his way through this one and ends up just divulging the true reasons behind organising his wifes kidnapping, he's got money issues. Once we find the truth behind this meating we reaslise what a shoddy character this is, this juxtuposes with our initial impressions of him- originally, I thought that he was helping someone who had trouble with their car and his smart clothes and innocent accent reinforced this  initial assumption. But we learn that he is no more than a two bit weasel.