Camera Shots
The first camera angle that is used the long shot. This used to show the vast size of the star destroyer and also suggest the grandeur of the first order and space behind it. After that, a tracking shot is used to focus on a smaller space ship that just flew out of the large star destroyer. This suggests that it is foreshadowing that the ship will become important later on in the scene. The next camera angle that is used is a close up of a stormtrooper's helmet which suggests that that stormtrooper will become more important later on in the scene. After that a long shot is used to show all of the stormtroopers in a small single spaceship which shows the power of the Empire as they have many more troops. The camera shot used next is the establishing shot; it firstly focuses on a dark sky to suggest it is nighttime and then the camera moves downwards to show that the scene is in a desert. Consequently, the shot used straight after is another establishing shot to show that it is set in a small village on desert terrain.
The next shot that is used is an extreme close up of a man's hand placing a small pouch into another person's hand which suggests that what is in the bag could be the main focus of the film. In the next part of the scene, a close up of an old man's is used to suggest that he is a character of some importance and is also the donor that sends one of the protagonists on their journey. The next shot that is used is a dirty shot because the camera is focusing on the old man's face; however, it is obstructed by the protagonist's head. Following that shot, a two shot is used to display the 2 characters having a conversation inside a hut. An over-the-shoulder shot is used following the previous one to focus on the protagonist's face suggesting they are an important character in the film.
The following shot that is used is a dolly zoom close up shot to show that the droid is of importance. The next shot is also a close up zoom but of the protagonist. After that, a wide shot is used to show the protagonist running out of the hut. Consequently, the next shot used is a POV shot through the binoculars of the character which then focuses onto a small ship. Following that, a two shot is used to show the two characters that were previously having a conversation. The camera shot that is consequently used is a wide shot to display a ship landing. It immediately switches to a fast pan to show the amount of ships that have landed. A wide shot is then used to focus on one of the small ships opening and stormtroopers coming out of it. An arc shot is consequently used to show the amount of troops invading the village. After that a birds eye view shot is used to show the extent of the army of stormtroopers. A wide shot then focuses on the stormtroopers coming out of a small space ship that was earlier focused on in the scene. A series of low shots is consequently used to show people trying to fight off the troops getting shot. Another low shot is used to show more stormtroopers coming out of a ship. Consequently, a wide shot is used to show the protagonist running from the village; this quickly switches to a tracking shot as it is focusing on the movement of the character. The next shot that is used is a close up of Poe's head inside his X-wing, followed by an extreme close up of the controls inside his ship. The next shot used is a dutch tilt which quickly steadies into a close up of the cockpit of the ship. Following that, two close ups are used: one of the BB-8 droid and one of Poe inside ship. In consequence, a close up shot shows the gun at the bottom of his ship but this quickly switches to an arc shot to show the perspective of the gun.
A wide shot is then used to show 2 stormtroopers coming from a distance, which is quickly followed by a close up of Poe's face and then a close up of the gun firing a laser. After that, a two change shot is used to show 2 different perspectives of the troopers dying. A tracking shot is then used to show Poe jumping out of his ship. A mid shot then focuses on the old man Poe was talking to. An extreme close up is used to show Poe's hand removing a device from a pouch. After that, an over-the-shoulder shot is used to show Poe giving the device to his droid. A close up shot of the droid is used after that. A low shot is used to show Poe talking to his droid. Consequently, a match-on-action close up is used to show Poe leaning against a boulder with his boulder. The next shot that is used is a close up of a dying stormtrooper. An over-the-shoulder shot is used to show the dying stormtrooper wiping blood onto another trooper's helmet. This shows that he is different to everybody else as he now has a blood stain on his helmet. The camera then focuses onto the trooper suggesting that he is an important character. A series of close up and mid shots then focus onto that trooper. The next shot is a wide tracking shot showing another starship landing while also focusing on the storm troopers capturing villagers.
Another wide shot is used to show troops moving villagers but then the camera pans onto two troopers and what appears to be a stormtrooper commander walking with the trooper with the blood stained helmet. The camera again focuses onto that trooper with a medium shot. A wide shot is used after that to show two troopers capturing the old man. The camera again focuses onto that trooper with another medium shot. An establishing shot is consequently used to show the top of a ship while then moving downwards to focus on the doors of it opening. It then focuses onto Kylo Ren once he walks out of it. An over-the-shoulder shot is used to focus on the old man with Kylo Ren obstructing the camera. Another over-the-shoulder shot is used, this time focusing on Kylo Ren. A low angle two shot is then used to display Kylo Ren and the old man conversing. Another over-the-shoulder shot is used, again focusing on Kylo Ren. An arc shot is then used to focus on Kylo Ren walking away. After that, a two change shot is used to show the different perspectives of Kylo Ren removing his lightsaber. Another two change shot is used straight after to show Kylo Ren striking the old man down with his lightsaber. A medium shot is then used to show Poe aiming his blaster. This is then followed by a close up of Kylo Ren using the force to block Poe's blaster laser. A mid shot of Poe is consequently used. A wide shot then shows Poe struggling against the force. A tracking shot is then used to show Poe getting captured by two stormtroopers. An over-the-shoulder shot is consequently used to show Kylo Ren talking to Poe. A dirty shot is then used to focus on Poe's face.
This is followed by a mid shot of Poe being held up by two stormtroopers and then another dirty shot but of Kylo Ren. A tracking shot is used to follow the guards escorting Poe to the ship. The camera then pans onto a silver storm troopers suggesting they are of high importance. It then switches to a wide shot of 3 stormtroopers but the camera slowly zooms in on the middle one which is the one the one with the blood stained helmet seen earlier in the scene. This is significant because he is the only trooper that is not shooting which suggest he doesn't want to kill innocent people for the first order. A tracking shot is used to show Kylo Ren walking but it then shows him turning around and looking at the stormtrooper that didn't shoot anyone. A two change shot is then used to show Kylo Ren and the trooper looking at each other suggesting that they will meet later on in the movie. A close up of BB-8 is then used while showing the reflection of explosions in his camera eye. A wide shot is used to show BB-8 looking at the explosion. The camera then focuses close up of BB-8 looking upset suggesting that he thinks his master is in danger. A low angle shot is then used to show BB-8 moving into the distance, however, another droid with red eyes turns pops out of the sand suggesting that he is a droid being used by the First Order to look for BB-8. The droid also makes a strange noise suggesting that he is possibly communicating to someone about BB-8.
Editing
The editing in this scene was quite effective but some parts of the scene were cut as the person that uploaded the video wanted to make the scene fit into a 5 minute video whereas the actual scene in the film was considerably longer than that. I feel like this slightly ruined the flow of the scene as it felt quite jumpy. Apart from that, the way the camera angles combine to create different perspectives on a part from the scene; for example, when Kylo Ren kills the old man with his lightsaber, different camera angles are used to provide different perspectives on that part of the scene. Despite all of this, it is still clear that the death of the old man is a major part of the scene. Moreover, this emphasises the bloodshed that Ren wishes to cause until he finds the details of the map to Luke Skywalker.
The lack of basic transitions in this scene allows it to flow continuously without the interruption of commonly used ones such as fades and wipes. Therefore, it is clear to recognise that the scene looks professionally edited in order to allow the audience to understand the narrative of the entire film (forces of good and evil battling to find Luke Skywalker).
On the other hand, the use of parallel editing clearly illustrates the narrative of the film, especially through the use of cross-cutting at the beginning of the scene. In this part of the scene, the stormtroopers are inside a small ship; the use of low-level lighting inside it suggests that they are working for an evil force.
This juxtaposes the other part of the scene when Poe receives the map from the old man through the use of warmer colours and lighting in comparison to the part of the scene happening simultaneously in which the use of dark colour portrays the characters in it as evil. In this part of the scene, the old man and Poe are inside a small hut which seems more peaceful than the regimentation of the stormtroopers inside a small space ship. Therefore, it is clear that these groups of characters are in opposition with each other due to the juxtaposition of colours and typical conventions of good and evil in these different scenes.
The two parts of the scene collide once BB-8 rushes in to the hut to alert Poe about the impending threat of the stormtroopers arriving. Poe then rushes out of the hut, and looks through his high-tech binoculars to see multiple land-ships of stormtroopers advancing towards the village. As soon as all of the stormtroopers exit the landships and open fire onto the village, Poe rushes to his X-wing and enters it. He then uses the blasters on his ship to defend the village from the stormtroopers. This clearly shows parallel editing as the two parts of the scene culminate in a conflict at the exact same location; that location obviously being the village.
Sound
At the start of the scene, when the landships from the superstar destroyer fly out, orchestral music is used which then speeds up when a series of camera shots focuses on the inside of a stormtrooper landship. Furthermore, the increased speed of the music suggests that the landships are closer to approaching the planet despite the audience only seeing shots of the stormtroopers inside of a landship. This also foreshadows that a disruption in the equilibrium of a peaceful village on a desert planet is about happen.
Much more peaceful and softer music is used when Poe is talking to the old man which further emphasises that it is a mutual and peaceful encounter between the two characters. However, the music increases in speed and becomes more dramatic when BB-8 tells Poe that the First Order are about to attack the village. This also heightens and emphasises the tension within the audience so that they know for certain that the disruption of an equilibrium, which was created through the slower and softer music, is about to happen.
When the stormtroopers do attack the village, the soundtrack becomes more dramatic to mirror the conflict and bloodshed that they are causing. This also makes it easier for the audience to understand that this a tense moment in the film and to emphasise that the majority of the action will be battles between forces of good and evil.
The majority of the diegetic sound that is used in the opening scene is dialogue between the old man and Poe Dameron. However, this conversation is cut short by BB-8 communicating through a whirring noise to Poe that an attack on the village is imminent. After that, only simple lines of dialogue are exchanged: Poe says:"You need to hide" and then the old man says "You need to leave". Moreover, this emphasises that Poe is in a hurry to leave the village in order to avoid being captured by the First Order.
The rest of the diegetic sound that is used is when Finn starts to breath heavily after a dying stormtrooper rubs blood onto his helmet. This suggests that Finn is panicking and is unsure what to do after losing a fellow comrade. Furthermore, the use of heavy breathing makes the audience feel that they are in the same situation as Finn and that they can feel sympathy for what he is going through at that particular moment in the film. Therefore, this makes the opening scene much more effective thanks to the use of particular diegetic sounds at that point in the scene.
Mise-en-scene
In this part of the scene, it is clear that the character is a stormtrooper as he is wearing white body armour and helmet with a black visor. However, the blood stain on his helmet suggests that he is different from the rest of his fellow troopers. In this part of the scene, he is the only stormtrooper leaning down trying to save a fellow trooper which suggests he doesn't feel like he can be part of the First Order.
Add a few screengrabs from key shots.
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