Opening Scene - Book Of Eli

During today's lesson after learning all the camera shots and angles we watched the film opening for the post-apocalyptic film called The Book Of Eli. We were asked to think about and jot down ideas about the setting, plot, camera shots, character and gender. The opening film began with a long tracking shot showing us the setting which was a dark and eerie forest set in the late autumn. this tracking shot also suggested some of the plot as it has a close up of a gun on the floor and then showed us a dead man laying along the floor which suggest whatever apocalyptic event occurs was horrible enough for a man to commit suicide. this also suggest that there is nothing to live for anymore and that was the mans only choice. there was 3 character during this opening scene a cat, the dead man and an unrecognisable person. I think that the character is male as they looked quite strong and masculine which is very stereotypical. the setting also showed leaves falling which suggested that there has been a death of that their will be many more throughout the rest of the film. other shots that I saw was a crane shot, panning shot, a mid shot and an extreme close up. there was also a point of view shot from a cats point of view which is quite strange as is not typically what directors use. I think the shot was used to show how vulnerable that cat was before he was shot. the shot showed the cat looking into the distance and the man could not be seen in the shot showing the cat didn't know what was about the happen and how innocent it was. this opening scene doesn't hint to what the rest of the film is about so it doesn't really make me want to watch the rest of the film as the opening scene is supposed to grab your attention and make want to watch the rest of the film. This film has a classification of 15 due to the amount of violence and the detail of the injuries. it also includes frequent use of strong language and moderate threat.


link to the opening scene on YouTube