Lord of War: Film Opening Analysis

Lighting initially in the factory is quite low key. It isn't so dark that you cant make out what is happening but it's dark enough it adds a sense of mystery to what's happening. Towards the end of the opening scene however, the box of bullets that we as an audience are almost 'travelling' in as the camera just follows as if we are one of the bullets opens and the scenery completely changes. We are now in what looks like a very warm exotic country. This in turn means the lighting is high key, however, the box we are in as an audience lid shuts and opens, meaning the lighting changed from low to high on quite a regular basis.

The camera as I mentioned above makes the audiences point of view to be a bullet in a box. This enables the audience to feel as though they are part of the scene and as though they are travelling through a journey, up until the point the opening scene ends and as of yet, we are still unaware of the storyline other than thoughts of it maybe being based around war.

Audiences point of view. A bullet in a box.

Editing is continuous and mellifluous. As an audience we travel through a passage of time as a bullet. This is very surreal but makes us feel as though we are in the scene. In turn this continuous editing means we know exactly what's happening without getting confused as it jumps from one scene to another. This makes the opening scene very unique. The pace stays fairly similar the whole way through. It isn't very quick, instead quite slow and easy to follow.

Sound is used immediately. We hear a song that is being used as a backing track. This has been very carefully chosen because the lyrics almost fit in with the action that is taking place in the moving images. Also this music helps the audience feel as though they have went on a journey as its very relevant and links in with what we can see. We also hear non-diegetic noises such as artillery (guns being fired) which helps the audience understand the situation and what's taking place.

Mise-en-scene has been used very carefully. We start in a factory where we also see men working, which I would link into maybe the production of ammunition for war based on the bullets we can see. This sort of man made production of ammunition makes me think this could have been set in the 1900's at some stage. This is because with technological improvements this sort of thing is now mainly all done with machinery as its faster (more efficient) and accurate. The location of this factory we are unsure of, all we know is that we are inside a factory, but the goods themselves are being used in a warm and sunny country.

The bullets after transportation. Looks like a tropical country.

This film could be put into three main genres, they are:

• Crime
• Drama
• Thriller

From the opening scene, I can see stereotypical iconography that links these genres to the film.

The film was distributed by Lions Gate Film. However, it was actually filmed in producer Nicolas Cage's film production company Saturn Films. This means that the film may not have had the most up to date and recent technology that larger companies have for example big production companies in the big six. However, being distributed by Lions Gate means that people may not of actually been aware who produced the film meaning they still had high expectations for it. The problem with this is that not all the funds go back to Saturn Films. Instead they would have had to pay Lions Gate for distributing the film, hence vertical integration is better than horizontal.