Micro analysis essay

How is genre represented through the 4 micro elements?
Micro element: Cinematography


In this essay I am going to be analysing an micro element which is cinematography on a movie called “Obsessed” and it was directed by Steve Shill. The reason why this film or other films contain micro elements is so that they help the scenes to create meaning of the movie and to create different emotions to the audience.

The scene I am going to be analysing is very important in the film because of the tension between the main characters Sharon Charles who is played by Beyonce Knowles and Lisa Sheridan who is played by Ali Larter. The reason why I say this scene is very important is because the audience inquisitive and analytical of what was going to happen when they meet eye to eye.

In the scene there is use of high angle which shows the vulnerability of the antagonist, this is shown when she is on the ground .The effect for this connote the dominance of Beyonce which represents to the audience the power she has towards the antagonist in the scene and she also seems like she is struggling to get up. This makes the protagonist do anything to her since she was the one who put her on the ground in the first place.



There is also use of over the shoulder shot which makes the audience feel like they are part of the scene or are in the scene. This signifies the intensity between the characters because you can see the position that they are in, squashing each other on the door. By them two fighting it represents them expressing their tension towards each other, which means by the end of this scene they is going to be one of them dead because that’s how they can only sort out their differences. This makes the audience more curious because they want to see who is going to win at the end of the scene. The audiences are more likely to be passive when they are watching this film because they will be arguing with each other on who is going to make it through the fight, which makes it more thrilling to watch.

In this there is close up of the phones, scene cutting and quick snappy changes of the phone ringing. The reason why the director used scene cutting is because it makes it easier for the audience to realise who the person is calling the phone to even though they are deconstructed. The use of a close up on the phone shows the audience the person who is calling on the phone .Especially in this scene it’s very crucial because by the protagonist not answering her phone it brings constriction to the audience that’s been created by her husband because he starts to worry why she is not answering her phone. The snappy quick change makes it more interesting for the audience to watch because the audience wants to see if the person is going to answer the phone. However in this scene its whole different story because the protagonist Beyonce is being attacked by the antagonist Ali, which makes the audience want to see who is going to be the most powerful and get the phone first. This will make the audience either argue or guess with each other on who is going to pick up the phone first.




In this sequence there is use of low angle which gives a perfect view to the audience of what is happening in the scene. In this scene the protagonist Beyonce is more dominant because the antagonist Ali is powerless and defenseless to herself. This makes the audience intrusive to know what the protagonist is going to do since she is powerful in the shot. It also makes is easier for the audience to realise that she is the main character in the movie because she is mostly powerful in the scenes and shot’s. In this shot they is also a close up on Beyonce which shows her facial expressions. It connotes her feelings to the spectator and how much she is struggling to keep holding onto the antagonist since she can’t keep fighting her and holding onto her at the same time.



In conclusion i think the film created a lot of meaning using cinematography because it makes it easier for the audience to know what is going on in the scenes. This is the reason why i think micro elements are really important in the movie. I this movie the scenes makes a lot of meaning to the spectators because of the use of micro element cinematography. The movie I chose “Obsessed” is easier to pick up a lot of cinematography and it is easier to shape meaning of the use of cinematography.

FILM MICRO ANALYSIS ESSAY

FILM MICRO ANALYSIS ESSAY
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
4GENRES, 4MICRO ELEMENTS, 1000 WORDS

How Is GENRE REPRESENTED through the micro-elements in Slumdog?

Slumdog Millionaire was released on the 9th of January in the UK and Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan directed it. It was set in Mumbai-India, Agra and Uttar Pradesh. The lead male actor is called Dev Patel and the female lead is called Freida Pinto.In Slumdog Millionaire and it is a hybrid genres and there are romance, crime, drama and bollywood. The budget of the film was $15.1 million.

In Slumdog Millionaire there is the main key scene when Jamil was covered in faeces just because he wanted to see a celebrity. The reason why he had faeces is because his brother locked him in the bathroom. In this main key scene there is use of misce en scene, for example the setting of the place that he is in automatically represent to the audience that they live in slums, also signifying that there are very poor people and they can’t afford to live in better places and conditions. I think the producer decided to show this scene in a dramatic way just to show the lengths that people can go just to see a celebrity and get an autograph. However there is also comedy in it because his autograph ends up being sold to someone else by his brother.

One of the props that they use in the movie is the toilet. The toilet signifies to the audience that they can’t afford proper toilets in other words the toilets that we use because they can’t afford it. Also the location that the toilet is on is just on a ground with lot’s of dirty/rubbish on it and the worst thing is that they pay to use toilet’s like that, since they can’t afford to built one of their own. In my own opinion the reason why the producers used this setting and props is to show the audience the lives that this people lived and make it easier for the audience to understand.

The crime genre is represented through misce en scene for example one of the characters Salim wears black clothing signifying his dark personality. Some of the crimes that Salim commit are he killed people for example the men that was abusing children by making them blind in order for him to make a lot of money because if you were blind you would get a lot of money from people and he also kidnapped a girl called Latika even though he was the love of his brothers life called Jamil. This shows the evil antagonist in an convention way through the crimes that Salim was committing. He was committing these crimes for his boss in order for him to get paid a lot of money. The reason why Salim was committing these crimes is because he wanted to make money fast since he grew up in poverty where he didn’t have any money and a house to live in since his mum was killed. This represented a dark personality because he would do anything just to make money even if it was killing people which he did. When Salim died he died in a tub full of money representing to the audience that all his life he wanted to be rich. This also represents the selfishness and unloyal that Salim was to the audience.

In this movie there another micro element and that is sound. There is a lot of non-diegetic sound since the movie includes a bit musical and a lot of dancing. The reason for this is that the other genre of this movie is bollywood and a lot of movies from India always include Indian cultural music and dancing. In Indian movies like this one the actors and actresses are wearing their cultural clothes to represent to the audience easily their culture. There is also a sound bridge when Jamil is calling his brother this is represented easily because they cross cut the scenes when the phones are ringing which makes it easier for the audience to realise who is calling who.

In Slumdog Millionaire the producers and directors made it really easy for us to realise one of the genre romance. The romance between Jamil and Latika is very difficult because there is love triangle which means that it would be very difficult for them to get together. Jamil’s brother Salim makes it impossible for them to be together because he makes another men take Latika and marry her against her wishes. She didn’t have any choice because they would always catch her or end up killing her. However fate brings them back together because they end up together after all the trouble they went through since they were very young. In this scene the director also used tracking to show the train moving very fast and to show them running, so that they can be together.

In the movie the director also used a close up shot on Latika to show us her facial expression when she is being chased by Salim and getting cut on her face because she ran away from her husband, so that she can be with Jamil the love of her life. The other cinematography that was used in this movie is high angle to show us all the dancers dancing in the movie properly and make it more entertaining for the audience. The reason why this is used is that so that the audience can see the characters clearly.

In Slumdog Millionaire there was a lot of deception and dramatic storylines for example especially from Salim to his brother Jamil even though Jamil never gave up on him which signifies that he loved his brother Salim no matter the bad things he done to him. This was very emotional to the audience because Salim was not a very good person to Jamil which made him an protagonist and obviously made Salim an antagonist which made the movie really dramatic and made the audience want to watch it more to see how the movie is going to end.