Action opening - Iron Man

Iron Man 

Our main character is the man in the expensive suit, he is holding whiskey showing authority and wealth, he makes a lot of jokes to break the ice, audience see that he is very likeable but self absorbed at the same time. Due to the soldiers asking him question and wanting pictures with him, he obviously owns something or has done something to remember. His importance is shown by the level of security within his transportation. His cool calm behaviour soon disappears as the attack begins, he seems panicked and un aware what to do suggesting he hasn’t been out in the field before, as its zooms in on the missile with his name on, we now know he is in the weaponry business, but something has gone wrong.

In the first 3 minutes it is very clear that this is an action film, as it contains many of the convections associated with the action genre: army vehicles, solders, guns, explosions and bullets flying.

At the beginning a heroic fun song starts, while the man power travels through the dessert. At first we think it is non diegetic but as scene goes inside the car we see that in fact it is diegetic. This song reflects the main characters mood. Music gets quieter as characters have a conversation. As scene changes dramatically music stops showing that the happy calm setting disappeared, an explosion and gunshots follows creating turmoil within the scene. High pitched sound occurs giving the audience a sense of what they would hear if they were in that situation creating realism. At the very end we hear muffled foreign voices suggesting that he was taken by people who attacked them.

Establishing shot of the desert with army vehicles approaching as well as armed men sticking out the top of the vehicle shows they are always aware that something may occur letting the audience know that something is likely to happen soon. High angle shot of the vehicles showing that the army is very powerful. Close up of a whisky glass which looks very out of place. Soldiers within the car are all looking inquisitive and scared towards the main character until he starts talking to try as break that barrier of silence between them. Mainly close up shots are used either on the person who is talking or on a person’s reaction. Two shots of them getting picture taken talking about peace and then an explosion happens, long shot of the explosion and then quickly back into the car showing the characters panic in trying to deal with the situation.

Long shot of a solider being shot and killed is very effective as it shows that they are in serious trouble here. Main characters point of view shot as the last solider has been killed causing audience to be empathetic with main character as he is alone, unarmed and defenceless.  As he gets out of the car and a start running the camera is uneven, meaning a hand held shot as well as interpreting canted shots symbolising the chaos. Close up of a missile that’s about to explode, we as the audience are on the edge of our seat at this point as we are waiting for it to explode. Last shot is a high angle panning out shot showing loneliness and vulnerability of the main character as he is lying on the ground injured.