Aman Ali

Textual Analysis for AS blogsArlington Road

Title: Arlington Road

Year: 1999

Director: Mark Pellington

Introduction:I have chosen to analyse this film opening because it is different to most thriller films as it has a lot of mystery and suspense in the opening scene. I am going to analyse the first six minutes of this film because of its enigmas and its use of editing which is effective to the audience as it grabs the viewers’ attention to the screen.

Narrative context: The film Arlington road is about the main character that is Michael Faraday who is a college professor and is obsessed with terrorist group cultures. Things get worse for Michael because his new neighbours act very strange which makes Michael investigate them but things take a wrong turn as he finds out whom they really are and that these neighbours have an effect on Michael’s life as they make him go mad.

Enigma codes: - Why is a young boy walking by himself in the middle of the road?- What happened to his hands?- Who did this to him?- Why is he bleeding?

How are the characters established and represented?

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The first character we see is a young boy called Brady Lang who is the son of Cheryl and Oliver Lang. He is introduced by us seeing a point of view shot of what he is seeing which makes us think he is some kind of trouble because his point of view is all blurry and shaky. Then we see close up shots of his hand and face which then we see that he is bleeding and that something bad has happened to his hand. This makes us as the audience feel sympathy for Brady because he is in severe pain and that he crying out for help.

We also see another character that is Michael Faraday who is a friendly guy that is driving his car when he comes across Brady that is walking in the middle of the street.The use of medium shot portrays Michael as a nice guy because in this shot we see Michael holding onto the boy and is immediately taking him to the hospital. Michael is represented as a friendly guy because he is doing the right thing by stopping his car to help out the little boy.

Locations:The location of the opening is a typical location for thriller films as it’s in a place which you would think nothing really bad will happen there and that this location is important as it is the hideout for the terrorists.

Camera and editing techniques:

The film opening uses a lot of close up and extreme close up shots to show the emotions and bruises of the characters in the opening of the film. We see these shots being used a lot on the boy because it showcases the blood dripping on the boy’s shoes and it shows how difficult he is finding it to walk because he is in pain. From these shots we learn that the character is in danger and it makes us curious in who did this to him.

The film also uses a lot of editing techniques for the film opening as it starts off with slow paced shots which is building suspense but then changes into a fast paced as the film starts to develop. Also another use of editing is used in the opening is the use of blurs. The blurs are used to make us as the audience feel confused because we don’t know what is happening to the boy and that what he is seeing as we see his point of view which make us feel as the viewer in the boy’s shoes. This is effective because it makes us as viewers interested in watching and it keeps us thinking as we don’t know what has happened to the little boy.

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Use of sound:

The use of diegetic sound is used in the opening of the film as we hear the shouting and screaming from the man and the boy which makes us feel sad for the man and the boy because there is no one in that neighbourhood that had paid any attention to what was happening to the boy who was bleeding badly. Diegetic sound is also used when we hear the car tyres screech because the man is driving so fast so he could take the boy to the hospital which could save his life. This has an effect on the audience because it is trying to tell us that Michael is doing his very best to save this child’s life and that he doesn’t care if his car is get damaged in the process because the child’s life is more important.

Non- diegetic sound is used at the start of the opening when we hear creepy and eerie noises playing at the start which creates an enigma because we as the viewer don’t know what happening and that this type of sound might be used to introduce the character.

Titles:

The titles are not used at the start of the opening as it makes us think that we need to focus on this key scene that is about to happen. Also when the titles do come up it is in the right centre of the screen, it changes to a black and white font as it has images behind it which are scary because the use of editing has made the images creepy to look at.

Intended target audience:The target audience for this film would be for adults as it revolves around terrorism which is interesting to watch and it contains graphic scenes which have people getting murdered.