Cinematography – Matrix scene 29

Cinematography – Matrix scene 29

The scene I’ve chosen to do this section of work on is scene 29 from the matrix, this scene consists of a lot of action and fighting consisting of gun fighting it also using a lot of slow motion editing when the character’s perform stunts. However the six shots that I have chosen to annotate are from the build up to the action.
The first shot in this scene is a low angle close up camera shot of the main characters boots which also shows his the bottom of his long full body length jacket shown just above his boots. The boots and the jacket are both very dark dual colours. The use of this low angle camera shot is showing us that the character that stands in front of us is a superior and that he has a lot of power it’s almost as if we as the viewer is a little cockroach looking up and this character. The sound affects used in this shots is the characters foots steps which would have been enhanced due to the nature of the camera angle and it also had non diegetic sound affects in the back ground to create a build up of tension leading towards the future events.
The next shot is an establishing shot this shot is shot from behind the main character’s head, within the first section of this shot it sets the scene by showing us two security guards at a desk near a luggage conveyor belt used for security checks and a clear glass wall which looks to be a large open space (empty room) which seems odd as its being guarded. The same shot then tilts down towards the main characters bag and tracks it as it goes along the conveyor belt and end as the bag passes through the security check part over the conveyor belt.
After this shot it opens up on a red flashing and rotating light at a low camera angle, the camera then tilts down to focus on a bar of separate green and red lights which I assume are used in reference of the metal detector and red flashy light which would tell us that the metal detectors result have raised a cause of concern to the security and needs to be further checked. The camera then tilts even further down revealing the main character standing in-between the metal detector. Again because this shot is a low camera angle it shows that the character has power and that he isn’t venerable to the events that are soon to occur.
This is followed up by a medium long shot showing the main character and one security guard. This show shows the two characters well spaced. The security guard is in a more serious stance as if he’s ready to pounce on the main character, as it is if the alarms on a metal detector go of they expect the worst. Whereas the main character is just browsing around visually scouting out the area paying no attention to the security in this shot the change in sound is as the security guard is talking to the main character even if he is paying barely any attention.
This shot is rather interesting as its a close up on the main characters torso as ha reveals that he is fully armed with weapons around his torso which doesn’t just take the security guard by surprise it takes the audience by surprise as you wouldn’t believe you could carry that many weapons! The camera then tilts up his torso towards his face before cutting to the next shot. The reason I found this shot interesting is because it takes us by surprise you don’t expect to see so many weapons on one person.

The final shot shows the main character using the palm of his hand to knock the security guard to the floor. This has been done using a slow motion editing affect the bring tension into the film and also mean that when the next shot is sped up it makes it more dramatic and the event give you more of a rush as it seems faster than it should be. The shot used as the security guard falls to the ground is a slow motion tracking shot, This shot is a medium close up, before the security guard falls the main focus is on the main characters hand as he hits him to knock him down. The sound non diegetic tension build up so far has now gone since the main character revealed his weapons which meant for the slow motion shot they could introduce the sound affect of someone being hit in the gut for realism. This means the sound affects used are now diegetic.

Sorry its late, will try to add pictures later least the important stuff is up now