2. WHAT DO MY DECONSTRUCTIONS HAVE IN
COMMON?
My Deconstructions share many aspects in the first
two minutes along with many other Action movies.
One of which is they all focus on one main
character. In Golden Eye and A View To A Kill it was
James Bond, in Sherlock Holmes it was Sherlock
and in Black hawk down it begins featuring one of
many characters who go on to become key features
throughout the film. We know that they are going to
be the main character because straight away within
the first two minutes they are thrust straight into the
action.
3. CONTINUED
Both James bond films also share a lot. They both
start of straight into the action and both feature gun
fights, they use extreme close ups to establish
facial expressions and both use tracking shots of
the feet, Skiing in A View To A Kill and running
across the top of the dam in Golden Eye. All four
films use Diagetic sound, In the Golden eye and
Sherlock Holmes it is the sound of running
footsteps on Concrete and cobbled streets, A View
To A Kill has the ‘swish swash’ noise of the skis’
gliding across the snow and Black Hawk Down has
a truck driving along a long bumpy road.
4. CONTINUED
Not only do the films share Diagetic sound some of
them use Non diagetic sound aswell. Black Hawk
Down uses music, clearly from a African culture to
help set the scene. Both James Bond films and
Sherlock Holmes use Non diagetic music through
out there first two minutes to help establish tension
and atmosphere which continues to build up and up
through out the clips, the music peaks during the
chase scenes in A View To A Kill.
5. CONTINUED.
Last but not least all of the four action movies I
deconstructed featured Conflict and violence in one
form or another. In Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock
Cleanly executes an attack on a man using his
hands. A View To A Kill and Golden Eye both
feature gun fights where James Bond is heavily out
numbered in both. In Black Hawk Down you do not
see and violence it itself but it’s obvious the
violence is not long gone as the first two minutes
feature a lot of lifting of dead body's.
6. WHAT IS GENERALLY ESTABLISHED IN THE
FIRST TWO MINUTES?
In all four of my deconstructions the first character
you see is either the main character or one of many
main characters. It makes the viewer ask the
question why is he/she here? E.g Golden Eye
James Bond is running across the top of a vast
dam with a long rope slung around his body and it
makes you ask the question ‘why is he on top of a
dam? And ‘why does he have that rope?’ When
watching it I was immediately curious. The same
applies for A View To A Kill. James bond is alone in
a snowy mountain range dressed in all white with a
lot of high tech
7. CONTINUED
Gadgets and it yet again makes the viewer ask the
question why is he here?
A second thing that is established in the first two
minutes is also the scene. In Sherlock Holmes the
cobbled streets help us understand that perhaps it
was set in the 18th century and architecture such as
St Paul's Cathedral tells us we are in London. In
Black Hawk Down, the scene is set using titles at
the bottom however vast deserts give the
impression that it is in Africa.
8. THE FOUR TECHNICAL CODES
The Four technical codes are Mise-en-
scene, Sound, Camera work and editing.
Deconstructing these four movies has made me
realize how similar action movies are. They all
share similar techniques in the opening two minutes
such as non diagetic music to set the scene and
help to create a tense atmosphere and extreme
close ups to show facial expression.
9. WHAT HAVE I LEARNT?
Doing my research of the action genre I have learnt
many things. One of which is how music and sound
can help create tension. Another could be how
important setting the scene in the first two minutes
is to make sure the viewer carry's on watching. A
third thing I have learnt in it is how important
camera work is to keep to viewer enticed. In Golden
Eye man different shots are used in a matter of
seconds to see James Bond running along the
dam, this makes a very ordinary scene interesting.