"No matter what they say it's all about money." This was a piece of narrative throughout the party. This also backs up the idea that the characters in this scene only care about money and believe that money is the only thing you need in life.
The first introduction on any of the characters we see is a magician. He' s playing around with money for the magic trick.
This shows us that they have more money then anyone even enough to play with. They show the magic trick by using as a close up this indicates to the audience that the hand movement within the trick is important. It foreshadows the film. "Penny for the ear, how much for the rest?" This is a foreshadow of the rest of the film. This is the first piece of narrative which gives away what the film plot could possibly be about.
After that theres a pan shot of the party. Everyone at the party seems to be talking about Edward Lewis. It makes the audience think " who's Edward Lewis?" "Why is he so important?". This then indicates that the reason why they are talking about Edward Lewis is because he is indeed the main character throughout this film. Once everyone stops talking about Edward Lewis there is then a motivated edit so that we see him in the next frame. There is then a phone conversation where we hear Edward Splitting up with his girlfriend over the phone.
He doesn't even seem bothered. This indicates to us that he's used to splitting up with girls. He used to things in his life not being temporary so that's why he's learnt not to get attached.
This then opens up a main key feature within the film that he's free and single and he has an unemotional gap. There is then a tilt shot of him looking down at the party this suggests that even though all of the people at the party are upper class, he still has the hierarchy within his social group. His face is emotionless this conforms that he really is just an unemotional person.
After that Edward see's an old girlfriend of his. They talk about how she recently just got married, the girl then says " I mean I couldn't wait for you" This then confirms to the audience that he is an attractive person who has had many break ups.
This refers back to Edward being used to things being temporary in his life. All of a sudden Edward then decides to leave the party and shoot off we know this by people at the party saying casually "he's left". His best friend then goes out to see what's got into Edward but doesn't get an answer. Edward completely ignores his friend and demands his keys. This confirms to us that Edward does not listen to anyone. When Edward does go into his car, his friend states "Do you even know how to drive it?". This then shows off how rich Edward is considering he has a personal driver.
Once Edward is driving off their is the opening credits where in the background is different photos of Beverly Hills and Hollywood, these images are to show that he's come from the higher end of the spectrum and how he's slowly driving into the poorer end of the spectrum.
Once we reach the down town of Hollywood it gets made extremely obvious that we are no longer in the richer part as there are plenty of shops with thick metal shutters this indicates that there is a lot of crime around that area.
Crime is usually associated with poorer areas. There is then ambulance sirens which shows that there is a high population and a high accident intake.
There is then a shot off a ' Hotel' sign. Not all the lights are working which shows that the hotel it's self is a run down hotel and probably not a very nice hotel to stay at. The only lights working on the hotel are 'HO' which is a directors joke which could indicate Prostitutes.
The camera then takes us to an apartment it starts off with a girl in bed so we know we are now seeing the completely different side of the original spectrum. We've gone from a huge posh party to a run down apartment in Hollywood in only a matter of shots.
There are photos of the girl and a boyfriend. In the photo her boyfriends head is ripped off which indicates that he is an ex boyfriend. This also shows the audience that she's not very good with relationships herself just like Edward Lewis.
There is then a shot of her colour in her boots with a black pen this then also indicates the poor spectrum as her boots are old and she can't afford any new ones.
She then goes out of her apartment door to where she sees a man. "I'm here to collect the rent money if you don't pay it you're out".
She then goes back into the apartment. By this point the audience must thing oh she's going to get her rent money. She then goes into the toilet system to get her rent money out to only find out that she has $1 to pay it.
This indicates that she is an honest character as she thought she had enough money as she's been saving to go and pay the rent. She then goes rushing out of her apartment through the window down the ladder. She seems to know this routine so well so it's obviously a regular occurrence.
She then goes into a bar to look for her flat mate to ask where all the rent money has gone. Her flat mate replies with " Drugs, I needed a little pick me up". You can tell that she is a true respectful person as she is angry that her friend spent all of the rent money on drugs.
It then takes us to a shot on the streets where the 2 house mates speak to another lady on the street and tells her to "get off their territory". This then indicates to us that they are in fact prostitutes. Which then links back to the"Penny for the ear, how much for the rest?" comment in the earlier part of the opening and the 'HO' comment earlier on in the opening. The other prostitute then says "But she's new here" Which gives us even more respect for that character as we know that she hasn't been doing this for very long.
While writing this essay I have learnt that the easiest way to learn about a character is by narrative and small images while using a transition towards another scene.
No comments:
Post a Comment