AS Film Scene Essay Analysis

The scene that I have chosen to use is a one-hundred and seventeen second clip from the 2008 drama Franklyn, I have used this particular scene as I feel that it contains all the points I need to address.

The visual codes that are in this scene vary from close up shots of the character's expressions, particularly in this scene, there are multiple characters that show different emotions; sadness, anger and confusion, this is found by the mise en scene that is shown throughout the clip.
The following visual codes are within the scene itself:

• The mise en scene gives out a very moody and a sense of gloom due to the dim lighting of the room and the rainfall on the windows.
• In the later parts of the scene, there is a special effect which wipes across the panning shot of the room, causing glows and vibrancy of the room.
• Zoom-in shots of a man's face is shown whilst he is armed to show his expressions such as his concentration and his anger.
• A zoom-in shot of a man taking off his glasses and closing his eyes, only to reopen them in a look of despair, the camera keeps on point with this man's expression and maintains focus on the man's face.
• A close up shot of exchanging items between two characters is shown at eye level, this helps the audience understand what has exchanged between them rather than showing it by an high-angle shot for example.
• Connotations of the room towards the end of the scene once it becomes golden represent wealth, power and value.
• The last section of the scene shows a zoom-in shot of the blonde man's face; crying,  whilst he reveals a lighter on screen and trembling upon releasing the flame.
• The rain and thunder outside of the room symbolize sadness and remorse, but also of cleansing and creation, these connotations are appropriate to the scene in where a man is seen dropping his weapon after aiming it at an older man, it could be argued that this scene follows these attributes.

There are also several technical codes that are within this clip this contains lighting and other camera shots from this scene, such codes are simply shown by looking on-screen, these are the following technical codes that are most worth noting in the clip:

• Zoom-in shots of a man's face is shown whilst he is armed to show his expressions such as his concentration and his anger
• A close up shot of exchanging items between two characters is shown at eye level, this helps the audience understand what has exchanged between them rather than showing it by an high-angle shot for example.
• A medium-long shot is briefly shown in the introduction to show a man aiming a gun out of a window, this reveals the character and his nature to the audience.
• The entire scene has low-key lighting, this gives off connotations of gloom, despair and death.

There also multiple audio codes in this scene, these split into two categories, Non-diegetic and Diegetic, Diegetic being audio that is within the same universe as the scene, and Non-diegetic being the opposite.
The following cases are listed:

Non-diegetic

• A soft and atmospheric piano sympathy is heard fading in as the blonde man starts to put his gun down, the music is peculiar and contrapuntal to the scene at hand.
• A bright and uplifting orchestra play through the scene where the woman turns around and watches the room change and blossom into gold.
• A tense and discorded tone is droned towards the end of the scene, this puts the audience on edge as to expect something explosive to appear on screen.

Diegetic

• The sound of a lighter is heard being open and closed in multiple parts of the scene.
• Rainfall can be heard throughout the scene.

The entire scene is littered with codes of these natures, this is the main reason I had picked this clip from the entire film, this two minute clip contains many different forms of visual, technical and audio codes.