Monday, July 16, 2012

Terminator Salvation Scene Analysis


Terminator Salvation was released in 2009.  A brief synopsis of this movie if you haven’t seen it is pretty simple.  A place called Skynet has basically destroyed the human race in what they call a “nuclear holocaust.” There are only a few survivors called the “Resistance” who are led by John Connor.

FULL SCENE:
The scene I chose is one of my personal favorites. This scene is titled “Marcus meets Kyle Reece.” (click below to watch)


This first shot gives us Marcus’ p.o.v. with him being placed in the left hand corner following the rule of thirds as he looks into this desolate world.  This would be an establishing wide shot from a higher angle to get the vast empty feeling. In the top left of this frame shows the sunlight settling on one side of his body while the other half of the frame appears very gray and dark. Representing a world of death and despair. Also notice the contrast between the grayish skyline and his forest GREEN jacket. This jacket almost looks like something someone in the army would wear.















The second sequence is a medium close up of Marcus also in the left side of the frame with the desolate background out of focus behind him.  In this shot there is hardly any sign of sunlight because he is now in the valley and it is beginning to get dark. Besides his skin tone his jacket tends to blend in with the isolated gray background. This medium close up lets us know that he is seeing something in the distance, but is uncertain what the subject is.  Also in this scene there is absolutely no sound, until he decides to call out to the subject.






We then have an over the shoulder with the subject in the right side of the frame looking down the deserted street at Marcus’ ant like shape. This particular shot seems to be more open than where Marcus is standing because you can see the sunlight gently lighting this figures forehead.











I noticed in this shot that the colors are more metallic than dark grays and green, I assume this was to go along with the color of the terminator’s appearance.  This again is also an establishing shot, because now we see what this figure is; a terminator. We clearly see that this machine is designed to kill anything that does not resemble him.






We get an extreme close up of the gun that the terminator is carrying and how it is very black compared to the lit rumble that is out of focus in the background. The dark black color of the gun could symbolize termination.






Still a close up of the gun only now we see bright fire like ammunition as it begins to shoot at Marcus.











The repercussions of the gunshot. Dirt and smoke fill the picture giving a bomb like look to the scequence. And now there is no sunlight it is back to the dark area where Marcus is standing.





Now we are on ground level with a close up shot of the terminators feet. This gives the feeling of being crushed like a small ant under the machines feet. When he walks over a small skull in the road we are show how heavy is stance is by the skull being crushed to many pieces.










The music has picked up to make you feel suspenseful. With the Machine being caught in a trap and pulled up from the ground his body is stretched out giving him that perfect sweet spot from the top of the frame to the right of the frame.  His figure is very black to stand out from the background.



Once the Machine hits the ground the camera zooms in for an extreme close up of his face giving us a very intimidating reflection. We are now able to see that the Machine if very angry and that it is wearing a green tattered military vest. This vest is about the same color of the jacket Marcus is wearing.








In this sequence  it cuts away to Kyle Reece and Marcus taking safety. With the framing they chose here it appears they are diving into an abandoned building that is completely dark with the exception of them coming from outside. The shape of this shot is almost a pentagon with the exception of the right side of the frame not being completely symmetrical.



















This movie is so AWESOME!!! The music behind this trailer made me want to see this movie!! If you haven't seen it, you must!!!

http://youtu.be/ktUms4Wn1xc











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