JS: Technical Analysis

Sin City (Miller and Rodriguez, 2005)

Camera	Duration	Mise-en-scene	Camera Effect
Medium Long Shot	0.24-0.35 (11 seconds)	The most prominent feature of mise-en-scene here is costume. The red dress is the only thing which is in colour. This makes the woman here appear desirable, like a femme fatale, which is a convention of noir.	Ther medium long shot positions the woman in the middle. This makes the character stand out, as if she is someone of importance.
Two shot	0.35-0.50 (15 seconds)	In a location with low-key lighting, the new male character approaches from a position with light. This connotes that the character appears innocent and may be the progonist.	The two shot represents both characters as smartly dressed, to which the audience infers that they are both significant characters.
Over the shoulder shot	0.50-0.52 (2 seconds)	The female's non-verbal language shows an expression that has connotations of happiness. This suggests that the woman finds the man approaching desirable.	This puts the male protagonist in control of the conversation, as he has apparent authourity over the woman.
Close-up	0.53-0.54 (1 second)	The prop here is a cigarette from a packet. The effect of this is that it draws the two characters closer together.	The close focus on the prop further adds to the feeling that the characters are getting drawn to each other more.
Over the shoulder shot	0.54-0.59 (5 seconds)	The expressions of the female character again connotes joy and pleasure, as she is talking to the male protagonist.	This again provides the male control over the woman in their conversation.
Eyeline match	0.59-1.18 (19 seconds)	The faces of the characters appear lighter. With this, the audience can infer that they both love each other.	This slower cutting rate emphasises that the conversation is the most important part of the scene, as it is the thing that the audience should focus on.

Close up	1.19-1.20 (1 second)	Another prop is introduced - the lighter. This is the sympol that represents that their love might just be sparking into life.	The brief cut to the lighter further reiterates that the focus of the scene is on the two characters and little time is devoted to other parts of the scene which is not focused upon the developing conversation of the two characters.
Close up	1.20-1.31 (11 seconds)	The female's eye colour changes to a bold green. This suggests that she is blown away by the charm of the protagonist.	This shot provides undivided focus upon the face of the female, before she turns away. This gives her increased prevalence despite the male driving the narrative.
Two shot/ slow zoom in	1.31-1.59 (28 seconds)	The non-verbal language of the woman here connotes guilt, as she believes the words of the male where he states her concerns and worries.	The slow zoom in intensifies the audience's focus on the exchanging words between the characters, as the audience feel the first element of tension/ a dark theme.
Eyeline match	1.59- 2.05 (6 seconds)	Again, it is the facial expressions which convey the most meaning in these shots, as their faces show passion and a likning to one another.	The eyeline match empahsises their drawing to one another, as the audience can infer that a kiss may soon occur between them.
Close-up/ two shot	2.05- 2.40 (35 seconds)	Here, the audience can see that when the two people kiss, they are presented to the audience as if they appear in a comic-book. This kiss confirms the audience's generic expectations from a typical comic-book, as the hero kisses the damsel in distress.	Desptite sound having a major impact on building tension, e.g selective sound of gunshot and piano music, camera has great effect also. The close-up suggests passion between the duo, before the red-hering occurs - him killing her. This was an extreme surprise to the audience as a classic convention of noir film occured.
Mid-shot/Zoom out	2.40- 3.16 (36 seconds)	On this occasion, you can not see the facial expression of the charcter who killed the woman (femme fatale), to which the audience can infer that he may feel guilt, though this is not shown. This conforms to a thriller convention that te main male protagonist is 'hard-boiled' and does not reveal emotions.	The zoom out here represents the size of basin city, and how this situation is just one of possibly many more. This creates the sense to the audience that the location should be feared and is corrupt.