Analysis of the opening sequence in ‘A touch of sin’
The opening sequence of the film ‘A touch of sin’ (2013) is taken into consideration for analyzing the scene by using the mise-en-scene, cinematography, and editing for the scene. This scene starts at 1: 47 and ends at 3:50 in the movie’s timeline. The scene begins with a toppled truck spilling all the tomatoes on the two lane highway and blocking most of the road. The scene explains the situation when a traveler is attacked by three roadside thugs who try to loot him and all of them threaten him with an axe. The traveler seems to be prepared for such situation and shoots them all in return. The scene ends with the traveler crossing the site of scattered tomatoes when a passer-by tosses a tomato and a massive explosion near to the site causes them to cover.
The mise-en-scène analysis for this sequence is done by examining the actors, set design, lighting, costumes, etc. The elements of frame and camerawork are covered in the coming segment.
There are four actors used in the scene. The protagonist is shown as a traveler who is riding his bike on a highway and is suddenly chased by two actors from behind while the third one blocks his way by standing in the center of the road. The facial expressions and gestures of the thugs seem hostile initially but the traveler suddenly becomes aggressive, he pulls out a gun and shoots two of them on the road. The third one gets frightened and flees where he gets chased to a side-lane and is finally shot by the traveler. The set is the location of a highway which is shown to be on a higher altitude, probably a mountain. The scattered tomatoes and toppled truck are shown to cover almost half of the two lane highway. The costumes of the 4 actors in the opening sequence are as per their characters. The traveler has been shown with all the essential road-trip travel gears like helmet, backpack, biker gloves, etc. The thugs are casually dressed and they suddenly pop-up the roadside to attack by using the element of surprise. The lighting of the scene is natural daylight, probably morning hours.
Cinematography
The cinematographic analysis of the chosen sequence is done by examining the major camera shots, camera angles, and camera movement in the scene.
The scene opens with long shot when the traveler is shown riding his bike on the empty highway and the length of the shot gives enough space to cover the rest of the surroundings. The characters remain in the centre of the screen for most of the time. There are no people initially in the backdrop but suddenly the thugs are seen coming up from the roadside. The camera angle is mostly eye level and even during the chase it remains at the eye level. The entire sequence is presented mostly by using the third person’s point of view. The camera movement is a mix of pan and track movements so as to show the travelers passion initially and his hostility later to kill the roadside thugs.
Editing
The editing transitions for the scene are mostly ‘cut to’ form of transitions where the scene swiftly moves from point to the other, sequentially. There is a ‘jump cut’ transition at the end of the scene when the traveler passes across the toppled truck and an explosion scene follows immediately. The rest of the editing is kept linearly aligned to ensure that the viewers are able to get a complete grasp of the violence portrayed in the scene and the actual cause behind it.
Works Cited
"A touch of Sin". Movie Full HD.Com, 2013.Web.May 5, 2016
