I watched a short but detailed clip from the film “The day after tomorrow” and after watching the short clip several times I made this media analysis.
Camera
In the clip of the film there are several different camera angles and shots used to portray certain aspects of the film. The first type of shot I will talk about is the reaction shot. A reaction shot is where we see someone or something, in this case an event (the giant wave) and we see the reaction of the character. We see a reaction shot used twice on the bus driver but both reaction shots are used very differently. The first reaction shot of the bus driver is used when he is listening to a radio and is hearing the radio host warning everyone of the wave but you can vaguely hear the host as the radio station is being interrupted and from this the camera switches from a shot of the radio to a shot of the bus drivers reaction (puzzled and confused) to the unusual behaviour of the radio and the news he is hearing. Another shot of the bus driver comes when the camera is using another kind of shot, point of view shot, where we see exactly what the bus driver is witnessing as he looks down at his mirror and we see the wave crashing down towards him. The camera then switches from a point of view shot to another reaction shot, this time the reaction towards seeing the wave and this time he is shocked. We also see a reaction shot, the same as the bus drivers (shocked) from the passengers as they come to the front of the bus to take a look at the wave in shock.
Another reaction shot used comes when the girl is helping out people in a taxi and goes back to retrieve some passports. This time the camera combines a reaction shot with a tilt shot. As the man shouts to the girl to “look!” she slowly turns around and the camera tilts up as the girl looks up at the wave but before she looks up we are shown her reaction of shock and horror.
Music
Most of the music used is dramatic music used to emphasise the power of the wave and is done by using a variety of instruments ranging from drums to violins. The music helps contribute towards the dramatic build up to the demolishing of the wave. These are all non-diegetic sounds, sounds which are added to the film and would not be heard if you were at the incident. Although there are lots of non- diegetic sounds used there are also plenty of diegetic sounds used. Some of these sounds include the smashing of the window, the roar of the wave and all the scream and shouting in horror of the wave.
Special effects
The obvious special effect is the wave as we see in first building up to become greater, shown as we see it rising almost but not quite above the statue of liberty. Another special effect is the birds-eye view of the city being flooded down every street and avenue possible.
Another special effect is when the wave is actually destroying everything, we see it crash into the bus and seconds later we see the bus fly through the air an incredible distance.
Miss-en-scene
I will discuss two issues covered by the use of miss-en-scene; firstly I will discuss how the colour yellow is commonly portrayed to pick out main aspects or characters in the clip. An example would be the man with the dog who is obviously an important character and we see this with the yellow coat that is used to make him stand out.
Secondly is when we immediately see the statue of Liberty in the opening seconds of the clip being flooded and this shows the audience the loss of freedom as the statue of Liberty represents freedom but what is the main idea is that the whole statue is not flooded as the head and arm holding the flame is just above the wave. This represents a glimmer of hope as the flame is still burning and fighting the devastating events.
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